Five Reasons to Believe in the Pirates

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Usually by this time of year in Pittsburgh when July comes, the trade rumors start swirling, the Pirates are 10 games back, and all the attention is turned to the start of Steelers training camp…not this year. This summer is different for the Pirates. As of July 6, the team is 1.5 games out of first place. FIRST PLACE, those two bold words have not been able to be said about the Pirates this late into a season since the 1992 season. Many people are waiting for the team to slow down and get back to the “old” Pirates way of playing…well not me! I will tell you 5 good reasons to believe in the Pirates this season.

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1. Pitching Pitching Pitching

The pitching staff has done a magnificent job all year staring with the turn around of Kevin Correia with 11 wins. Correia has changed the face of the pitching staff and is showing no signs of slowing down. A well respected writer out of the Houston Cronicle said that Correia will either replace Matt Cain or Cole Hamels in the Arizona at the All-Star Game due to their regular scheduled starts close to the mid summer classic. Besides Correia, the first part of the season was dominated by Charlie Morton. Nobody expected anything out of Morton after his 2-12 performance from a season ago. Morton to this date, has posted a 7-4 record with a 3.63 ERA. Morton is making a hard case for comeback player of the year.

June was dominated by Jeff Karstens, who wasn’t even supposed to be in the starting rotation, but got his shot when Ross Ohlendorf went on down because of an injury. His last 10 starts Karstens has posted a 5-2 record with a 1.91 ERA. It seems like Karstens is getting stronger with each start that comes his way. Paul Maholm has had arguably his best season as a Pirate even though his record stands at 5-9. What jumps out at you is his 3.08 ERA, and knowing that in the first 8-10 starts, he got little to no run support. Even James McDonald has surprised a lot of people by keeping the Pirates in almost every game he has started.

The bullpen has been stellar as well being led by the closer Joel Hanrahan. A fascinating stat this year is the Pirates are 41-0 when leading in the 8th inning or after. Hanrahan is perfect on his save chances and is well deserving of his trip to the All-Star Game. Pitching is the name of the game, the most important part of baseball. Look at the Giants last year; they won the World Series because of their pitching. Now I’m not saying a World Series ring is coming, but I am saying it’s a reason to believe!



2. NL Central is a Weak Division

Something that very well helps the Pirates is the division they play in. The division leader has flip-flopped between Reds, Cardinals, and Brewers so far this season. It seems like when a team gets hot, they instantly get cold. Early on the Cardinals had the best record in the NL, and then the Brewers got hot and it looked like they could take advantage of the division, and the Reds have been falling fast since Mid May. Watch for Dusty Baker to be on the hot seat come after the All-Star Break. With the inconsistency of these teams it leaves a golden opportunity for the Pirates. If they can keep winning and playing consistently, there is no doubt the Pirates will be in the mix till the end.

3. Injuries are Starting to Heal

The Pirates have indeed been injury plagued so far and it looks like some players are on their way back. Pedro Alvarez Jose Tabata and Joe Beimel are close to a return, which will probably happen right after the All-Star break. Ronny Cedeno and Ryan Doumit area also expected back sometime shortly after the break. With these regulars coming back raises many questions within the clubhouse. These questions or problems are definitely a good thing for the Pirates. For the first time that I can remember, the Pirates have DEPTH at positions. What should you do with Alex Presely? Should Chase d’Arnaud be the everyday shortstop? Should Garrett Jones move to first? Overbay? Wood? What should the Pirates do? It is great to be able to raise these questions and realize that a winning formula is here in place right now for this year to win. It will be interesting to see what the Pirates do with these players when everyone gets healthy.

4. Clint Hurdle

If there was an award for 1st half manager of the year it belongs to Clint Hurdle. He has changed everything there is to be known about the Pittsburgh Pirates. His players believe…the quote that has been circulating around the team all year is “Players don’t come to the ballpark hoping to win; they come to the ballpark expecting to win.” That firmly starts with Clint Hurdle. He has brought out the best in everyone and knows how to handle a young team down the stretch…aka the Rockies in 2007. If anyone knows what to do with a team in a situation that the Pirates could be headed towards this season, Clint Hurdle is the man for the job!

5. Pirates have Consistently Shown to be a Better 2nd Half Team

No matter what the records in the past, the 2nd half has always shown promise and been better. That being said…this is the year we want that to happen. The bats are starting to pick up and hit their stride. If it can continue after the All-Star break, a 2nd half run at the post-season is possible. Each summer the season has ended with “promise” or “outlook” for the following season. If the trend continues this year, it could be the most “promise” or gift a baseball fan in Pittsburgh could ask for, a chance at the post-season.

Written by: Adam Nyswaner