CINCINNATI -- Less than 24 hours after being satirized on a "Saturday Night Live" skit, the Pirates, now formally christened a laughingstock by the nation's arbiter of such things, suffered their final indignity with a 6-0 silencing by the Cincinnati Reds yesterday at Great American Ball Park.

That was loss No. 99.

And that, mercifully, will be all.

"It's over," center fielder Andrew McCutchen said, packing at his stall in another quiet clubhouse setting. "It stinks, with all the moves and everything else, that all this happened this year. Really, you just want to have a fresh start, and we're going to have that next spring. For this season ... hey, nothing you can do now."

Other than maybe add up all the ugly numbers for the Pittsburgh Baseball Club's 123rd season one final time:

• The 62-99 record marked the eighth time in franchise history with that many losses or more. The Pirates have lost at least 94 each of the past five years, and this was their second-worst mark during the record 17-year losing streak.

• The 22-58 road record marked the franchise's fewest road victories under the 162-game schedule, which began in 1962. The Pirates won just three of their 26 series away from PNC Park.

• The last-place finish -- 28 1/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals -- was the fourth in five years, the ninth in these 17 years.

• The team's run total of 636 ranked 29th of 30 teams in Major League Baseball, with the .252 batting average 28th.

• The pitching was improved, largely because of the starters: The 4.59 overall ERA was sixth-highest in the majors, but it was well down from 5.08 last year. The starters won 44 games compared to 33 last year.

• The defense was the most improved facet, with the fewest errors in the majors at 73 and the most errorless games in franchise history with 101, though much of that was performed by players who were traded away. In baseball history, no other team with 99 or more losses led the majors in fielding, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

"Obviously, nobody's happy," general manager Neal Huntington said. "We were projected to lose in the high-90s before the start of the season with that team, and we ended up losing in the high-90s with a very different team that's in place, some of them for years to come. And that is a good thing."

That latter was a reference to the years of contractual control, not to the losing.

"We've had some good individual stories, and we've helped some learn at the major league level. The next step is helping them learn how to win."

"Obviously, we've had a lot of change from the team we started with," manager John Russell said. "I'm very pleased with a lot of the talent we've acquired, including the reports we've gotten on some of the minor league guys. We went through a very tough stretch there, but we've also had some guys come along. Zach Duke. Ross Ohlendorf. Cutch. Garrett Jones."

Not much to say about this finale.

Jeff Karstens, part of a bullpen patchwork attempt to fill a starting hole, lasted 2 1/3 innings and was charged with two runs, and Donnie Veal gave up four more in the fifth.

The offense was, even by the Pirates' standards, remarkably futile: Despite 10 hits and four walks, they still found a way to avoid home plate, going 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position with 13 men left on base.

McCutchen did his part, as usual, with two singles, two walks and two steals to finish his rookie year with a .286 average, 12 home runs, 54 RBIs and 22 steals.

"That's kind of our season wrapped up in one game," Russell said.

No kidding: In a summer dominated by the number 17 -- the years of losing, the losing streak to Milwaukee and the 17-2 loss in Chicago -- another was added: The Pirates were shut out 17 times, most in the majors and the franchise's most since 19 in 1985.

That "Saturday Night Live" skit featured four "Norwegian actors" performing a play about life in the United States while displaying little knowledge of anything American. Actress Kristen Wiig was wearing a Pirates jacket. And near the end, they act out World Series play-by-play on a radio broadcast of the Pirates winning the World Series.

Asked about that and other mocking they have heard, some players said they look forward to ending it all someday.

"There's a lot of that, and we know it," reliever Jesse Chavez said. "It's not going to change until we win, and we're the only ones who can change that."

"That'll be a good day, when that stuff ends," Duke said. "Hopefully, I'm around."

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