Pittsburgh Pirates Insult & Injure Their Fans

 











 Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE
  
About a week ago I wrote about how both the Pittsburgh Pirates
and the New york Mets have really made a mess of what started
out as promising seasons early on, and even further along, but
since then the Mets have managed to add a 20 winner into the fold
as a little bit of a treat to their fans, and earlier on rewarded their
fans with the franchises first no hitter as well.  Both of these feats
took place at home, so the home fans really had a chance to enjoy
them, and at least say they were there.

Now though it's true that with five games remaining for the Pirates
they already have four more wins than they did last season, and the
Mets could only improve on last years win total if they won every
last game they have remaining, I'm going to venture and say that
Pirates fans have to be a little less satisfied than they thought they
might be a few weeks a go.  I'm thinking that fans in Pittsburgh
would have been happy to take the consolation prize of finishing
over .500 for the first time in two decades if they couldn't make
the playoffs, but after tonight not only is that off the table, but the
team would have to go 5-0 just to finish .500.  Now not only is
the bar getting lower, and lower for what fans expected from their
team, but it is VERY unlikely.  For the last six weeks or so the
Pirates have not only been going backwards in the standings, but
have also been doing things backwards, like instead of rewarding
their fans with anything like I mentioned earlier, but instead of
what the Mets did with giving their fans a no-hitter at home, the
Pirates eliminated all hope of finishing over .500 by being no-hit
at home tonight in front of their home fans.

I have no doubt that Clint Hurdle has done a great job with this
team, and should likely remain as the manager in Pittsburgh, it
is also quite evident that this type of finish is not only a tease to
the fans that began coming back to the ball park in the Steel City
to root on their team, but is also adding insult to injury on what has
no doubt been a painful couple of decades for the fans.
 
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Magical Ride For Mets And Pirates Comes To Crash & Burn

Their seasons got off to so much promise, even though
no one believed in them other than some of their most
ardent fans.  The Pirates even had a share of 1st place
for a moment past the season mid season mark.  The Mets
too had possession of 1st place in the NL East for what
would amount to a little less than a moment, and the
reality set in for both of these recently beleaguered
franchises.

I'm not sure which story is sadder, the one which had
the Pirates finishing above .500 for the fist time in
over two decades, but is now in jeopardy, or the one
that has season play six games over .500 hundred for
the 1st half of 2012 only to play a woeful TWENTY TWO
games under .500 since. 

These teams share other things in common as well, both
of their managers are in their second year and have
received much praise for the way their teams have both
played hard, and stayed relevant, butunfortunately the
Pirates like the Mets had a decent start to the season
last year only to have a similar fate in the 2nd half.
Now though the Pirates have already surpassed 2011,
but after being 2-8 in their last ten games and losing
games to the 100+ loss Houston Astros and the clearly
inferior Chicago Cubs, it's bound to leave a really bad
taste in your mouth going into the off season for the
fan base.  Terry Collins had a better 2011 than Clint
Hurdle did, but in 2012 the Mets stand to regress if
you just base this on wins and losses.  At this point
the Mets would need to finish the season 10-2 just to
equal last years mark, and they too are a miserable
2-8 in their last ten games.  Similarly the Mets too
fell victim to the Chicago Cubs, the Mets dropped 2
out of three to them at Wrigley at the end of June and
later dropped 2 out of three at home again just before
the All Star break.  

The fans of these two teams are going to need to hang
on a little longer if they hope to enjoy in the riches
of good seasons to come if there are to be any, but
with baby steps like these, and some one step forward
two steps backward type seasons, it may be a while
before these two managers get to straighten it out. 

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Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

A.J. Burnett Goes From Trash To Treasure In Pittsburgh

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette)

Though I am not really sure who said it, it's something
that we have all heard before: "One Mans Trash Is Another
Man's Treasure", and that is exactly the case for the New
York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates when it comes to
the trade of A.J. Burnett this past weekend.

N.Y. Yankee fans couldn't be happier as a whole to get
A.J. Burnett out of town, and many volunteered to drive
him to wherever he was going as a bonus to it all.
A.J. Had clearly worn out his welcome after having been
so underwhelming with a 34-35 record with a 4.79 ERA in
his three seasons with the Yankees. It's certainly not
what the fans or the Yankees were expecting after they
signed him to a 5 year deal for $82.5Mil in 2009.
The Yankees did win a World Series in that time, but the
numbers were enough to send most of them into therapy,
and that was unacceptable in that part of N.Y. Baseball.

Then comes the the part where A.J. is welcomed with open
arms and seen as "Treasure", and not "Trash" by the
Pittsburgh Pirates and most of their fans. Of course the
Pirates haven't won a World Series since 1979, are trying
to avoid a 20th consecutive losing season, and the Yankees
are willing to pay sixty percent of Burnett's remaining
$33Mil salary in order for the Pirates to take him off
their hands. There is no question that A.J. Burnett will
be an instant improvement to a Pirates team that had it's
moments last season, but wasn't able to retain any of it's
early season scucess. It's also likely that he will be
the instant ace for Clint Hurdle, but it does show how
clear that perception is everything.

This makes both fan bases happier if not necessarily elated,
and is truly likely to improve both teams. What else can
one ask for? It's not likely to hurt Burnett's career much
either, as has been noted many times, a change of scenery
is good, and maybe he can pull a Lin.

Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis