Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Are the Pirates done?

Stick a fork in them. That seemed to be the prevailing sentiment after another loss to the Reds last night extended the Pirates losing streak to five straight. ESPN even displayed an eerie graphic that highlighted the Pirates struggles of late. It showed how the Pirates fared in the 20 games following their 19-inning marathons in both 2011 and 2012. Staring back at us from the screen were identical 5-15 records. Deja vu indeed.

That's only part of the story, though. Sure, the Pirates have been struggling since the All-Star break and the comparisons to last year are undeniable. I highlighted some of the similarities last month. Still, there are differences that could indicate that the Pirates are not quite done. That 19-inning fiasco happened weeks earlier last year and the result was so devastating, the Pirates never regained their footing. This year, the Pirates won that game, but were forced to take a late flight to the west coast and battle a surging San Diego Padres team that swept them. This was at the end of a brutal stretch of 20 straight games without an off-day. "Clay Pigeon-Gate" aside, it was going to take some time for the team to recover from essentially playing 21 games in 20 days.

The team's offense has been woeful of late, but part of that can be attributed to the loss of Neil Walker. This team is ill-equipped to go without one of their key offensive cogs for any stretch of time. The rotation has also been healthier than last year at this time, but getting Jeff Karstens back on the mound will go a long way toward maintaining some consistency. Most importantly, the team is only 2.5 games back of the final NL Wild Card spot. That should help the team maintain focus and composure, as opposed to last year when their slide took them out of the playoff hunt almost immediately.

Despite the uncanny similarities between last fall and this one, this team still has time to turn it around. They are close enough to the playoffs (and ending their stretch of 19-straight losing seasons) that a brief spate of wins followed by steady play might do the trick. I'm certainly not as optimistic about achieving either goal as I was a month ago, but I do see this team as different from last year's and I do think they have enough veterans on this team to dig their feet into the dirt and change the momentum. The team can take a big step in that direction tonight in Cincinnati with their ace A.J. Burnett on the mound.

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