Pittsburgh Pirates

Major League Baseball , like many other sports leagues, has historically been reactive, instead of proactive when it comes to player and fan safety on and off the field. Unfortunately, it often takes a tragic event to improve the safety of a sport.

Watching former Pirate Tom Gorzelanny pitch for the Chicago Cubs the other night against the New York Mets was heartbreaking. And that was in spite of the fact that he lost (two of the four runs scored against him in 5.2 innings were unearned).

Gorzelanny is a pitcher in the Ross Ohlendorf-mold: cerebral and skillful, but more prone than the average Pirate to injury. "Overwork" in 2007, his second year, clearly hurt him. So he has to be used judiciously and pitches fewer innings than his teammates.

Because they are against a tough, and often contending division rival, games against the Milwaukee Brewers are a reasonable "litmus test" of how the Pirates will fare in the National League Central.

And the only thing worse than being swept by the Milwaukee on the road is to be swept by them at home.

Worse, being all but shut out, scoring only one run in three games. While the Brewers scored 36 runs during the same stretch. Talk about a "kitchen sink."

That's what the Pirates might be doing. But they aren't.

Only a few pieces ago, I opined that Dan McCutchen, the Pirates' latest fifth starter, could enjoy accelerated promotion because of injury, failure or trade, of higher ranking pitchers.

He in fact, did, as a result of Ross Ohlendorf's injury. Having been moved into Ohlendorf's spot, he is now effectively "second" starter, even though he isn't yet of that quality.

The Pirates never had any hope of winning Tuesday night's game at home against the Milwaukee Brewers. Was it because of the disparity in talent? Well, that's a part of it, but the Pirates record currently sits at 7-6, so they have evidently been finding ways to somehow win games. The main reason there was no hope is demonstrated in the picture above. Pitching coach Joe Kerrigan barely had time to get settled on the bench before he had to walk to the mound and take the ball away from Charlie Morton in the first inning, which is unfortunately becoming a common sight.

So far this season, the Pittsburgh Pirates have given up 75 runs and scored only 53.

That (negative) differential is better than only those of the cellar-dwelling Baltimore Orioles and Houston Astros. So you wouldn't expect the Pirates to be 7-5, or above the .500 mark. But they are.

That's because their six most recent victories have come with scores of 5-3, 5-4, 4-3, 6-5, and 6-3, and 4-3.

Only the opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers wasn't "close." This represents the most close games with which the Pirates have opened the season since at least 1996.

Thanks to a walk-off single last night by Lastings Milledge that scored Andrew McCutchen, the Pirates have gotten off to a .500 start this season. Due to their losing ways, the Pirates don’t get much love here at The Ghost of Moonlight Graham .

But today is for the Pirates. Let’s see what is going on with the team from the Steel City.

Whatcha Gonna Do When the Pirates Run Wild on You?

All right, the Pittsburgh Pirates began 2010 by winning two out of three at home, then lost two out of three each in two road series, for a tally of 4-5.

At that rate, alternating an extra win at home and an extra loss on the the road, would put them at .500.

And their record, so far, has been compiled against three fairly redoubtable teams, but all outside their division.

The first week of the Major League Baseball season is in the books.

For the Pittsburgh Pirates, struggling to end 17 seasons of ceaseless losing, it was a week of ups and downs, star performers and awful performances, and a .500 record.

There were some surprises, both good and bad, and a few beliefs confirmed upon closer inspection.

Here's a look at the week that was and what we can take away from it.

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In this morning's paper, six games into the season, the order of the six National League Central division teams was listed as the St. Louis Cardinals, the Cincinnati Reds, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Chicago Cubs, and the Houston Astros.

That looks like the season-end order to me.

With an offense led by Albert Pujols and a sturdy rotation, the Cardinals figure to top the National League Central again. The main question is how far they will get in the post-season.