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Tuesday, April 23, 2002

So let's see here. It wasn't the Fitted Caps or Jerseys. It wasn't the Coupon Books or PNC Park Posters. It wasn't even Fireworks Night, the one promotion that usually draws Pittsburghers like flies to fresh fertilizer.

And it certainly wasn't either the allure of a Winning Record or the chance to watch the National League Central's First-Place Club.

Geez, what do you fans want from these Pirates?

What does it take to put your fannies in stands?

Oh, your moans and complaints are well documented, if not well grounded. Last season. Traffic detours. Ticket price hikes after that 100-loss year. Baseball's doomed economics. Yadda yadda.

Yet for nine summers, this was what anyone wanted above all -- a new ballpark and a decent ballclub. It was all anyone dared to dream.

Now you have both, and you don't dare to care.

Good thing the players aren't ticked off at you. Otherwise, they might revert into loathsome losers. For a 10th consecutive summer.

"Hopefully, the fans will come out and support us," second baseman Pokey Reese said the other day in a fun-loving but forgiving Pirates clubhouse. "But we don't care who's in the stands. We're just playing hard and believing in who we have in here."

"I don't blame them for not coming out after the way we played last year," added reliever Mike Williams. "Nobody wanted to see a loser. I didn't want to come half the time. The fans deserve to see a good product on the field. We're playing well now. I want them to come back. But I guess we'll have to prove to them it's not a fluke. 'They'll go back any day now.' I'm sure that's what they're thinking."

Think again, people.

These Pirates pitch well. These Pirates actually field. Whether they ever hit doesn't even matter. Do two out of the three, and they'll win just as often as not. Possibly even more often. It's no fluke.

The formula worked for Minnesota and Philadelphia last season. They pitched and played defense and contended for a playoff spot deep into September. Shoot, do two out of those three -- skip the postseason part -- and most Pirates fans would be happy, right?

Right?

Nineteen-thousand people stayed away Sunday. True, 40-degree temperatures and overcast skies and a rain delay didn't exactly provide baseball weather, but those promotional-giveaway jerseys and that first 12-victory April in eight years and this 2 1/2-game lead in the NL Central sure looked nice.

Twenty-thousand people stayed away Saturday, when a beautiful, sunny afternoon should've enticed a sizable walk-up crowd to the last PNC Park afternoon Saturday game of the season.

OK, so the weather hasn't been start-to-finish perfect for the Pirates since their opening day and night on the North Shore, the second of which attracted a sellout crowd to, of course, Bobblehead Night.

The promotions and the 13-month-old park aren't enough for you people anymore.

The on-field product should be.

If you continue to stay away in droves, shame on you for missing the best baseball of a Pirates decade. This club will use the confidence gained in this 12-5 start, these first three turns through the twentysomething starting rotation, and play even better baseball once Reese's hamstring allows him to resume his All-Star second base start, once Jason Kendall fully regains his senses and his much-discussed swing, once Aramis Ramirez recovers from his ankle injury (and continuing brain spasms that cause him to angrily throw his helmet at opposing pitchers), once Kris Benson returns to major-league form.

Forget about the mantra when this team starts to hit. . . . All it need is mediocre health. So long as their medical condition doesn't worsen, what you see of these April-fresh Pirates is for real.

"It's fun, isn't it?" Kendall said with a smile, a performance repeated by Brian Giles and just about everyone else in the clubhouse.

"I mean," continued Williams the closer, "you love a team that right now isn't supposed to be very good, that right now isn't supposed to win, and it gets off to a good start. That goes a long way. But I don't think anybody's looking at .500 or losing 100. Everybody in here doesn't look to just compete. We want to win."

That is supposedly what the paying public wants, too.

For some reason, though, 7,200 fewer are going to the games of the team with the NL's best record, the team with baseball's third-best record, the seamhead world's small-market darlings -- unless you count the AL Central-leading Twins and their Contract-This mission.

There are other issues at work here. Kevin McClatchy and the front office were bad wrong in raising ticket prices. Baseball's labor situation is a mess of Bud Selig's making. The detours may take you an extra half-hour to reach the tunnel of your choice.

But is this any way to punish yourself after nine woebegone seasons of Pirates baseball? Is this any way to slap McClatchy, Selig and the lords of baseball in the face for what they've done to you and your national pastime?

If you want to make a statement, buy up all the $8 and $9 tickets, enjoy these Pirates, then turn your backs in the seventh-inning stretch, after "God Bless America," and sing your own tune. Hey, let's call it: Ballad by Ballpark.

"Take Bud and Don out of the ballgame. Take out the team-owning louts. Spread around some of that large-market jack. Then the rest of the fans will care to come back ..."

Attendance is lagging across Baseball America. After years of throwing ticket money on bad teams, you owe it to yourself to take in a Pirates game, fans. You're missing exactly what you hoped for. You're missing the fun of winning.

In addition to The Big Picture, Chuck Finder writes a general-sports column exclusive to the http://www.post-gazette.com/ every Tuesday. He can be reached at cfinder@post-gazette.com