The Balks of August
For the last 19 years there was a moment every summer around when the MLB All Star Game was played that you could suspend disbelief and say, yes, it was still possible for the Pirates to pull off a winning season and even make it to the playoffs. Thus was the the fairy tale of the 1973 Mets who went from last to first in just the 2nd half of the season.
Who knew the Pirates were destined to emulate the 1973 Mets, but in a perversely opposite kind of way. For a few days at mid-season the Pirates were at least tied for first place. For a few hours, and it really was just a few hours, they were indeed there all by themselves atop the NL Central. Could they really drop from first to last so quickly? OK, it seems unlikely they will really drop below Houston, but even if they don't we are on the verge of an epic choke.
We are now well entrenched in the pachinko path that is mostly indistinguishable from any of the last 19 (it's actually 17 and two half seasons of course) seasons. Sad, but true.
Who knew the Pirates were destined to emulate the 1973 Mets, but in a perversely opposite kind of way. For a few days at mid-season the Pirates were at least tied for first place. For a few hours, and it really was just a few hours, they were indeed there all by themselves atop the NL Central. Could they really drop from first to last so quickly? OK, it seems unlikely they will really drop below Houston, but even if they don't we are on the verge of an epic choke.
We are now well entrenched in the pachinko path that is mostly indistinguishable from any of the last 19 (it's actually 17 and two half seasons of course) seasons. Sad, but true.
10 Comments:
Funny, it was right around mid-season when I told someone I was just waiting for them to start losing again. I had a feeling they were going to choke. Maybe I jinxed them.
I'm going to my first Pirates game next week.
True, they tanked hard,, losing 9 or 10 in a row at one point. But, I thought I heard today that Milwaukee is 19-2 over its last 21 games. Geez, hard to see how any team could keep up with that.
It all started to go south when I posted that Ed Ott rookie photo - sorry.
I will add that I'm no doom and gloomer this year. This is a good club, a joy to watch. They will make noise in September.
And because the other geeks are thinking it, why does our one game losing streak look longer than the two game winning streak before it? You're just free-handing that red line now.
The last few years, we knew by Memorial Day that the playoffs or a .500 season was out of the question.
Duh...it's game behind, not whatever metric (.500!) I was visualizing.
So that red line is all the Brewers fault.
then it must also be true that the season's peak (for the Pirates) was also the Brewers and the Cardinals 'fault' as well.
F#%! the Brewers.
With that said, the Pirates aren't that far below .500, so if they can win more often than they lose for the rest of the season, then a winning record is still doable.
if they can win more often than they lose for the rest of the season, then a winning record is still doable.
Is that the "math" thing I've been hearing about?
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