The Pittsburgh Pirates have really fallen on hard-times the last two-months of the season. They've dropped 41 of their last past 58 games, and the Cinderella story that was the first four-months of the Buccos campaign has turned into another giant pumpkin and a 19th-consecutive losing-season.
But before Jerry Meals and that 10-game slide in late-July pulled down the curtain on the "feel-goodness" of 2011, there were a couple of moments that brought back the past for me as a fan.
Moments that made me realize that, even though it's been tough for me as a fan over the last 19 years, deep-down in my heart-of-hearts, I'll always love the Pirates.
The first runner-up moment was a rather innocent one, but I feel like sharing. I only have basic cable and don't get to watch much ESPN these days, so when I want to catch highlights of the Pirates games, I wait until they're posted on the team's official website.
In late-June, the Boston Red Sox and their elitist fans, visited PNC Park for a weekend inter league series.
The Pirates took the Friday night game, and in game-two, after trailing, 2-0, early, went-on to win, 6-4.
My favorite moment occurred while watching the highlights on the Internet that Saturday evening.
As I said, the Pirates were down, 2-0, and, believe it or not, Lyle Overbay hit a three-run home run to put Pittsburgh ahead. The very next batter, Ronny Cedeno, immediately followed with a double, and when the cameras cut to a shot of the crowd, there was a group of Pirates fans standing and chanting, "Let's Go Bucs! Let's Go Bucs!" I don't know, for some reason, that just did it for me. It was nice to see Pirates fans having such a good time watching their team and not just sitting there quietly while the Boston fans took over their park. It just made me feel good for some reason.
My favorite moment from 2011 happened on a Friday night in early-July. My girlfriend and I were on our way home from seeing the movie "Horrible Bosses" (great movie, by the way), and I was curious to hear the score of the Pirates game against the Cubs. I turned on the post-game show and heard David Todd discussing Michael Mckenry's three-run shot in the bottom of the 8th-inning off of closer Carlos Marmol that gave Pittsburgh a thrilling 7-4 victory.
I was excited, naturally, but it wasn't until I got home and checked out the highlights online that I really appreciated what Mckrenry did and really embraced the 2011 season. When Mckenry hit that bomb, Greg Brown went crazy in the booth and the entire stadium erupted as The Fort rounded the bases. The play-by-play guy was was getting emotional, the fans, obviously, were going insane, and the players in the dugout were jumping up-and-down.
I tell you, it just doesn't get much better than that in baseball.
That, right there, was my favorite Pirate moment since the combined no-hitter on July 12th, 1997.
Let's hope it was just the beginning of many more fun moments in the near-future.
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