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The Pirates are back home, no doubt with the hopes of restoring some semblance of normalcy to their world after ... whatever sport that was they and the Reds were playing most of the weekend in Cincinnati ...

Q: Since it is clear that the Pirates have seen the last of the .500 mark this season, what players, if any, do you see getting call - ups?

I think Rajai Davis has earned a shot at the center field spot since Chris Duffy's average is falling closer to the Mendoza line every game. I also think it is time to send Zach Duke and Paul Maholm to Class AAA and bring up Bryan Bullington and John Van Benschoten. The only games I get the feeling the Pirates have a chance of winning right now are the ones started by Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny.

How many more days until the opening of Steelers training camp?

Jeff Bopp of Chambersburg, Pa.

KOVACEVIC: No idea about the Steelers, Jeff, but I can say this: If you are prepared to write off the Pirates' season -- disappointing and deflating as it has been most of the time -- tell me which team in this division you see running off with it.

The one that is five games over .500 and is 4-13 in its past 17? That would be Milwaukee.

How about the Cubs? They look pretty neat on paper, but no facet of their game seems to be clicking. And it is almost the end of May.

The Astros? How about 1-9 in their p ast 10?

The Reds? Wow.

Do not misunderstand: I am not suggesting the Pirates are better than any of these teams, nor that they are division-championship material. The evidence is overwhelming to this point that they are not. But they certainly do seem to be peers with these other teams.

For all the romanticism attached -- rightly so -- to the 1997 Freak Show team, it often is forgotten that the Pirates were in that race up to the final weekend almost entirely because the division was awful. Is it any better now?

To answer your question, I see call - ups getting made on an as-needed basis as opposed to a let's-see-what-this-guy-can-do basis. Duffy and Maholm each did fine in Cincinnati, and Duke clearly is going to get every opportunity to try out this new delivery and see if he can reclaim peak form.

Q: Dejan, I like what I saw for most of this weekend. Somehow, the Pirates were hustling and believing in themselves. I haven't heard the word "hustle" in conjunction with Pirates players in a long time. The baserunning, in particular, is quite a noted improvement along with the ever-controversial offense. The pitching has been a bit iffy at points, but we've won.

I want to believe that this is a marked improvement for the Buccos, and I also know that some of the offense is due to the even worse Reds, but is this a turnaround that could stick around for a while?

Ryan Kasun of Export

KOVACEVIC: It will not take you long to have your real answer, Ryan. Here come David Wells, Chris Young and Greg Maddux, who are no Kyle Lohse.

As to your remark about hustle: That is an abstract element, obviously, one very difficult to measure.

How much more does it appear to be hustling when every other guy is hitting one into the gap?

How much of hustle has to do with a manager's approach or a third base coach gambling to send a guy home, and how much is on the invididual?

I wrote late last week that I saw things with the Pirates this month -- in a negative sense as related to effort -- that I had not seen previously on this beat. And all I am sure after the Cincinnati series is that there can be no certainty about anything that happened out there: Did the bats really come alive? If so, what happened yesterday? Is the Pirates' pitching -- especially the bullpen -- really that poor? Precedent would suggest it is not.

As mentioned above, normalcy is sure to return, for better or worse, with the pitching-rich Padres in town and in a much fairer ballpark.

Q: Dejan, I grew up in the Burgh and have been a fan of the Pittsburgh Baseball Club my whole life. I know of the glory years that we have had , b ut it just dawned on me the other day that I don't know as much about the PBC as I think I do, or should. What book would you suggest that I read to get a thorough history of our franchise?

Josh Grubbs off Knoxville, Tenn.

KOVACEVIC: I have a whole shelf of them, Josh, and I rely on different books for different eras, which is the first thing I would recommend to anyone. For example, Frederick G. Lieb's The Pittsburgh Pirates was published in 1946 and offers the author's first-hand accounts of the team in the first half of the previous century. And there can be no substitute for that, even the most diligent after-the-fact research.

But, if you are looking for all-under-one-roof material, the one I prefer is the Pittsburgh Pirates Encyclopedia. It is thorough, entertaining, and the cross-referencing I did with other material supports its accuracy, at least as much as that is possible. (Plus, the two guys who wrote it are enough into the Pirates that they once wrote in to the Q&A ... if that has anything to do with anything.)

Until tomorrow, by which point Bud Selig might begin seriously entertaining the idea of dropping the Central into MLB's second division ...