A couple of weeks ago, when the Pirates were in the middle of an actual offensive explosion that saw them score 48 runs in a 5 or 6 game period, I felt good about being a Pirates fan. I remember walking from my apartment to the laundry room in my building and I was wearing a Pirates hat that my girlfriend bought me for my birthday last year. It was the day after they defeated those hated Milwaukee Brewers, 11-9. Pirates hitting phenom, Pedro Alvaraz, hit two home runs in that game and he looked to be coming into his own a little.
Well, the next game, the Pirates were absolutely killing the Brewers. This time, they scored 15 runs and Alvaraz had two more home runs. I was at Applebees with my girlfriend and I witnessed Pedro's second dinger. It hit off the foul poll. It was at that moment, that I knew the Pirates had a legitimate major league player. The guy has a sweet home run swing. It's the kind of hitter they haven't had here since Barry Bonds moved to San Fransisco. People were so eager to see young Pedro come up this season and when he finally did, he was kind of underwhelming. He struck out often (he still does, actually,) but that's ok because most power-hitters strike out a lot, especially the young guys. Bo Jackson struck out his first 21 or 23 times at bat, and he turned out to be a pretty good player.
I'm starting to really like this young lineup the Pirates have been putting out there since the last of the prospects were called up in June:
Andrew Mccutchen, Jose Tabata, Neil Walker, Garrett Jones, Pedro Alvaraz, Lastings Milledge, Rony Cedeno, and newly acquired catcher, Chris Snyder.
That looks like a pretty good crew. Cutch and Pedro look like they can develop into perennial all-stars. Guys Tabata and Walker could make an allstar game or two in their day. And Milledge might not be a thing of beauty and he can frustrate you from time-to-time, but he gets the job done; there's something to be said about a player who hits as well as he does with runners in scoring position.
Of course, there is the matter of the pitching staff. Paul Maholm has been solid and Jeff Karstens has been a pleasant surprise, but the rest of the staff has been a major disappointment. Ross Ohlendorf has only one win this year, and Zach Duke can't seem to go two games without being smacked around.
Brad Lincoln's short time in the big leagues was less than impressive. Charlie Morton doesn't seem to be improving any in the minors.
After all these years of focusing on acquiring young pitching, the Pirates don't have a legitimate horse to throw out there every 5 days. It doesn't look like it's going to come from the minors anytime soon, either. Tim Alderson, who they received in the Freddy Sanchez trade, was actually demoted from AAA to AA. And Brian Morris is still a ways away.
Hopefully, they'll be able to sign the two young high school pitchers they drafted in June, but even if they do, they're high school pitchers and won't be ready for at least a few years.
James Mcdonald, who they acquired last week as part of the Octavio Dotel trade, had a very impressive debut against the Rockies on Thursday. He struck out 6 of the first 7 batters he faced. He actually had life on his fastball and had good offspeed pitches. Maybe he is a diamond in the rough. We'll see.
Speaking of Dotel, Huntington dealt three of their best relievers, leaving them with only Hanrahan and Meek to carry the load. I don't have a problem with that. Quality middle relievers can be picked up every year, and Dotel had to be traded. He was really the only veteran of value that Huntington had to deal. And if this Mcdonald kid is at least solid, it'll be worth it.
It looks like Hanrahan has assumed the closing duties initially, but that doesn't mean that Meek won't get a shot, too.
That brings me to Saturday night. The Pirates were leading the Rockies, 5-2 in the 9th inning and since I don't have FSN anymore, I was following the action on the Internet with the frequent box score updates.
I turned on the CW so I could watch the "Nightly Sports" whatever call-in show that they have and the host said that the Rockies had tied the score at 5. Damn. Joel Hanrahan blew a save.
Then in the 10th inning, Todd Helton hit a two-run shot and the Pirates were down, 7-5.
The host and the callers were tearing the Pirates a new one.
I fell asleep under the impression that they lost. I checked the Yahoo box score yesterday morning just for the hell of it, and I was surprised that they came back and won.
That in and of itself wasn't that big a deal. After all, they are 30something games under .500. But when I read the recap and saw that Pedro Alvaraz was the hero with a two-out, three-run shot, I was excited.
I found some video footage recapping the game and it was pretty electric. It was a sell-out crowd and when Pedro took his home run cut, Pirates color-commentator Steve Blass started screaming, "Oh my God!" I've never heard him get so excited about something. And the crowd was going nuts, too.
A nice little preview of what it might be like if the Pirates ever give us something to really get excited about.
For a brief moment, I was proud to be a Pirates fan.
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