If you listen closely to what the Pirates are saying, you'll discover they have a pretty high opinion of themselves. Amazing, isn't it?

After a one-run loss in a series-opening game to the New York Yankees earlier this month, Ryan Doumit said, "I think we made a statement to the Yankees."

Yeah, it was such a statement that the Yankees outscored the Pirates, 22-9, the next two games.

After a loss to Anaheim last week, Jack Wilson said, "I really think this team is better than this."

Earth to Pirates, Earth to Pirates; can you hear this?

You're not better than you're showing. You're as bad as you're showing -- maybe worse.

There's blame to go everywhere in a season that is becoming a fiasco -- from the owner to the general manager to the manager to the coaches to the players. In most organizations, jobs -- including the manager's and general manager's -- would be in jeopardy. In the no-accountability world of the Pirates, that might not be the case, but it should be.

There is an avalanche of statistical evidence that states the Pirates are a bad baseball team, not the least of which is their 31-44 record going into their game last night with Florida.

There also is evidence the Pirates are getting worse.

In Lloyd McClendon's final season as manager in 2005, the only offensive area where the Pirates finished lower than 12th in the National League was runs, where they were 14th. That's damning with faint praise, but the Pirates would gladly take that today.

In Jim Tracy's two seasons, the Pirates were 16th in runs last year and are 15th this year. They're 15th only because Washington is so bad. The Pirates' runs per game are less this season than last. In three other critical offensive areas -- on-base percentage, slugging percentage and home runs -- the Pirates were 14th or lower last season and on pace to do so again this season.

What is particularly distressing is that the slight hope seen by some people -- including this column -- for a small window of opportunity in 2008 and '09, today is barely a crack, if that much.

All over the field, the Pirates are disappointing, but that's nowhere more true than at first base where Adam LaRoche, the left-handed power hitter the team so badly needed, has been a bust. There's no reason to give up on LaRoche, based on his three seasons in Atlanta, but his play offers scant encouragement.

It was one thing when LaRoche got off to a poor start. It's quite another when in late June, with the season almost to its halfway point, he still was batting .211 with eight home runs.

The Pirates were expected to benefit from LaRoche's power bat. In fact, they have suffered because of it. The Pirates were better at first base last season when Sean Casey and Craig Wilson got the most playing time. Pirates first basemen batted .276 last season with a .356 on-base percentage and a .426 slugging percentage. This year, with LaRoche taking all but 20 of the at-bats at first base, those numbers were .208, .298 and .352 before the game last night -- all significant declines.

Joggin' Ronny Paulino is right up there, if not ahead of LaRoche, when it comes to disappointment. After batting .310 last season, Paulino had not been above .228 this season. Worse, on too many occasions he has failed to catch well-thrown balls on plays at home plate. Worse still, he too often jogs on the bases and loafs defensively. Despite this lack of hustle, he still continues to play most days.

Which leads to the team's biggest disappointment -- Tracy.

The Pirates are playing terrible fundamental baseball, worse than they did in the McClendon era, and Tracy is not responding. He is making excuses for players. When asked, for example, about Paulino's problem catching throws to home, Tracy pointed out how the team worked on that in spring training.

Spring training?

How about yesterday and the day before and the day before that and every day until Paulino starts to catch the ball?

What's truly disheartening is Tracy's not offering the leadership this bedraggled team needs. The Pirates don't need soothing words. They don't need excuses. They need a leader to stand up and demand responsibility from the players, the coaches and himself. Right now, there's little or none of that.

It's looking more and more as if Tracy was not the right fit for this team. He frequently talks about his days with the Dodgers, a team that often had a payroll of close to or more than $100 million when he was the manager. The Pirates are not the Dodgers. There is some question as to whether Tracy realizes that.

Tracy has had ample opportunity to bring his leadership skills to bear on this situation. He hasn't. Owner Bob Nutting is just about the only man who can make a significant course-altering decision.

Nutting, we've seen, is a man slow to act. He sees the Pirates as a business, one that is making money. But, for the good of the franchise -- for the good of his investment -- it's time for Nutting to think seriously about who he wants as his general manager and manager.

Those are the only kinds of changes that can correct the losing mentality that has overwhelmed this organization.