The West Is the Best

"The West Is the Best": if Jim Morrison were singing those words today in Los Angeles, he might alter another of his lyrics to "weird scenes inside Chavez Ravine." That was where the Pirates Tuesday night took another step toward becoming royal pains in the keister for another team with bigger things to think about than an obscure club from Western Pennsylvania with nothing to play for other than pride and some R&R between games on a six-game California trip. Certainly the Pirates did get their kicks...at least for one night.

The Dodgers, on the strength of their improbable series-salvaging win over the Padres Monday night, owned a one-half game lead in the NL West when they took the field against the Bucs, but they left a tattered bunch, tattooed for 10 runs and stymied for six innings by 14-game winner (!) Ian Snell en route to a loss that pushed them behind San Diego and left them just a game in front of Philadelphia in the wild card race.

Jose Bautista (grand slam, five RBIs) and Xavier Nady (two hits, four runs scored), both mired in slumps, led the offensive charge for the Pirates, who have spent September playing the game like it's, well, fun. They're 11-6 for the month, with the last four victories coming over a division winner and an aspiring division winner.

Bautista, whose average for September is a crosstown bus and three transfers south of the Mendoza Line, needed this kind of game badly, not only for the team but for himself. He's trying to show the club that he belongs as an everyday player. If he can't put up decent offensive numbers, the case for jettisoning Jose Castillo will be harder to make, although the latter's recent play has done much to convince the Buccin' Ear that he's already left. After tonight's oh-fer, Castillo is four for his last 49. But that's okay. At least he made another error, his 18th.

Jose? This is a bat. This is a glove. Pick one of each. Use them.

Castillo's September fade is bad enough, but the fact is, he got a start on his vacation early in the summer. Talk about Mr. May. He hit .366 that month, which is apparently the worst thing he could have done, because he seemed to get the idea -- again -- that he's a power hitter. Not that he put up Ryan Howard-like numbers: he hit seven homers and drove home 21 runs in May, a nice month, but nothing that should have sent him to the mirror to preen and gawk at his rippling biceps and to practice taking mighty cuts that swat and injure the innocent air.

But swing from the heels he did, and his production promptly plummeted in June to .223 with three HRs and 16 RBIs. He was lousy again in July (.253, one HR, seven RBIs), and even though he recovered a bit in August (.287, two HRs, 13 RBIs), he still managed only to get his on base percentage, which has been dreadful all year (except for May, of course), to .310 for the month.

Castillo has been a flat-out liability the last three and a half months, and the numbers prove it: since June 1, he has hit .231 (72 for 312), with six HRs and 38 RBIs, and an OBP of .288. Oh, and he's struck out 65 times while drawing only 18 walks. Take away May, and he's hit .229 for the year with seven HRs, 42 RBIs, 84 Ks, 23 BBs, and an OBP of .294.

If there's a battle of the Joses going on in Piratedom, make mine Bautista.

But as the Stats Geek correctly points out in his latest Post-Gazette column, the real debate within the organization seems to be about whether to keep Castillo or Jack Wilson, probably because of the money Wilson makes. This one should be even more clear-cut than Bautista-Castillo. Wilson is a better fielder, better hitter and far more stable presence than the streaky, spacy and error-prone Castillo.

Pirates Past: On September 20, 1969, Bob Moose pitched a no-hitter against the Mets, who would, of course, go on to win the World Series in Amazin' fashion. Moose was also involved in one of the most painful losses in Pirates history, a 3-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds in the fifth and deciding game of the '72 NLCS. With the score tied in the bottom of the ninth, Moose uncorked a wild pitch that scored the winning run and brought home the pennant for the Reds. Moose died in a car crash in 1976.