Analysis: Have Pirates finally bottomed out?
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Mingling between teams during batting practice is common in Major League Baseball. A handshake here or there. A hug for an old friend in a new uniform. Even a simple tip of the cap.
But too much can be too much.
One afternoon at PNC Park a couple of weeks ago, Jose Tabata, the Pirates' .306-hitting rookie left fielder, apparently felt an opponent had been spending too much time fraternizing. He politely approached the player and asked him to let the Pirates have "our turn to hit." The player left.
It is not exactly Joey Porter barking across the 50-yard line during the Steelers' warm-ups, or the Penguins' Brooks Orpik glaring daggers at Alexander Ovechkin near center red. But it is very much the sort of thing, in the baseball culture, that gets noticed.
Standing nearby that day, hitting coach Don Long laughed and recalled thinking, "Kid's all grown up."
Yeah, two days away from his 22nd birthday, and barely two months into his major-league career.
Are the Pirates grown up?
Of course not.
But have they begun to assert themselves in recent weeks?
Economists love to talk about finding bottoms, whether in the stock market or housing conditions, and they do so not by identifying cataclysmic events -- say, a 12-game losing streak, or a 20-0 loss to the Brewers -- but by finding positive indicators that signal legitimate upward potential.
Game: Pirates vs. San Diego Padres, 10:05 p.m., Petco Park.
TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7).
Pitching: RHP Jeff Karstens (2-7, 4.47) vs. LHP Wade LeBlanc (5-10, 3.61).
Season: Padres, 3-0.
Key matchup: LeBlanc gets hit harder than anyone on San Diego's fine pitching staff, with a .277 opponents' batting average and 16 home runs. The Pirates got three runs and eight hits off him in six innings July 25, a 6-3 loss.
Of note: Since that sweep at PNC Park, the first-place Padres have gone 6-7.
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First Published August 10, 2010 12:00 am
