Labor Day

Reprising last year's Labor Day post, since it still seems apropos ...

The following is from an editorial in The New York Times:

"... change the emphasis from labor to jobs and you come upon a subject that is very much on the minds of Americans, and not merely among the 14 million officially unemployed people in this country, a number equivalent to the population of Illinois, Wyoming and Vermont.

"Perhaps Labor Day should be a day to consider the struggles of so many Americans eager to work but unable to find jobs.  Perhaps it should be a day for parades of the unemployed, to remind us of the dignity of work and the indignity of being out of it."

Could the Pirates Finish Below .500?

With the month having just started, the Pirates' September Swoon appears to have started.  Already.  Yesterday, James McDonald  ("J-Mac") was Beyond Awful.

First inning:  After surrendering a four-pitch, lead-off walk and watching Pedro Alvarez botch a potential double-pay ball, MacDonald served up a honeydew that Ryan Braun launched on an arc that play-by-play announcer Greg Brown described as a "Moo-oo--ooon Shot!"  The Brewers poured it on from there to hand the Pirates a 12-8 shellacking.

Is it possible the Pirates will finish the season under .500? ... as unthinkable as that seemed at the All-Star break?  With 29 games to play, could they possibly blow a seven game lead (on .500)?   As the cattlemen say, let's take stock:

• Right  now, for the season, with a record of 70-63, they are seven games over .500.  
• For the month of August, with a record of 11-17, they were six games under .500.  
• As of today, they would have to go 11-18 to finish the season at .500.  
• They've lost nine of their last 12 games.  
• At this pace, with 29 games to go, yes, they could finish below .500 for the season -- yet again -- and what an ignominious, disappointing  and humiliating finish that would be.

C'mon, Buccos, right the ship, for crying out loud!

As Tim Williams over at Pirates Prospects says, "The Tme to Start Playing Like Contenders is Now."