It did not come with high drama or a scintilla of suspense. It was one more ache, a little more fever in a long-term, low-grade infection.

Being a loser for 16 years in a row can feel that way. And given how the Pirates have been playing since they clinched a tie for all-time sports futility, with a loss Sunday in San Francisco, there's little sign this team will shake its malady even next season.

Through Wednesday night, the Pirates were on a fresh five-game losing streak, not to mention losses in 16 of the last 19 games. Those young prospects the team got in the Jason Bay and Xavier Nady trades suddenly don't look so promising.

The changes that owner Bob Nutting unleashed a year ago in the front office have not shown results on the field. Even the franchise's claim to its No. 1 draft pick this year, Pedro Alvarez, is tied up in arbitration. It's going to be a long, cold offseason.

With spirits sagging and attendance declining, the Pirates ownership doesn't have a lot of time to turn things around. Spending on payroll has increased, but not by enough to counter the personnel errors that threaten next year to give this franchise a stand-alone spot in sports infamy. By the way, 2009 will make 30 years -- more than a generation -- since Pittsburgh last saw a World Series.

For long-suffering Pirates fans who deserve some winning baseball, it's very late in the game. Soon enough PNC Park, a jewel of a ballpark, will have an attendance problem of Three Rivers Stadium proportions.

Hope may spring eternal, but not on Pittsburgh's field of dreams.