Behind the Eight Ball

The stretch-run free fall of the Pirates continued Friday night with a 5-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds, their eighth in a row. Aaron Harang of the Reds extended the Pirates' miseries at the plate with a dominant complete-game performance that featured nine strikeouts and no walks. Zach Duke's disappointing season ended with a mediocre performance and his 15th loss.

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Sitting at the computer early in the morning on Saturday, counting the moments until he could make the weekend official, the Buccin' Ear hit the wall. Nothing to say about this strange and infuriating team that went 30 games under .500 before the break, rallied after the break to a modestly inspiring 35-27 record, then dropped eight in a row to bring its overall record with two games to play to...30 games under .500.

Better luck next time with that rock, Sisyphus.

But wait! Just when it seemed the team would suffer the ignominy of ending the season with two weeks of losing (what a fine feeling to take into the offseason), over the horizon rode a man from the frontiers of Ohio, one...Marty McLeary.

Yes, sports fans, Marty McLeary, the righthander who spent 10 years toiling in the backwaters of baseball, hoping for a shot at the Show. What franchise could be better suited than the Pirates to such a man? Frustrated pitcher, meet frustrated franchise.

So last week at 32, McLeary not only started his first Big League game, he picked up a win with five credible innings of pitching. Perhaps the sweetest line a pitcher in the Bigs will ever gaze on belonged to MM: 1-0.

Saturday night, the Beleaguered Bucs sent out the call for Marty once again. Knowing he was pitching for a team that had amassed 21 runs in eight games, MM apparently knew there was only one thing he could do to end his team's misery: throw a shutout.

So he did. Okay, for seven innings. The bullpen took it from there (Imagine! Pitching with a lead!), and sealed the 3-0 victory.

What a story! The Post-Gazette, giddy over this feel-good story of professional perseverance, devoted the first two-thirds of its story of the game to....Freddie Sanchez?

Yes, you see, Freddie went o-for-4, dropping his league-leading average to .343, still ahead of Miguel Cabrera (.340), but still in nervous territory as he attempts to be the first Pirate batting champ since Bill Madlock in 1983.

Hey, nobody can out-Everyman Freddie, the hardest-working man in showbiz and at times a one-man reason to watch the Bucs this year, so the Buccin' Ear will never begrudge Freddie his time in the spotlight, an area he rarely if ever seeks on his own.

But, hey, this should be Marty McLeary's day. He's 2-0 and at least the Pirates are 1-0 since he last started. How would we have liked a nine-game losing streak even if Freddie had gotten four hits? Chances are, Sanchez is happy to take his collar as long as the team gets a win. After all, they only had two more chances to do so in '06 before Mighty Marty took the mound.

Seems to the Buccin' Ear that maybe such obscurity is the fate of guys named Marty. Think about the Academy Award-winning film (1955) of the same name, with Ernest Borgnine playing the lead. Here's a synopsis from http://www.filmsite.org/mart.html:

"The film depicts thirty-six hours in the life of the main character: 34 year-old, bug-eyed Marty Piletti (Ernest Borgnine) - an ordinary, burly, heavy-set Bronx butcher. In the opening scene in his butcher shop while Marty waits on a female customer, he tells her how all his younger brothers and sisters are happily married and raising families. A romantic loser all his life, Marty is resigned to listening to people ask when he is getting married."

The Buccin' Ear somehow imagines echoes of this in offseasons past for Our Marty:

"So, Marty, when are you gonna get called up, man? You plannin' on pitchin' in the bushes all your life?"

In fact, The Pirates of Penance is lucky enough to have one of its faithful readers, Zack from Shanghai, offer an early glimpse of how film could pull Our Marty from obscurity. In a recent response to the "Mailbag" post (Sept. 22), Zack, moved by Our Marty's first ML victory, blogged,

"I smell a motion picture "based on a true story" in the future. They'll have to clean it up a bit so that ancient rookie McLeary carries the lovable loser "Booneville Brigands" to the championship in an improbable turnaround. I'm seeing montages a la the unforgettable A-Team "Work Sequence". Oh, wait. It's already been done."

Well, Zack, in today's Hollywood, there is no shame in imitation, so the Buccin' Ear heartily endorses the use of the A-Team material. We'll just call it an homage.

But in any event, thanks to Our Marty, the long season has come down to one game, and it's meaningful, in one of the few ways that such a game can be for Our Team: win today, and the Pirates will have their first winning record in the second half since 1992.

Of such stuff dreams are made.

On the Outside Looking In

Thud.

That's the sound of another precipitous drop to earth by the Pittsburgh Pirates. A little more than a week ago, they were on a bit of a run, hoping to put at least a little shine on yet another dull season. They had begun a road trip decked out in their best spoiler duds, taking the first two games of a three-game set from the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Then came a loss in the series finale, and the Buccos haven't won since, dropping three straight to contending San Diego and three straight to the Houston Astros, who have now won nine in a row and are poised to pull off one of the greatest comebacks in baseball history.

So much for Pirate aspirations to play with the big boys. Tonight, following a 3-0 loss to Roy Oswalt at PNC, they find themselves singing an old Lennon-McCartney tune:

"I don't want to spoil the party so I'll go
I would hate my disappointment to show
There's nothing for me here
So I will disappear..."

So the fragile promise of the second half threatens to disintegrate with a 10-game losing streak finish, which would happen if the team manages to drop its three-game finale to the Cincinnati Reds. The present seven-game skid has dropped them into a tie with the moribund Chicago Cubs, and as much as the players and the manager would probably deny it, yes, it would mean something if the Pirates wound up in the cellar, given the lifeless performance of the Cubs in the second half.

What has gone wrong? One word: offense, or more accurately the lack thereof. During the streak, the Pirates were nearly no-hit by ex-Buc Chris Young in San Diego, and scored a grand total of four runs in that three-game series. In the Houston series, they were shut down by Oswalt and Andy Pettite; those two games were sandwiched around the one game that they did manage some offense, but they blew a 6-1 lead in that one and lost in 15 innings. After piling up their six runs in the first five innings, they patted their stomachs, shoved themselves away from the table and contentedly napped for 10 scoreless innings to close out the game. With today's shutout, they've gone 19 innings without a tally. In seven losses, they've managed 16 runs -- total. The Dodgers scored 19 runs in one game on Thursday.

Somebody say oy vay.

No offense, Dave Littlefield, but you've got a team with no offense.

As always, we look to Resident Genius Jim Tracy for guidance in troubled times such as these, and he didn't disappoint following today's loss:

"We are definitely growing. On most days, when you look up there, you'll see hits on the board. And baserunners. And these guys that we have, they're going to keep getting better. Now, are there some things we need to look into? And could that make the situation much, much better? Sure, it could."

Maybe some runs would help. But at least we're growing. The Buccin' Ear may speak for most Pirates fans in saying we certainly are growing -- inpatient, frustrated, restless and weary. And that's usually after the first inning.

But RG wasn't finished with today's lesson. He then spun out one of those series of sentences that separates him from the rest of us mortals:

"But are we talking about a number of things? Uh-uh. No. It's close. It's a lot closer than a lot of people want to think."

A Spanish doubloon to the first reader who can decipher this. The Buccin' Ear freely admits that he doesn't speak Gibberish. Well, maybe there are just some things I need to look into.

Undoubtedly the most lucid statement of the day came from Astros manager Phil Garner, who said of the rain-delayed game, "I don't think anybody really wanted to come back."

Uh, no.

Well, three more games. What words can the Buccin' Ear summon up about the impending conclusion of this glorious season? Ah, RG has the answer:

It's close. It's a lot closer than a lot of people want to think."

Mailbag

The Pirates got a mere two of three from the Dodgers in Los Angeles, dropping the finale Wednesday night, 5-2. The good news is, of course, that they won two of three from the Dodgers on the road, and the better news is Freddie Sanchez collected six hits over the last two games of the series (including his 50th double), and now is hitting a league-leading .347. Second-place Miguel Cabrera of the Marlins is at .338. The Buccin' Ear refuses to jinx Freddie by saying anything more about it.

The subject of Freddie neatly segues into the eagerly awaited Volume 2 of The Pirates of Penance Mailbag. In the September 19 post "Not in Our House!", the Buccin' Ear, discussing players who had shown improvement in the second half, made this observation:

"Then there's Salomon Torres, whose yeoman work in place of Mike Gonzales has earned him the Buccin' Ear's vote as most valuable Buc this year."

Bern1 of Pittsburgh had this to say about that:

"Salomon instead of Freddy Sanchez as MVP??? I dunno, Buccin' Ear. I gotta differ with you on this one."

Well, voting against Freddie in anything this year is like casting a vote against mom, apple pie or even truth, justice and the American way. So I could take the easy way out and say Salomon is the most valuable pitcher. But I'll hold the line and say that at worst, Torres is a co-MVP.

The case for Freddie doesn't need to be made; it's self-evident. Torres? Well, let's just say that anybody who appears in 90+ games, is a reliable setup man, gets better as the year goes on and takes over as closer has to get some serious props. That he has gone 10-for-10 in save opportunities is rather remarkable. But what clinches it for me is that he lent some stability during an interminable stretch of the season when the young Pirate starters were flat-out bad and rarely went more than six innings, on the rare occasion that they got that far. Torres and Matt Capps pitched nearly every day and rarely failed, although both endured a couple of rough stretches. It's not too strong to say, all-in-all, that Torres helped to salvage a strong measure of respect for the Pirates in the second half. The pitching staff without him would have been just as out to sea as the everyday lineup without Freddie.

Add to it that he's a top-notch team guy who never says a discouraging word, and I rest my case.

Another reader, commenting on the Bucs' three-game sweep of the Mets, sounded nearly metaphysical. JD wrote,

"I hate and love this so much. Nothing beats racking up wins, but taking this optimism into next year will cause unspeakable pain."

Hmmm...Well, JD, we can say the same thing about life in general, I guess. How, indeed, can we give our hearts away each year to hope when we know all that time brings us is one step closer to shuffling off this mortal coil?

Perhaps we need to think of Rodgers and Hammerstein here. These wise words may offer you and all of us Pirate fans some comfort:

"When you walk through a storm
Keep your chin up high
And don't be afraid of the dark.
At he end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never walk alone."

Which brings to mind the famous words of Earl Weaver. Advised by born-again outfielder Pat Kelly, "You have to walk with the lord, Skip," Weaver replied, "I'd rather walk with the bases loaded."

Actually, though, JD, the Buccin' Ear thought you penetrated deeply into the question of Pirate futility with this portion of your post:

"It feels so good to win, I sure wish they would do it more often."

Amen, brother, amen.

Existential questions also raised their head in this post from Paul from Denver. He too was struck by the latest Tracyism of the Week, which appeared in the September 15 post "This and That." After Tracy said that even special players have to have a first at-bat, the Buccin' Ear mused,

"...wonder how many special players we missed over the years who never made an appearance? And if special players play but never appear and are therefore never seen, did they really play at all?"

Paul responds,

"...and if a batter strikes out but there's no one there to watch him, did he realy whiff? Nice to see RG chanelling a different "JP" these days -- Sartre vs Juan Pierre, I mean."

The Buccin' Ear thinks that if he can get Jean-Paul Sartre mentioned on his blog, he's done his work well. And in the same sentence with Juan Pierre, no less.

Come to think of it, Sartre wrote at least two books whose titles, at least, have relevance to being a Pirates fan: "Being and Nothingness" and, especially, "Nausea." And certainly all Pirates fans need this JPS classic: "The Reprieve."

And finally...the death of Syd Thrift also drew commentary, and the Buccin' Ear joins in the general lament. Syd took his knocks, but anybody who could swing trades for Bobby Bonilla, Andy Van Slyke, Mike LaValliere, Doug Drabek and a host of other contributors and take a team like the '85 stinkeroos and turn them into three-time division champs never should have had to apologize for nuttin'.

RIP, Syd. We could use you now.

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.

Not in Our House!

As of this writing, the New York Mets have finally clinched their NL East division championship, spraying champagne tonight all over Shea Stadium. The place could use a cleaning.

The smart money, of course, had said that the celebration would occur this past weekend in Pittsburgh, and a number of Mets fans played that bet, making the trip west and helping to swell the crowds at PNC.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the coronation. The Bucs derailed the Mets three times in a row, behind solid pitching from Paul Maholm, Tom Gorzelanny (albeit an abbreviated, four-inning effort) and most impressively, Zach Duke, who finished the sweep with eight innings of shutout ball. Thanks to the Phillies sweep of the Astros the same weekend, the New Yorkers didn't even back into the championship at PNC.

There may be reasons for a pessimist like the Buccin' Ear to downplay the sweep, but frankly, he can't think of any. The Mets had plenty to play for, they weren't resting their starters, and there is no way that they wanted to be swept by the likes of the humble Buccos. They also were anxious to prove that they aren't vulnerable to lefthanded pitching, but the series showed anything but. Maholm, Gorzelanny and Duke gave them a total of three runs in 19 innings. Have no doubt that potential opponents of the Mets in the playoffs are thinking of ways to get southpaw pitching to the mound.

The 5-1 homestand left the Bucs at 63-87, meaning that a 100-loss season, which had seemed likely at the All-Star break, has been avoided. They are 33-27 since the break and 41-34 at home. Respectability, anyone?

Well, we'll talk about that after the upcoming road trip, a potential horror show, not simply because it's a road trip (remember that 22-53 record away from PNC), but because it runs through Los Angeles and San Diego, where the Dodgers and the Padres are fighting it out for an NL West division crown. The Padres grabbed the upper hand by winning three of four from the Dodgers in their just-completed series. Both teams have undoubtedly mentally penciled in a Buc brooming. If the Pirates can make a respectable showing against teams desperate for victories (much more desperate than the Mets), there will be additional grounds for cautious optimism.

Still, additional optimism comes from the recent resurgence of Duke, who has shaved a full run off his ERA since starting slowly at the beginning of the second half. He appears to have regained the form of last year, when he demonstrated great control that made his sinker extremely effective. Just as important, in the Buccin' Ear's view, is the continued growth of Chris Duffy, who seems to be laying claim to the centerfield spot for next year. He had another strong series against the Mets, hitting well, driving in and scoring runs, and stealing bases. Then there's Salomon Torres, whose yeoman work in place of Mike Gonzales has earned him the Buccin' Ear's vote as most valuable Buc this year.

All that said, the Pirates offense remains suspect. More on that in an upcoming post. For now, let's just let the Bucs enjoy the champagne the Mets didn't get to drink this weekend.

This and That

Bits and pieces from the musings of the Buccin' Ear on a nearly perfect day in Denver:

Minor considerations: Dejan Kovacevic's excellent roundup in the Post-Gazette on the state of the Pirates' minor league system contained this intriguing comment from Dave Littlefield on the present lack of prospects at Triple A Indianapolis and Double A Altoona:

"We like the group, and we like where it's headed. And the thing to keep in mind is there probably will be very little attrition at the major-league level for the next three to five years, so we're going to be able to pick and choose who we keep at the upper levels of the minors."

Really. So can we take that to mean that the Pirates have pretty well settled on their starting lineup and starting pitching rotation for the coming years? I'm not sure too many other observers, the Buccin' Ear included, would agree that the 60-87 product that we see on the field is one poised on the brink of success.

A Little success: But let's give Littles a dollop of props. Freddie Sanchez wakes up this morning the leading hitter in the NL. Mike Gonzales, before suffering an elbow strain, was perfect in save attempts and beginning to show signs of being one of the top closers in the league. Both were pilfered from the Boston Red Sox, presently suffering through a bullpen meltdown that has thrust Mike Timlin into the closer role -- where he has approached a double-digit ERA. As Genarro Filice writes for "Inside Baseball" at www.cnnsi.com:

"Think the Red Sox regret moving Sanchez and stud closer Mike Gonzalez to Pittsburgh for Jeff Suppan, Brandon Lyon and Anastacio Martinez?"

The Buccin' Ear will refrain from any "even a blind pig finds an acorn" comments.

Howard's end: Ryan Howard, the Phillies' larger-than-life slugger, drove in an absurd 41 runs in August alone. To put his achievement and the Pirates' dearth of power in perspective, consider that Jeromy Burnitz, hired by Littlefield to fill the power vacuum in right field, has 49 RBIs in 311 ABs for the season. Jose Bautista has taken 355 ABs to drive in the same number of runs that Howard did in that one month.

Christal clear: Chris Duffy's .307 OBP won't turn any heads. But Pirate fans can find a measure of hope in his recent play. On August 7, his OBP -- not his batting average! -- was .233, and the Buccin' Ear was moved to write,

"Those of us who called for the return of Chris Duffy are looking pretty foolish so far. Duffy has gone 3 for 26 since his call-up and hasn't shown much reason to believe that his bad start in April was a fluke" (see Aug. 7 post, "Bruin Ruin").

Since then, however, Duffy has boosted his BA to .240 (from well under .200 five weeks ago), has injected some speed into the lineup (something it desperately needed, given the lack of power), and continued to play the solid defense that was expected of him.

Rockies Road: Hopes for the Colorado Rockies matched the mile high altitude of Denver in early July, precisely mirroring the Pirates plummeting fortunes at the time. The Rockies were in the thick of the NL West division battle, their young hitters, notably Garrett Atkins, Matt Holliday and Brad Hawpe, were producing, and most notably they had unfathomably good pitching.

Fast-forward to this bright September morning, and the Rockies are in familiar territory: last place. The hitting has gone through lengthy dry spells (although Holliday is challenging for the batting title and Atkins has been one of the best players nobody outside of the Mountain Time Zone has heard of). And the pitching finally began to unravel, with Aaron Cook, Byung-Hyun Kim, Jeff Francis, and yes, Josh Fogg all showing serious signs of coming back to earth. Overall, the team has gone 24-35 since the All-Star Break (compared with the Pirates' 30-27 mark).

The Rox have still shown great improvement over last year, but their present struggles should give pause to Pirates fans who are banking on a stunning turnaround from a young club in '07.

Tracyism of the Week: Commenting on the Major League debut of pitcher Shane Youmans, RG had this to say:

"You're always anxious to see a young guy make his first appearance and wet his feet at the major-league level. There have been a lot of very special players come along in this game who had to make their first of something -- whether it was their first at-bat, their first start, their first relief appearance -- and it goes on from there."

The Buccin' Ear isn't sure. But did RG say that even some very special players have to make their first appearance in a game? Hmmm...wonder how many special players we missed over the years who never made an appearance? And if special players play but never appear and are therefore never seen, did they really play at all?

Heading Toward Home

The Pirates and Brewers played a doubleheader Wednesday, a classic late-season affair between two teams long-since out of the race and existing for the most part only at the fringes of public consciousness. Both teams play second fiddle to their pro football counterparts anyway; the real object of passion in Wisconsin lies to the north on a frozen tundra, even in a year like this, when the Packers are giving every sign of playing like a bunch of guys with rigor mortis setting in. The Pirates? Well, they played second fiddle to the Steelers even in the halcyon days of the '70s. The Buccin' Ear doubts that one could count the fiddles the Pirates are behind their football counterparts these days.

Still, the two clubs laced them up for a pair before tiny crowds for both games. Fittingly, they split the twin bill, and for those who cared, there was some decent baseball played, particularly on the pitching side. Ian Snell threw one of those dominating games he has given the team from time to time this year, going seven innings, striking out 10, and even thanking pitching coach Jim Colborn, whom he had berated a week ago, for helping him to pitch inside consistently and effectively. Chris Duffy continued to offer hope for next year with a three-hit game, and Freddie Sanchez regained the batting lead in the 6-3 win.

The Brewers' talented but oft-injured Ben Sheets went Snell one better in the nightcap, flirting with a perfect game (Duffy broke it up) and carrying a shutout in the eighth (Ryan Doumit hit a solo homer to end that) en route to 2-1 victory in which the Pirates registered only those two hits and left no men on base (Duffy was picked off after his single). Despite the loss, there was a bright spot: a solid performance from Shawn Chacon, who displayed good control for the first time in a Pirate uniform.

The Pirates reached the 60-win mark with the victory in the opener, hardly cause for celebration, but worthy of note in that it provides a measure of their second-half improvement, however modest. For the record, here are the dates that the Pirates secured their 1oth, 20th, 30th, 40th, 50th and 60th wins, with the number of days they required to get to each in parentheses:

• 10: May 9 (36)
• 20: June 1 (23)
• 30: July 7 (36)
• 40: July 30 (23)
• 50 August 24 (25)
• 60 September 13 (20)

Getting from 0 to 10 and 20 to 30 took an astonishing 72 days, summing up the futility of the Pirates' first half and showing why the season was over, in many ways, before it had even begun.

Similarly, here is the team's month-by-month record:

• April: 7-19
• May: 12-15
• June: 8-20
• July: 13-12
• August: 13-15
• September: 7-6

The team has gone 33-33 since July 1. We wish they could have posted a record within shouting distance of that in April, May and June instead of the abysmal 27-54 they actually posted, but at least second-half improvement gives some reason for hope. Not much, but some.

So on to the final 15 games. 68 wins for the over/under, anyone?

Fighting the Blahgs

Funny thing, this blogging. It seems like such a good idea when you begin. Write on what you like. Write anything you like. Write whenever you like. What's not to like?

Then the blahgs set in. As in who wants to write?

In the Buccin' Ear's case, maybe the blahgs came from finally not knowing what to write about another losing season for a Pirates team that hasn't seen a campaign north of .500 in a decade and a half. How many different ways can you spin that?

Then the Buccin' Ear opens an online edition of the Chicago Sun-Times, sees a column by one of his favorite columnists, Rick Telander, and gets this comment on the sorry state of the Chicago Cubs:

"Perhaps more than anything, the reason for the ho-hum atmosphere surrounding the team is the fact nobody -- no fan, no writer, no citizen, no fish in a bowl -- can sustain incredulity, outrage, headaches, forever. Despair creeps in, replaced by a kind of protective cynicism, which turns in time, as the caring lessens, to frivolous sarcasm.

And finally it comes to the point we have now reached, indifference. The Cubs have lurched their way to a 58-87 record this season, holding down the worst spot in the National League, behind even a farm club like the Pittsburgh Pirates."

Farm club? Ouch. Low blow, Rick.

But the Buccin' Ear can relate to incredulity, outrage, despair, protective cynicism and frivolous sarcasm. They're all great reasons to write, but they can only take a guy so far. Indifference is the writer's ultimate enemy.

Not that the Pirates have been all that bad a story since the July break, going a respectable 29-26 and putting to bed all those fears the Buccin' Ear raised about them finishing with a worse record than the 1985 team. They passed that woeful crew on September 9 with a victory in Cincinnati. They even did it in whimsical fashion. Their 58th win, which moved them past the '85 team made their record at the time 58-85. Maybe they should be renamed the Pittsburgh Palindromes.

What else happened while the Buccin' Ear was gone? Well, they lost the rubber game of their series in Cincinnati, nothing new; they beat the Brewers on Monday, nothing new; that win was by one-run, nothing new (they're now 13-2 in such contests since the break, strangely enough).

So what is new? Freddie Sanchez slipped into second in the batting race, and Ian Snell, who should have played for the Minnesota Gophers, was miffed that his pitching coach had the temerity to visit him on the mound in the midst of his latest bad outing. Jeez, the guy's only given up 28 homers this year. You can see why he'd wonder what all the fuss is about.

But to Snell's credit, he apologized for his outburst, calling his comments "dumb" and "immature." If only we'd hear that kind of honesty from politicians.

The Buccin' Ear even has something nice to say about Resident Genius Jim Tracy, who for once lived up to the name when he chose not to comment on Snell's snit. RG held his tongue until Snell came around, then publicly complimented the pitcher for his actions.

Well, maybe it's best to stop on that note. After a layoff, the Buccin' Ear doesn't want to throw his typing arms out patting RG on the back.

My Favorite Year

After winning the first two games of their dramatic four-game series with the Chicago Cubs, the Pirates got their split of the final two by winning the finale today, behind power-hitting Chris Duffy, who hit two home runs, including the game-winner in the ninth. As a result of the 7-5 victory, the Bucs took three of four from the Cubs and left the Windy City in sole possession of fifth place in the NL Central.

The game followed a familiar pattern of late: the Pirates burst to a five-run lead; starter Shawn Chacon wasn't discouraged by that, and gave up five runs by the time he exited in the sixth with the game tied. Duffy deposited the second pitch he saw in the ninth over the ivy in centerfield, and the embarrassed Xavier Nady, who saw that he now trailed Duffy in homers as a Pirate this year, 2-1, apparently felt compelled to hit one of his own for the insurance run. Salomon Torres didn't need that, as he clamped down in the ninth for his fourth save.

But enough of this boring stuff about two teams that are a combined 53 games under .500. The Buccin' Ear only laments that baseball lost in 1981 its great opportunity to really inject life into the game. What's that, you say? The infamous 1981, the season in which a strike cost fans and players nearly two months of the season? Yes, I say, yes.

It was in 1981 that Major League Baseball, confounded by the question of what to do to account for the huge gap in the middle of the season (the All-Star game wasn't played until August 9 that year), declared that the year would be divided into two parts: pre-strike and post-strike. The "winners" of the first half would be playoff entrants, and the second half would begin fresh, with every team having a chance to contend. The "winner" of the second half would also earn a playoff bid.

Naturally, after all was said and done, there were naysayers, like the Cincinnati Reds, who merely had the best overall record in for the year, but didn't make the postseason because they "lost" to the Los Angeles in the "first half" (by a half game) and to Houston in the "second half" by a game and a half. The Philadelphia Phillies and the Montreal Expos (need we say more about how the downtrodden loved this concept?) also made the playoffs.

Forget the whining from Reds' fans. Consider what an '81 system would do for the Pirates in '06. Although they went 30-60 in the first half of the season (as defined by all games before the All-Star break), they are 27-24 in the second half. That might not sound terribly impressive, but if the second half were a "season" being contested, the Pirates would be tied for first with the St. Louis Cardinals for the lead in the Central Division. We'd have an old-fashioned barn-stormer on our hands, sports fans!

The interesting thing about this concept is that just about everything else would play out normally. The relentless mediocrity in the National League would hold sway, something that would undoubtedly soothe the soul of Bud Selig. The Mets, at 32-16 post-break, would still be the class of the league. Their only pursuer would be Florida, at 31-22. After that, eight teams would be bunched within four games of the 28-23 record recorded by the Dodgers.

Those of us who despised the strike-shortened year of 1981 when it occurred should take another look. If we could but go back, we Pirates fans would be breathing a sigh of relief this evening in picking up a much-needed victory over a team we should beat, damn it, over the 22-30 Chicago Cubs, and moaning over the fact that we don't get another crack at those Cardinals.

The Trade Watch: Zach Duke pitched a fine game on Wednesday, and deserved a win. After leaving with seven innings pitched, no walks and an unearned run, he was partially undone by yet another bad defensive play by Jose Castillo, who forgot to cover the bag on a bunt. Most infuriating was this quote from Castillo, courtesy of the Post-Gazette:

"I was a little bit confused, and I was a little bit late. That's okay. It's one time a year."

No, Jose, it isn't "okay," and it isn't "one time a year." Here's yet another pebble on the mounting pile of evidence that Castillo needs to move on after this year to a place where he can daydream in peace.

Take Five

It took 139 games and more than five months, but for one day at least the Pirates no longer have the worst record in the National League. With last night's ninth-inning victory over the increasingly hapless Chicago Cubs, the Bucs are 56-83, good for fifth place, if only by a slender one-half game. The teams have the same number of losses. Call this "race" tortoise vs. tortoise.

So two cheers for the Pirates, one for catching the Cubs, and one for doing it by playing north of .500 since the All-Star break. To quote E.M. Forster,

"Two cheers are quite enough: there is no occasion to give three."

The Pirates can primarily thank Jason Bay (two homers and four RBIs) and the bullpen (one unearned run in 5 2/3 inning in relief of Victor "Deadwood" Santos), but should also give a tip of the hat to Cubs "closer" Ryan Dumpster, er, Dempster, who threw two wild pitches in the ninth, the second of which brought in the winning run. Dempster, now 1-8, walked in the winning run last week in Pittsburgh. With friends like this, does Dusty Baker need any enemies? (Not that those are in short supply in any event in Chicago these days.)

The five-game winning streak against Chicago that has enabled the Pirates to climb out of the basement is not altogether surprising given the Cubs' rash of injuries and the pervasive pall that has enveloped the club. However, the Pirates had played poorly against the Cubs over the previous five-plus years leading up to the turnaround (36-59, including a combined 10-24 in 2004 and 2005). Even this year, they were 3-5 against the Cubs until the last two series the clubs have played.

Resident Genius Jim Tracy was blessedly low-key about the cellar exit, choosing to emphasize that the team has played three games above .500 in the 49 games since the All-Star game. Still, it's hard, in the Buccin' Ear's view, to get too excited about that either, because the Pirates' play is just too spotty. The starting pitching, which was pretty bad in the first half, has shown glimmers of improvement, but collectively they still hit rough patches (e.g., 14 earned runs in the past 13+ innings), and individually they are still plagued by persistent weaknesses such as Paul Maholm's and Zach Duke's unending early-inning woes and Ian Snell's penchant for giving up the long ball.

Offensively, the team is usually shut down by good pitching. The two recent outings against Carlos Zambrano, which produced a combined 10 runs, don't count. Zambrano hurt himself with two errors in the first one, and he was just plain hurt in the second. Xavier Nady has provided some help recently, but the team is still far too dependent on Jason Bay and Freddie Sanchez. As we saw in St. Louis last week, when Bay has a bad series, the Pirates normally don't score much, if at all. Chris Duffy, Jose Bautista and Jose Castillo have yet to develop consistency. Ronnie Paulino has been a plus in hitting for average, but he doesn't hit for power.

The bench? Well, let's just say Ryan Doumit and Humberto Cota and leave it at that (with a minor apology to Cota because of his two pinch hits the past week). Jeromy Burnitz and Joe Randa don't play into the discussion because they're not part of the team's plans. Nate McLouth is injured, and hasn't exactly had a stellar year anyway.

And one key stat that has bugged the Buccin' Ear for some time continues to be a sore spot: the strikeout-walk ratio. The '06 Pirates have struck out 1,001 times while drawing a mere 396 walks. That's close to three Ks for every BB. Terrible.

Flip side: Pirate pitchers have struck out 920 hitters while issuing 543 walks. That's a ratio of about 1.7:1. It doesn't take a genius to understand the advantage that opposing teams have had over the Pirates in this category. RG goes on and on about how close the team is to being a contender. If that is indeed the case, then it seems obvious that this disparity needs to be narrowed.

The Buccin' Ear is no batting coach, but one would think that somebody who is would tell these guys to shorten up a little bit, particularly with two strikes. It's annoying to watch them flail away (and they're nearly all guility of this), regardless of the count or what the pitcher is throwing.

Note to Bucco hitters: "Cutting down on your swinging" isn't what you do after your girlfriend finds your Little Black Book.

Well, enough raining on RG's parade. The team is doing really well. Just ask him.

The 1985 Watch: Get ready to pop the champagne. On September 6, the '85 squad lost to the Houston Astros, 4-3 in 10 innings, to drop to 42-90. With a commanding 10 1/2 game lead over their '80s-era counterparts, the 56-83 '06 Pirates need just two wins to avoid becoming the fifth-worst team in club history. That would take a total coll...never mind.

Pirates Past: On September 6, 1973, the Pirates fired manager Bill Virdon following a 5-3 loss to the Cardinals that brought their record to a disappointing 67-69. Danny Murtaugh, taking on a fourth tour of duty as Buc manager, replaced Virdon, but the move didn't help. The team went 13-13 the rest of the way to finish in third place in the NL East at 80-82. It was the only time in the '70s that the Pirates finished lower than second in the division or had a losing record.

The season was also played without Roberto Clemente, who had died in a plane crash over the off season while attempting to aid earthquake victims in Nicaragua. The Pittsburgh Pirates Encyclopedia calls Opening Day, April 6, 1973, the third-most disappointing game in Pirates history:

"There have been 116 opening days in the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates [Note: through 2002]; none were less anticipated or more painful than the one that opened up the 1973 campaign.

"Yes, the Pirates won the game 7-5, coming back dramatically over Bob Gibson from a 5-0 deficit, but sometimes a disheartening game goes beyond the line score. The contest was the first the team played wihtout their beloved leader, Roberto Clemente."

Battle in the Basement

Back on July 4, the Buccin' Ear blogged (see the post "Avoiding History"):

"Circle the dates of September 4-7. That's when the Pirates invade Wrigley Field for a series with the victory-challenged Cubs that may go a long way toward not only determining the team's place in history, but also toward revealing this year's worst team in baseball -- or at least the National League, which these days is another way of saying the same thing."

At that time, the question of whether the 2006 team could avoid a worse record than its 1985 counterpart (57-104), was an open question. That question has all but been decided as we now arrive at the aformentioned four-game confrontation with the Cubs: with yesterday's 5-4 victory in Chicago, the Bucs are now 55-83. Win just three of the final 24 games, and they're home free with 58 wins. In fact, let's get greedy. If they can win just one-third of their remaining games, they'll avoid 100 losses.

Let's get greedier. Now the Pirates try to clamber out of the cellar, and the door continues to swing open. In fact, it's gaping. The Cubs' lead over the Bucs has melted to one-half game. Merely by winning two of the remaining three games, the Pirates will leave Chicago blinking in the sunlight of fifth place.

Big deal? Well, depends on who you talk to. After Salomon Torres clinched the win for his second save, he jumped off the mound, so it was clearly a big deal for him. Paul Maholm, who turned in another wearying, 100+-pitch performance (over just five innings) for the win, told The Post-Gazette,

"No question about it. We want to get out of the cellar."

As for the Cubs, first baseman Derrek Lee summed up their response in the Chicago Sun-Times:

''I don't want to finish in last place, but for them to get excited about that, I don't know how much difference it makes. We have too many other things to worry about. We have to take care of ourselves."

Okay, the Pirates didn't exactly get the Cubs' best shot yesterday, because their ace, Carlos Zambrano, had a bad back and didn't even approach his usual form. The Bucs scored all five of their runs off of him by the second inning, but watched Maholm give four of them back by the end of the second. But Maholm managed three scoreless innings, and the bullpen closed the door the rest of the way. So it was another win, the Pirates' fourth straight over the Cubs.

Does it matter? If you're the Pirates, hell, yes, it matters. This is a team that has never been out of the cellar in 2006. This is a team that was 30 games below .500 at the All-Star break. This is a team that has won just 19 games on the road all year. This is a team that will conclude its 14th consecutive losing season in another month. Every team needs something to play for. Does the Buccin' Ear want to see a bunch of guys playing for themselves or playing for a team goal? That's an easy one. I'd rather see guys excited over winning a game and showing some enthusiasm for slogging through the last month of a lost season than trudging off the field without spirit after a win (or loss, for that matter).

And the team is 25-23 after the All-Star break. You gotta start somewhere. Beats packing it in. Does it matter in the grand scheme of things?

Hell, no, it doesn't matter. The team will approach, if not reach, 100 losses. It has a serious power shortage, it is short a starting pitcher, it is unsettled in right field, and it isn't yet a serius threat to compete in the worst division in baseball. It has a depleted upper farm system, weak decision-making skills in the front office and thus far unproven field leadership in Jim Tracy. They've reversed their awful record in one-run games, but not their terrible performance in enemy ballparks.

They've got a long way to go. Should Pirates fans find glimmers of hope in their climb up the cellar stairs? The Buccin' Ear can't put it any better than The Stats Geek did in today's Post-Gazette:

"Alas, the Pirates have given fans no confidence they know how to invest. So even as general manager Dave Littlefield correctly assesses the pressing needs, a veteran starting pitcher and a left-handed power hitter, there's fear this only heralds the second coming of Mark Redman and Jeromy Burnitz."

Pirates Past: Happy 70th birthday to Bill Mazeroski, Hall-of-Famer and owner of the most famous hit in Pirates history.

Tracyism of the Week: Following Jason Bay's 2-for-12 weekend in St. Louis, RG offered this insight on the outfielder's struggles:

"We all go through things like that. Any of us that have ever walked to the plate, we go through things like that. You figure it out, that's what you do."

No word on whether Bay offered RG a Rolex for that sage advice.

Other Views: Hall-of-Fame writer Tracy Ringolsby had this to say about the Pirates in the September 1 online version of the Rocky Mountain News: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/sports_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_83_4961193,00.html
"Word out of Pittsburgh is that for the second year in a row, ownership is going to beef up the payroll for 2007. What nobody is saying is who's going to be spending the money.

"General manager Dave Littlefield is under contract, but he also has been on the job for more than five years, brought in his hand-picked manager, Jim Tracy, last offseason and is facing the potential of having a worse record than the year before for the third season in a row. The Pirates also could lose 100 games for the second time in 21 years.

"Having money is one thing, but spending it properly is another. "Too often teams looking for credibility feel they have to spend whatever budget they have, regardless of the return on their investment. Pittsburgh has suffered from that since long before Littlefield got the job, but last offseason was another display of misspending simply because the payroll budget jumped to nearly $48 million.

"The Pirates made three key free agent signings - third baseman Joe Randa, outfielder Jeromy Burnitz and reliever Roberto Hernandez. Hernandez was dealt to the Mets a couple of weeks ago. "Randa and Burnitz have combined to drive in 75 runs for the $10 million investment and are spending the bulk of their time on the bench, waiting for the season to end so they can become unemployed."

Song of Salomon

Two games into the Pirates' series against the Cardinals, they've scored a total of two runs. Surprising? No, not for a team that was 17-48 on the road going into the series, which began with them facing a pitcher that is nearly untouchable against them, Chris Carpenter.

Not surprisingly, Carpenter, now 4-0 against the Pirates this year, shut them down on three hits. Surprisingly, however, the Pirates won the second game, tonight, 1-0, behind five shutout innings from the unpredictable Shawn Chacon, and a combined four innings from Matt Capps (winner, 6-1) and Salomon Torres (save, first).

Four years ago tonight, Torres returned to the Major Leagues for the first time since 1997, beginning a remarkable story that has not been widely reported. According to www.baseballlibrary.com, on September 2, 2002,

"Pittsburgh's Salomon Torres (1-0)‚ pitching in the majors for the first time since July 20‚ 1997‚ starts and goes 8.1 scoreless innings against the Braves. He also collects his first hit since 1994. as the Pirates win‚ 3-0. Torres‚ 30‚ retired as an active player in 1997 and served as Montreal's pitching coach in the Dominican Summer League before signing with Pittsburgh in January."

Is that a story? The Buccin' Ear thinks so. In fact, it's an incredible feature, worthy of Julio Franco attention, but of course it won't get it, because Torres happens to pitch in an ignored market for a last-place team.

Torres made his 81st appearance tonight, throwing two scoreless innings, and striking out two with the bases loaded en route to the saves. He's an old-school pitcher, unafraid to pitch when he's tired, and giving more than one inning when it is called for, which is likely to be the case this final month, with Mike Gonzales injured.

How valuable is Torres?Beyond the games and innings that he has sucked up, consider the experience of rookie Matt Capps, who has observed him all year. Tonight, Capps, a rookie, made his 73rd appearance of the year, pitching two innings. As Capps put it to the Post-Gazette, regarding breaking the number of appearances for a rookie Pirate reliever,

"It will just be awesome. You only get one year and one opportunity to be a rookie. To have something to call your own -- a record like that -- would be great."

Would he say that without observing Salomon? Not likely.

Torres has said he wants to stay with the Pirates, and he may have communicated that enthusiasm to Capps and his fellow relievers. If that is the case, he deserves appreciation beyond the smattering of applause that greets his entrances and exits. He's a special player.