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I casually -- and frequently -- refer to Albert Pujols as the best hitter in the game. I have been doing so for three years now.

There was a time a couple years back where some would take issue and raise Barry Bonds' name or that of Alex Rodriguez. Some would do so rather spiritedly.

No more.

Wonder why?

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Q: The more I hear about Adam LaRoche always has a slow start, the more it sounds like a big excuse to keep him in the lineup everyday. His batting average is horrible for most of the season, and the Pirates still put him at cleanup. He has one home run and three RBIs through 20 games. Not to mention a few pathetic plays on defense.

How much longer are the Pirates going to put up with such poor play?

Jeremy McIntire of Washington, Pa.

KOVACEVIC: The Pirates' approach to LaRoche is that they view his potential benefits -- a left-handed power bat at PNC Park with a very good glove -- as part of the goal they are trying to achieve. A team in this park needs left-handed power, and first base is a very good place to have it.

If, someday, Neil Walker begins to realize his potential, that would be a switch-hitting power bat across the infield, and there would be two.

If Doumit entrenches himself as the everyday catcher, that would be three.

All kinds of mail is coming in suggesting all kinds of remedies for LaRoche, not the least of which is a demotion to the minors to regain his swing. I hear that. I also hear that, if LaRoche went to Indianapolis and tore it up, it might not mean much more than the good hitting he did in the spring.

But I also know this: The Pirates are the very last team in Major League Baseball that can afford a middle-of-the-order hitter whose season begins in May or June. LaRoche simply must find a way to kill this trait dead if he is to fulfill his potential, whether in Pittsburgh or elsewhere.

On a related note: LaRoche pulled me aside yesterday and asked me to write something really scathing about him, in hopes that it might make him really mad and wake him out of his funk.

I think he was kidding.

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Q: In your article yesterday morning regarding the attendance, Frank Coonelly said this:

"Attendance over the first few games in April is never a reliable gauge of what overall attendance will be. We have sold more tickets than at this point last season, and our in-park attendance through seven games was within 400 people of what we had last year through seven games. Nevertheless, it is a shame that more fans have not been able to enjoy Pirates baseball at PNC Park to date."

When he states the last sentence, does he mean that it is a shame fans have not come to ...

A. Support the Pirates

B. Come to enjoy the ambiance that PNC Park provides

C. Because the team is lousy, fans are not excited and the onus is on the lack of product

Just curious. Thank you, Dejan.

Aaron Pollock of Wexford

KOVACEVIC: I do not interpret quotes, Aaron, but I can tell you that, in general, Coonelly has set a very high bar for where he wants the Pirates to be, on and off the field. And this becomes obvious when certain bars from the past are mentioned, and he will casually dismiss them, not to knock his predecessors but, rather, to strongly indicate that he is thinking on a wholly different level.

Within that context -- and kind of breaking my own rule here a little -- I would think it is quite safe to say that he meant the "shame" is more of a general thing, that the chasm between the Pirates and community that still must be closed is as great as it is.

And, as we all can see from all these empty blue seats, there remains a ton of work for the team to do, on and off the field.

But mostly on the field.

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Q: Dejan, I hear your sentiments about the Eleanor Rigby feel at the park. I had an eerily similar feeling during a 7-2 win against the Marlins early last season with barely 3,000 people in PNC. It was, as odd as it sounds, as depressing a win as we had at least five errors that night.

Moving away from the negative Matt Morris mail, John Grabow said his changeup is his out pitch, and he's going to ride it. In the majors, how long can one pitcher ride a pitch? Someone will eventually catch one, but in his case, how long is the life span of a pitch?

Ryan Kasun of Export

KOVACEVIC: Ask Brandon Webb. All Arizona's ace has done is win a Cy Young and a ton of games while essentially riding a dominant, ridiculous sinker.

This surprises me at times, too. Not so much from the standpoint of a dominant pitch, but that pitchers really have no issue with openly discussing such things.

Think about it: Paul Maholm said after his poor start last week in Los Angeles that he likely would take a different approach next time out and go with more soft stuff early. Now, everybody on the opposing team knows about it. The staff, if not the players, read the newspaper clippings and have a fairly decent idea what is coming.

No matter.

Maholm goes out against the Marlins and does exactly as he said, and the hitters' reactions are little different than if they knew nothing at all.

Why?

The obvious answer is that the brain has so little time to process anything from the point of a pitcher's release to the point the swing must begin -- or be held -- and no amount of advance scouting can alter that.

But the deeper answer likely is that a good pitch will negate a good guess.

Look at Grabow's changeup: That thing is having some cutting action right now that is patently unfair to right-handed hitters. They know it is coming. Everyone knows it is coming, especially to righties. But no one is hitting it because he is able to either plant it on the outside corner and draw an awkward, lunging swing that draws a rollover to the infield, or he makes it disappear under their fists, as you saw Tuesday.

On top of that, there is no rule that prevents Grabow from throwing his other pitches in the mix to keep everyone honest.

He has been very, very good, by the way, and probably does not get the attention he deserves for his consistency during his career with the Pirates. There probably are some teams kicking themselves right now for not having offered more when he was available through trade over the winter.

By the way, I was somewhat surprised at how many readers seemed to appreciate the full meaning of my throwaway Eleanor Rigby line yesterday, if only because it was so oblique.

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Until tomorrow ...