Freddy Sanchez won't fall victim to the Curse of Cotton Tierney.

If you never heard of ol' Cotton, well, I hadn't either until I went to baseball-reference.com to find players similar to Sanchez, who won the National League batting title last year at 28, his first year as a regular.

That's how I met Tierney, at least statistically. He batted .345 for the Pirates in 1922, also at 28. According to the Web Site "Cot's Baseball Contracts," his reward for finishing fifth in batting was a $5,000 contract the next season.

Tierney didn't last. The book, "The Ballplayers," edited by Mike Shatzkin, dismisses him in a single paragraph:

"Better at bat than in the field, the witty Tierney played second base for the fun-loving Pirates of 1922 and sang in the team quartet. Despite a .345 BA that year, he was traded to the Phillies early in 1923, and when his hitting fell off his ML career was over."

Luckily, Sanchez has not fallen prey to the siren call of barbershop quartets. He has slapped his way back up the charts to enter the game last night in the league's Top 10 in doubles, singles and sacrifice flies and the Top 15 in batting average and hits.

That's a nice comeback for a guy who began the year hobbled by a sprained right knee. He left April batting .224 with just two doubles and no home runs. Sanchez has hit .317 with a .360-on base average, 31 doubles and eight home runs since.

In short, Sanchez has hit better than any Pirates second baseman since Johnny Ray in 1986. Sanchez's .304 batting average, .345 on-base average and .431 slugging average is right there with his career .311/.350/.429 line after more than 1,700 plate appearances.

His fielding has improved, too.

Sanchez always could handle balls he reached; his fielding percentage of .991 is atop the league. The knock on him was his range and his ability to turn the double play.

Sanchez has handled the pivot on 56 double plays, turning more than any second baseman in the NL, according to The Hardball Times. He has started 23 more DPs, which puts him only 10th in that category, an indication the range still isn't what you would like.

But it's not as if Sanchez was succeeding Bill Mazeroski. As a complete package, he is much better than the error-prone, strike-zone challenged Jose Castillo, and as Sanchez's fielding improves, the distance between the two infielders should increase.

So as one who still was questioning Sanchez's move from third base two months ago and looking for a way to get him back across the infield occasionally, I credit manager Jim Tracy for paying no attention. He let Sanchez take his lumps relearning the right side of the infield, and it's paying off.

Judging from my e-mail and some Pirates blogs, that opinion is going to rile a few Castillo fans. There are still some out there who think his first 446 games and 1,565 plate appearances didn't give him nearly enough of a chance. Like Japanese soldiers stranded on desolate Pacific islands decades after the end of World War II, these fans still believe this is not over and the cause is worth pursuing.

Well, I won't tell these people a rebound for Castillo is impossible. He's only 26 and a lost Japanese soldier once made it to Gilligan's Island. But those still inspired by memories of Castillo's opposite-field home runs should know his batting average since Aug. 14, 2006, when he hit his last home run, is .228. His on-base average in that period is .256, the lowest Pirates OBA by more than 50 points, and his slugging average .301, worst by more than 60 points. Castillo has 21 doubles in that time, but also has grounded into 17 double plays. He had 312 at-bats without a home run through Sunday.

So it makes no sense to bench Jose Bautista, Jack Wilson or Sanchez for him. All three have hit well in the second half, pushing the Pirates' August batting average through Sunday to .304 with a collective .380 OBA and .513 SLG. The team has averaged more than seven runs a game, the best in baseball.

In other words, it's not the infield or the hitting you need to worry about lately, but the pitching, catching and outfield defense. That's why the Pirates began only 10-8 this month despite all their scoring. That's why they still could lose 90.

That's why, if Tierney played today, he'd be a blues singer.