Commentary
A great start is just what Pirates needed PITTSBURGH – The first-place Pittsburgh Pirates.
Say it while you can because logic says it won’t last long.
The Pirates’ great start is exactly what the franchise needs. It gives the players some confidence and it creates some excitement for fans who haven’t had any in a long time.
After a 100-loss season, a competitive 3-3 record would be a plus at this point. Being 5-1 is a major bonus.
The Pirates have gotten to this point with pitching and defense. The starting pitching has been better than expected and the bullpen has been better than the starters.
They have some interesting prospects in the rotation but not much experience. Jimmy Anderson is the team’s most experienced starter and this is just his third year.
Lloyd McClendon has already run a marathon jogging to the mound to make pitching changes to set up favorable match-ups.
He pushed all the right buttons as the Pirates have protected slim leads tenaciously.
The pitching staff has promise. It’s also exceeded all expectations at this point.
Ride this wave for as long as it lasts and enjoy it. If you’ve suffered with the Pirates over the last nine years, you deserve to have some fun.
Understand, though, that this is still a rebuilding process and that it’s still going to take some more time.
As long as the Pirates are improving, it’s progress and that’s good.
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Of all the things to worry about with the Pirates, Jason Kendall’s sub-.100 batting average isn’t one of them.
Kendall hasn’t done anything offensively but it’s only six games.
He’ll be a contributor, just as he has been since he came to the major leagues.
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The Penguins are winding down the last week of a lost season.
They have one game left Friday against Toronto.
If you really care about the Penguins, you probably should be rooting for them to lose.
They still have a chance to nail down one of the top draft picks in the NHL and that would help them much more than a meaningless late-season win would.
Of course, it’s incumbent on the Penguins to make a smart choice with their No. 1 pick, something that hasn’t happened often enough lately.
The biggest factor in making the Penguins a winner was success in the draft with first-round picks:
Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr were franchise players.
Doug Bodger and Darrin Shannon were traded for Tom Barrasso. Craig Simpson and Chris Joseph netted Paul Coffey. Zarley Zalapski was half the price the Penguins paid to get Ron Francis and Ulf Samuelsson.
The Penguins’ 2002 fate is already sealed – They’re not going to make the playoffs.
Better to get a prime draft pick than fluff up a record that’s already beyond redemption.
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Former Pirates catcher Ed Ott was one of the people swept out in the Monday housecleaning staged by the Detroit Tigers.
Ott had been the bullpen coach for his old teammate, Phil Garner.
If you’re trying to avoid attention, that’s the way to do it.
On a day when the team’s general manager and manager get fired, few people are going to notice that the bullpen coach got sacked, too.
John Mehno can be reached at: jmehno@timesnet.net.