Pirates manager Jim Tracy owes third baseman Freddy Sanchez big time.

Sanchez saved his fanny yesterday.

Kind of ironic, isn't it?

Tracy has talked a good game, much better than his team has played it. He has preached about teaching his players how to win and strongly hinted they would be more successful than one win every three games if they just did a better job of listening to him and his staff. His not-so-subtle message seems clear: Don't blame me for our lousy record.

Well, the Pirates won yesterday in spite of Tracy.

They did it because Sanchez capped a fabulous four-hit day with a walkoff home run to beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-6, ending the Pirates' 13-game losing streak, their longest since Benjamin Harrison was in the White House.

You bet there was some delicious irony there, irony that must have been felt in the Pirates' clubhouse where the players probably wouldn't mind if the boss took just a little of the heat once in a while.

Tracy said all of the right things about Sanchez, even pushing him for the All-Star Game. But he wasn't interested in the suggestion that he might have blundered when he allowed right-handed reliever Roberto Hernandez to pitch to White Sox left-handed slugger Jim Thome with the Pirates ahead, 6-4, and a runner on first base in the eighth inning. Tracy had three left-handers in his bullpen, four if you want to count Oliver Perez. Damaso Marte, who had struck out Thome the night before, was ready, yet Tracy stuck with Hernandez. Thome hit the first pitch into the Allegheny River.

Literally.

Tracy got away with it this time, thanks to Sanchez. He wasn't so fortunate when he allowed right-hander Salomon Torres to pitch to the Minnesota Twins' left-handed Justin Morneau with the bases loaded in the eighth inning of a one-run game June 18. Morneau cleared 'em with a double.

Maybe Tracy has no faith in Marte or John Grabow, another of his left-handers. But if that's true, why are they on the team? If you can't use them to pitch to Thome and Morneau, when can you use them?

"If Thome had represented the go-ahead run, obviously, I would have made the move [to Marte]," Tracy said.

What? A tie in that situation is OK?

"Roberto Hernandez is my eighth-inning pitcher," Tracy added. "He gets out right-handers and left-handers and has been doing it all year."

It doesn't matter that Hernandez's earned run average against lefties was 4.97 compared with 1.17 against right-handers?

"Thome hits home runs off right-handers and left-handers," Tracy continued. "He's not really particular ..."

Thome is a .297 lifetime hitter against right-handers and averages a home run every 11.6 at-bats. He's a .246 hitter against lefties with a home run every 22.5 at-bats.

This isn't the first time Tracy has baffled with his postgame analysis.

He hit a new low Tuesday night after the 4-2 loss to the White Sox when he said, "We didn't do anything wrong." Is this the big leagues or not? Isn't there something inherently wrong about losing?

Then yesterday, in the excitement of the rare win, Tracy talked again about how close the Pirates are to being competitive, pointing to their high number of one- and two-run losses, as if that were some kind of badge of honor. This was surprising in a couple of ways. One, Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy had just said publicly that he was tired of hearing about the tough defeats. And two, Tracy is smart enough to know good teams win close games and bad teams lose them.

All the Pirates' 8-22 record in one-run games indicates is that they are awful. So does their 27-53 overall record.

None of this is to suggest Tracy deserves most of the blame. The players deserve more. So does general manager Dave Littlefield, who hasn't given Tracy enough to work with. And so do McClatchy and the Nuttings, who comprise what has to be the worst ownership in sports and should be embarrassed to look their fellow owners in the eye when they play host to the All-Star Game July 11.

It's just to suggest Tracy hasn't been as smart as he thinks he is.

From the day he took the Pirates' job, he talked of demanding accountability from the players, of paying attention to detail, of changing the losing ways. Intentionally or not, it came across as pretty demeaning to his predecessor, Lloyd McClendon.

Like McClendon didn't try to do the same things?

Like Gene Lamont didn't before McClendon?

It's funny, McClendon and Lamont will be at PNC Park tonight with the Detroit Tigers as coaches for Jim Leyland. They are too classy to say it publicly, but they must be the happiest guys in baseball. Because the Tigers are 54-25. And because the Pirates are, well, the same old Pirates. It's proof maybe they weren't so dumb here after all.

Do you think maybe McClendon and Lamont have asked themselves this question a time or two this season?

How bad would the Pirates be if Tracy weren't paying such close attention to detail?