Saturday, September 29, 2012

Give the Pirates Credit: They Know How to Make a Statement

"We're going to have a losing record for the 20th consecutive year, and we're going to do it by getting no-hit. At home.  Emphatically, by having our faces rubbed in it by the team that's been humiliating us all summer.  Buy your tickets now for next season!"

Frank Coonelly, president of the Pittsburgh Baseball Club, may as well have issued a written statement.  Before the game.  For that matter, before the 2012 season. 

Well, it's good that, on Wednesday, Coonelly issued a written statement that preempted any notion of change (e.g., hope) for 2013 by confirming there will no changes in the top ranks of management (i.e., Neal Huntington, Kyle Stark, Greg Smith).

No hits in 27 at-bats.  Against the "great" Homer Bailey, who has surrendered, what, about a hit per inning all season? 

In a game that the Pirates had an opportunity to show their mettle, their spunk, their pride, their fight,  they laid down meekly, like lambs.  That's who they are. 

Not the brash, swaggering, swashbuckling, buccanering, privateering Pittsburgh Pirates.

More like the Pittsburgh Lambs.