Would you believe the Pirates' left fielder these past eight seasons has put up Cooperstown-worthy numbers?

Of course you wouldn't, unless you realize I'm talking about two guys. The tag team of Brian Giles and Jason Bay has averaged 33 home runs, 101 RBIs and 98 runs while batting .302 from 1999 through 2006.

Had that been one guy, Brian G. Bay might be on the way to immortality. The only outfielders to begin their careers with more than 261 home runs through eight seasons are Ralph Kiner (329), Ted Williams (265) and Frank Robinson (262).

As we're not talking about one player, or the start of careers, neither Giles nor Bay will have the longevity for the Hall of Fame. What we have instead might be even more unusual. How many teams ever hit the rewind button on a player the way the Pirates did when they traded Giles for Bay, Oliver Perez and a forgotten scrub in 2003?

"The Giles trade" is probably the best move of successive, unsuccessful general managers, Cam Bonifay and Dave Littlefield. Bonifay traded reliever Ricardo Rincon, the noted LOOGY ("Left-handed One-Out GuY") to the Cleveland Indians for Giles in November 1998. That was back when the Indians had Kenny Lofton, Manny Ramirez and David Justice and were looking for a left-handed reliever to strike out Paul O'Neill in the playoffs.

Cleveland got hosed. Then, almost five years later, Littlefield got the better of the Padres when he traded Giles to San Diego for an outfielder eight years younger. Bay has been the better player since, though not Giles' equal as a Pirate.

So let's try this game as we await the Pirates' big game tomorrow against Manatee Community College. How would the Giles/Bay era compare to that of other Pirates left fielders?

Despite terrific post-war competition, Giles and Bay stand up well. I'll compare them to Bonds' seven seasons as a Pirate, Kiner's seven-plus seasons here, and the first 10 seasons of Willie Stargell. That way, Stargell has roughly the same number of AB as Giles and Bay together.

That's the chronological order. Ranking them purely as hitters in these periods and adjusting for era, Kiner remains on top. Who else won the home run title in his first seven seasons?

Any ranking beyond that seems silly. Stargell had his best years after he turned 30, and Bonds' time includes his struggling start. Certainly nothing Giles or Bay has done matches Bonds' play in the early '90s. My point is the Giles/Bay tandem needn't hang its head, and then its other head, in this company.

These guys may have been underappreciated here because Bonds' exodus so clearly led to the Pirates' 14-year losing streak. The team first muddled along with Al Martin and lesser players in left field, but have been well served since the day Giles took over.

How well? Giles and Bay have played their entire National League careers in the shadow of Bonds, perhaps the greatest left fielder of all time, and certainly the greatest of the steroids era. Compare Giles and Bay, as Pirates, to Bonds in these past eight seasons.

That's not a bad return for less than one-quarter the price.

Giles played more center field than left field his first two seasons as a Pirate but, apart from that, this is a fair comparison as far as it goes. What would be unfair is ignoring other stats.

Bonds walked 513 more times than our duo despite missing much of the past two seasons to injuries. So Bay and Giles had 1,314 more AB in this period. Hence their relatively good showing in the counting stats.

Checking the on-base average and slugging average shows just how dominant Bonds has been:

Even so, it's not as if left field has been a Pirates problem this century. It's just that, like Kiner, the left fielders haven't had much help. Adam LaRoche's arrival is a plus, and Freddy Sanchez is a hitter, but the team still must hope a handful of question marks up and down the lineup turn into exclamation points.

Pencil in Bay for another 30-plus home runs, 100-plus RBIs and 100-plus runs if he stays healthy. That run should continue.

The run of losing ends when others pitch in.