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I've really tried to avoid the Pirates this past week and a half. I'd rather stick to the optimism of a budding NFL season that the absolute misery that has been the 2nd half for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Nonetheless, with Twitter, Facebook, and even the scrolling "Bottom Line" at the top of the Black n' Gold Blitz webpage, it is unavoidable. I still check the scores, listen to games, and watch as much as I can. It makes me sick to think about how good this team was, and what they've become. Everything good about the Pirates - Andrew McCutchen, James McDonald, AJ Burnett, Garrett Jones, Starling Marte, Wandy Rodriguez - have all gone south in a bad way. Injuries pile up, Hurdle makes moronic moves as manager, and the team continues to lose. I wonder if they feel more comfortable with all of the fan base not hanging any expectations on them on a nightly basis? Whatever the reason, the team has accomplished back to back sweeps and is looking worse than ever. I realize that they were in all of the 3 games in Cincinnati, but lets be honest...they were fortunate to even be within 1 or 2 runs of the solid Reds team.
I know the Buccos are only 2.5 games out of the 2nd Wild Card spot, and I'm trying to find some optimism in my brain, but I can't. Screw the playoffs. Can anyone reading this actually see this team winning a "play-in" game vs the Braves?? Time will tell as the Pirates close the season out with a 3 game set with the Braves. If you ask me, the thing everyone should be looking at is can this team break "the streak"? I wrote several times that true fans shouldn't be worried about the streak, but be worried about winning and contending. I still feel that way, but there can be some positives to come out of this season if the Pirates accomplish something that hasn't been done in 19 years...win more games than they lose. Lets take a look at what the Pirates need to do to break "THE STREAK".
The Pirates need to play .500 baseball for the remaining 20 games of the season. Finish 10-10 and they will have won more than they lost. That seems easy, but this team is 5-15 in their last 20 games and has reached a 6 game losing streak, the longest of the season. Next up for the sinking Bucs is a 4 game set in Chicago against the Cubs, who recently swept the Pirates at home this past weekend. After that, it doesn't get much easier. 3 game set vs the Brewers (who own the Pirates), 3 game set in Houston with the Astros, 4 games in NY with the Mets, then 6 straight home games...3 vs the Reds and 3 vs the Braves. Someone tell me where 10 wins are in that stretch? Lets say they take 2 of 3 from the Cubs and Astros, that is only 4 wins. You need to find 6 more to get to .500. Its possible, but with the writing on the wall it is looking more and more likely that the Pirates and their disturbed fan base might be in for another dud of a season stretching the streak to 20 years. Good LORD! 20 YEARS?!! Absolutely disgusting...
As much as I don't want to say this, and hate myself for doing it, there is no chance of them finishing 10-10. Wild pitches, fielding errors, base running blunders, inability to score runs, I could go on and on. They look like a high school JV team out there. The playoffs are out of the question, but hopefully they can prove me wrong and break the streak. Here's to mediocrity...cheers!
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