Year of Pittsburgh Pirates Rebirth? I’ll Believe It When I See It

The calendar reads early July, which means there’s plenty of season left in baseball. At any giving time now, the emerging Pittsburgh Pirates can stumble, go astray, and, well, drop out of first place in the NL Central, given the team’s prior history to only dominate their division for a few days before it becomes a total loss, in which they were inhibited from clinching an eventual playoff berth that was never plausible.

Friday night, the home crowd stood, and not one fan in the stands was wearing a paper bag over their head and protesting against a hapless franchise. And as much as there is reason to have firm conviction in Pittsburgh, nine games over .500 for the first time since 1992 with the fourth-best record in baseball, there is a sense that they may not last very long in October. As you probably know, when the Pirates were pertinent and inherited a winning season, Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke and longtime skipper Jim Leyland anchored Pittsburgh. If you can recall the mediocrity and unflattering criticism, which wasn’t too long ago, then you know fans in the Steel City used to relentlessly attack the Pirates and had turned their heart and soul to the Steelers. It will always be a football territory, but now the Pirates bask in an unvanquished season, finally returning to the very top and giving the fans every reason to boast about their baseball team.

A long time ago, Pittsburgh was so horrific, it was painful to stomach — not even Captain Jack Sparrow could spare the Pirates' lives. Fans felt they were robbed and viewed it as fraud, a marketing sham they thought was run brilliantly by owner Robert Nutting. And nothing was more startling than documents being obtained by the Associated Press that showed Nutting, like a bandit robbing a bank, pocketing a massive amount of money as fans endorsed the franchise. The saddest part of this charade, an inevitable crossroads that demolished the tenor of a once respected major league team and yet was close to falling into debt from a financial disaster, is that the Pirates earned $29.4 million in profits during a span of the 2007 and 2008 seasons.

There will forever be talk of the Pirates’ blockheaded decisions, which they shipped All-Stars Jason Bay, Freddy Sanchez, Nate McLouth and Jack Wilson away in trades, leaving every fan suspicious as no one quite understood their intentions. About 10 players, such as Tom Gorzelanny, Ian Snell, John Grabow, Xavier Nady, Adam LaRoche, Damaso Marte, Nyjer Morgan, Ronny Paulino and Sean Burnett, were arbitration-eligible before leaving Pittsburgh under free agency. The question as to why the Pirates traded slugger Jose Bautista comes back to haunt them, I’m sure, now that he has swung the bats exceptionally well since his arrival to Toronto. Today, I’m sure, the Pirates regret dealing a slugger with a home-run swing to drive in runs. The idea of them cleaning house was a bit fishy and strange when Pittsburgh had considerably possessed star power and almost eased into postseason mode. It was historic. Moves no one had ever seen in professional sports.

In fairness, aware of the mischances and bad decisions that set the franchise back — dismantling one of the hallmark franchises of baseball — it’s morally wrong to accuse a man of fraud when his organization encountered an economic disaster amid a wicked recession. What sure looks like a promising season happened sooner than expected, but winning or salvaging a division title is no guarantee in Pittsburgh. It’s a mentality to have as the Pirates so often blew division leads when fans actually felt it was their year, their moment to seize control and their moment to advance to the postseason, but the masses spoke too fast and Pittsburgh rapidly fell out of the pennant race. That could happen this season, as well, as you never know about the Pirates — you just never know — and yet the Pittsburgh population is building confidence in a team that relapsed a year ago.

The truth is, unless one believes the Pirates are capable of holding on to convince a long-suffering fan base that they are finally unwavering and strong, no one won’t take Pittsburgh seriously, ignoring the likes of Andrew McCutchen, Clint Barmes, A.J. Burnett, James McDonald and Jeff Karstens. It remains to be seen if the Pirates can keep riding the ship in the right direction and continue to be the best story in baseball, but Pittsburgh is know for captivating an audience and then eventually collapsing to miss the postseason. The crowd was behind the Pirates all the way last season, wishing for the very best considering the team’s fiascoes and struggles in the past, but it lasted no time.

It’s similar, to put it simply, to what the Pirates experienced last July, at a moment when winning seemed logical until Pittsburgh stumbled and lost a seven-game lead. So again, the Pirates have a chance to redeem themselves and erase the dreadful memories of a late-season collapse. There’s no reason for the Pirates to fall apart, but knowing them they probably will find a way to blow it and falter in the next few months, even if they have signed elite players and accumulated talent.

Burnett, who was acquired in a trade from New York for two inferior prospects after he struggled for three seasons in the Bronx, arrived from nowhere and has flourished in one of his best seasons since his days spent in Toronto. It’s been an incredible turning point for the right-handed pitcher, improving his mechanics and returning to form, with much more velocity on his fastball.

This is also happening when McDonald, who ranks sixth in the NL with a 2.45 ERA, is a young player emerging into an ace in the Pirates pitching lineup. Sometimes you have to play behind a veteran because of his expertise and flair, for which McDonald can grasp a better sense of the game and find out what it takes to pitch in the majors. And now, he serves an apprenticeship as a strikeout pitcher with his team, who can build a sound pitching rotation around him. There are turning points in the Pirates’ bullpen with the likes of Juan Cruz and Jason Grilli, who has been a lights-out reliever, managing the setup role. And, no less surprisingly, McCutchen is having an MVP type season and had three hits for the Pirates to lift his batting average to a National League-leading .360 in a 6-5 loss to the Giants in San Francisco that snapped Pittsburgh’s four-game winning streak. The play of the 25-year-old McCutchen is flawless, riding a wave of dominant hitting and compiling monster numbers in his breakout campaign.

It’s funny how this is one of the hottest teams in baseball, and how we are so fast to jump onto the bandwagon, failing to realize this is a team that disappears and cannot ever salvage a lead to qualify for the postseason. Then again, maybe this is their year, thanks to the expansion of Major League Baseball’s playoffs with the extra wild card round. This season, unlike last summer, Pittsburgh is hopeful and reigns as the favorite to dominate the NL central. My first instinct — beyond the realm of possibility — is to believe it when I see it.

The Pirates can make it to the postseason with the addition of a few veterans in Erik Bedard and Rod Barajas. It’s hard to buy into the hype, but as of now Pittsburgh is atop the standings in its division, under the direction of manager Clint Hurdle. The fact that he was part of an improbable run the Colorado Rookies had in 2007 is amazing, as the Pirates are on a tear after Hurdle changed the disposition and gave them optimism. The question, as the Pirates have a reputation for faltering late in the season, is can the Pirates keep a commanding lead and surge in September?

They have been here before, with a chance to make it to the playoffs for the first time in 20 years, the last time Pittsburgh finished above .500 and nearly won Game 7 of the 1992 National League Championship Series at Fulton-County Stadium in Atlanta. And through it all, the Pirates led the Braves 2-0, but then went on to lose 3-2 and Atlanta advanced to the World Series and lost to Toronto. I know. I can recall everything that happened on that night. I was a seven-year-old kid and remember watching that game with my late father. And ever since, I was immersed into America’s Pastime, the great game of baseball, just by watching an instant classic between the Pirates and Braves.

These Pirates are back, certainly, but can we truly believe in them? These Pirates are winning, but how long can it last and will it last? These Pirates are good, but just how good?

If they are still in this current state and winning by September, I’ll start believing.

Mandate for Red Sox: Win for Survival... Or Else

The swarms of Red Sox critics are downgrading the franchise located in Boston, a town that prides itself on baseball and crowds one of the oldest ballparks in the majors, Fenway Park. The front office rarely gets much sleep, reacting to the tension that hovers aggressively over the Red Sox, a franchise still in a pennant race for the wild card.

It defines common reasoning to believe in the Red Sox not to discount them from reaching the postseason, peaking through the Green Monster in autumn, and it's almost implausible to neglect Boston, flirting and staying in the race to expectedly clinch a postseason berth. If so, as we all know, the Red Sox will have to qualify for the fall classic only by winning the wild card, but if not then Boston is unworthy.

The uncertainty of baseball lies in the American League, with a tight, tense, crazy and unpredictable wild-card race that has the people in New England nervous, panicking over Boston's horrible pitching and injuries. This is about a team that has faltered and debilitated at the worst possible time, and where it stands now with the sudden meltdown, the Red Sox are doomed against the Yankees if they lose in a three-game series this weekend.

The way things are happening for the Red Sox, a World Series favorite have plummeted in prior weeks and have no longer been relevant or intimidating. As if owning the third-highest payroll in baseball is not enough, the Red Sox are 5-16 in September, unraveling and falling apart before our very eyes. As the archrival Yankees clinched a playoff berth and won the divisional title, the Red Sox are barely in survival with less than a week left to play, and as of now, Boston is inevitably marred in much trouble in September.

The more the Red Sox struggles pitching and aiming toward clinching the wild-card, the more Boston declines in chase for a postseason spot that could renew the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry if the franchise can succeed and rid the travails for one of the enticing clashes in sports.

This team was supposed to win 100 games as one player said he was highly optimistic at the start of training camp, but as it turns out the Red Sox weren't ever worthy of masterfully reaching triple-digit victories in the win column, not as much as Boston has been hit with injuries or withered, not as much as Terry Francona has cascaded as the voice of the Red Sox in the managerial role.

One of the problems here is Carl Crawford, a high-profile outfielder who merely has 18 stolen bases and has been a disappointment when people begin to wonder whether he's worthy or overpaid. Based on that, since he's not flawless or productive, he's partly the blame for the Red Sox failures this season, a bust for earning $20 million a year.

For weeks now John Lackey has been the buffeted starter in the pitching rotation, a component in arguably the deepest starting lineup in the history of the franchise, but more astonishingly he has played worse than a little leaguer. In fact, a little league pitcher at the moment could toss better than him and probably could win more games. That's just how bad Lackey is pitching of late.

With the struggles -- and as the bullpen has been heavily used lately -- it's about survival and keeping composure. It's about performing efficiently with all potential and balance in one of the deepest pitching rotations, not underperforming and financially wasting profit from its payroll. So meanwhile, the Red Sox can't take comfort in that they'll win the wild-card race and clinch a playoff berth, putting all kinds of burdens and scares on themselves, only leading by a game.

The losses to Lackey’s career aren’t so friendly, but more than ever, it is horrifying for a big-game pitcher winning in Game 7 of the 2002 World Series to roughly disappoint. He's allowing runs to score, he's getting bullied on the mound, he's yielding hits, and he's becoming an unwitting scapegoat of all the team's fiascoes. Through it all, he has not earned a win in five straight starts since Aug. 23, finishing 0-3 in that stretch.

The reality -- if you've had not noticed by now -- is the foolishness of Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein, who has been described as a masterminded architect. The concept of spending immeasurable millions for one player was unwise, since the Red Sox are losing games, which is the reason he is blamed for the underachievement of Crawford and for even bringing aboard an injury-prone Erik Bedard.

The point is, Bedard has won one game since joining the Red Sox late in July from a trade, and again he's injured in September in which he's a non-factor in chase for the pennant. This isn't about Bedard, because it takes a total team effort to win in baseball. It's about the Red Sox as a whole, but what is unacceptable is the amount of losses, especially in September.

There's nothing spectacular about Adrian Gonzalez either, the first baseman who has swung poorly against the Yankees and Rays and owns a hideous batting average. It's a sign of weakness Gonzalez has shown ever since his arrival in Beantown and nowadays fans are deprived of greatness, whether the Red Sox faithful overlooks the field from the Green Monster view or sit in cozy seats behind home plate with a sellout crowd on hand.

This isn't really worth it, if your hometown team is underperforming or not exceeding all standards in what was supposed to be the best ballclub in baseball when it turns out to be irrational. Maybe it's because the Red Sox are considered a high-market franchise in which Boston was projected to win the World Series?

Those are the facts, and one can argue that this is maybe why the Red Sox are over hyped in a sense? Given the notion that Boston was in first place on Sept. 1, it was probable and believable, but not three weeks later. There's only a full week remaining and they were dispatched from the top spot in the division by the Yankees, a team the Red Sox truly disdain and has antipathy towards being that pinstripes and Sox just don't blend in together.

At the very least, it is now imperative for the Red Sox to survive a terrifying collapse and dismiss the dismal meltdowns in recent weeks. It almost means that Jonathan Papelbon can't afford to blow another save as he did Tuesday night against the Orioles, a night that turned into a dreadful nightmare. It's good to hope he doesn't have to take full responsibility for another loss this season.

For almost a decade, if not an entire decade, Josh Beckett has been known as a big-game pitcher, but not now on decline and slightly accountable for the Red Sox enlarged 6.77 ERA in September of their starters. The 23 errors in the past 21 games will come back to haunt Boston, all of which is daunting for a city that culturally think highly of baseball, and comes together inside Fenway Park and sings "Sweet Caroline."

But even Neil Diamond knows it's not so sweet in Beantown, just as much as Red Sox fans grasp similar vibes. As it stands right now, Dustin Pedroia is distraught and incensed and David Ortiz is Old Papi, not Big Papi and has witnessed his first real collapse with the Red Sox. He also has a confused state of mind, and so does team captain Jason Varitek. Now would be a good time to erase the outrage. As of quickly, the Red Sox are submerging into quicksand, unless they turn it around. Again, it's call survival.

Bye-bye, Boston. Unless the Red Sox avoids further misery, then they'll not have to wave farewell. It's all about winning for survival.