Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates are in first place in the NL Central.  In July.

Take a minute to let that sink in.

July is the month when rival GM's are usually calling Neal Huntington to see which established major league players are available for trade.  Not this year.  The Pirates are in a position to be buyers rather than sellers at the trade deadline.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have started the 2011 season with the losing record going into the last week of April that most observers expected them to have.

And yet, they are a stronger team than other versions who started previous years with winning records in April. That's because Pirate losses so far this year can largely be attributed to "strength of schedule."

Success in baseball generally comes from solid pitching. This is especially the case for the Pirates this season.

When the Pirates hold opponents to four runs or fewer they are 7-2. When they give up five runs or more they are 1-9.The Pirates team ERA is 4.24, which is good for 19th in Major League Baseball.

They aren’t striking many batters out (118) and are walking too many (73).

Over the last decade, there have been many Major League Baseball teams that inspired the feeling for a split second that you could have made a career off that .300 average you carried in the Frankfort Dixie Youth League. 

The thought going into the season about Pirates third basemen Pedro Alvarez was his glove not his bat.

While his glove has came around and performed decently well, his bat has been terrible.

He is batting an abysmal .183 with only four RBI’s.

Pedro Alvarez was given a day off on Monday as he continues to falter in the opening weeks of the 2011 season. At a shallow position, Alvarez was supposed to give owners a little bit of thump. Instead, all he has done is fallen with a resounding thud.

Now, the question is if it is time to give up hope or do we still think he can turn things around?

Clearly, the numbers from his first 15 games have been ugly:

The Pittsburgh Pirates are only 18 games into the season and you already hear faint rumbles in the media world regarding the early struggles of Pedro Alvarez. Alvarez, to his credit, is taking the slump in stride. He has repeatedly said he isn't concerned, nor should he be.  

The recent home series against the Colorado Rockies wasn't much fun.

The consolation was that it didn't count for as much as some others, being against a division leader in a different division. There will be no more home games against this opponent and only three more (road) games in the season.

It's difficult to imagine things having gone any better for the Pittsburgh Pirates pitching staff through first eight games in 2011. The offense has hit for a team on-base percentage of just .312 and a stunningly bad (but not league-worst) .295 weighted on-base average. But the pitching has kept the team in every game it has played.

And they're winning.  

On a cold and rainy night in Pittsburgh, the Pirates downed the Colorado Rockies 4-3 in 15 innings. 

Yes, Franklin Morales gave up a walk-off RBI double to José Tabata. Though it may be harsh, let's face facts. They're still the Pirates. (Don't worry, Pirates fans. You get kudos later—keep reading.)

The same Pirates who haven't had a winning season in almost two decades. Manny Ramirez wasn't even playing in the majors the last time they rose above .500.