Over .500, Pirates Get Back in the Mix

By TYLER KEPNER
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com
July 21, 2011

PITTSBURGH - JULY 19: Joel Hanrahan(notes) #52 of the Pittsburgh Pirates points to his teammate Andrew McCutchen(notes) #22 after making a catch on a warning track in the ninth inning against the Cincinnati Reds during the game on July 19, 2011 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

PITTSBURGH — For 18 years, baseball teams have known where to shop for help in the pennant race. The Pittsburgh Pirates have finished each of those seasons with a losing record, and by July, things are usually so hopeless that they trade veterans to contenders. The last two World Series winners have each included two players acquired from Pittsburgh for prospects.

“You’re happy for them individually, because that’s why every one of us does this,” said Neal Huntington, the Pirates’ general manager. “You love to win.”

But now it is the Pirates (51-45), of all teams, who are winning again, tied for the lead in the National League Central after Wednesday afternoon’s 3-1 loss to Cincinnati. It is the latest they have led their division since winning it in 1992.

The subsequent streak of losing seasons is a record for the four major professional sports in the United States. It has bruised a proud city that has claimed two Super Bowls and a Stanley Cup since the Pirates’ last winning season.

“Times before that I’ve been here, it’s been hard to go out to dinner,” said Joel Hanrahan, the Pirates’ closer, who joined the team during the 2009 season. “You didn’t really want to go out because you didn’t want to have somebody come up and go, ‘Why don’t you ever win?’ Now, you can go out in town and not feel embarrassed. They’ll clear off the table for you real quick.”

The Pirates’ opening day payroll, around $45 million, was the lowest in the National League. The owner, Bob Nutting, has authorized Huntington to add salary before the July 31 trading deadline, and the team needs offensive help, ranking 13th among 16 N.L. teams in runs scored.

But the Pirates must act carefully, Nutting said, to avoid the mistakes of the recent past. Spending lavishly for a short-term solution might not be the best use of money.

“You can’t let an emotional decision turn into a bad decision,” Nutting said. “The Matt Morris trade is a good example.”

Nutting, who is also the chief executive of Ogden Newspapers Inc., was in his first season running the Pirates when the team acquired Morris from the San Francisco Giants in July 2007. The Pirates were in last place, and Morris was owed $13.5 million. But he had a decent track record as a starting pitcher, and the Pirates hoped he would give them a dependable, if decidedly average, arm through 2008.

Nutting called it a good-hearted move, but it proved to be a colossal waste of money. Morris made just 16 starts the rest of his career, winning three, with a 7.04 earned run average. The deal reinforced the image that the Pirates could not build efficiently, forever desperate for a quick fix.

Within two months of the Morris debacle, Nutting fired General Manager Dave Littlefield and replaced him with Huntington, an assistant with the Cleveland Indians. He also hired a team president, Frank Coonelly, the general counsel of labor in the commissioner’s office. They cut payroll from the major league roster, hired more scouts and plowed money into player development.

“We understand that you’re frustrated, and we understand you have no patience any longer,” Coonelly said, explaining the team’s message to fans. “But we have to ask for more patience, because we can’t give you what you really want. What you really want is not a team that wins 81 or 82 games. What you really want is a team that is fitting of the city of champions. And that’s going to take some time.”

The Pirates have spent more than $30 million in the draft the last three seasons, more than any other team, and the trend will likely continue as they negotiate with this year’s top picks, Gerrit Cole and Josh Bell. Last summer, the team spent $11.3 million on three teenage pitchers: Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie from the draft, and Luis Heredia from Mexico. The Pirates ranked fifth in the majors last season in bonuses for international players, at $5 million.

HOUSTON - JULY 17: Center fielder Andrew McCutchen(notes) #22 of the Pittsburgh Pirates makes a sliding catch on a fly ball off the bat of Clint Barmes(notes) #12 of the Houston Astros in the eighth inning at Minute Maid Park on July 17, 2011 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)

The curious part of this season’s renaissance is that the Pirates have done it without some of the players most central to the rebuilding plan. Center fielder Andrew McCutchen was an All-Star, but third baseman Pedro Alvarez, the No. 2 overall pick in 2008, is toiling in the minors.

“We really haven’t had a lot of guys you look at and go, ‘He’s playing out of his mind,’ ” Huntington said. “We have a lot of guys who are playing well, but we’ve also had a lot of adversity.”

Injuries have forced the Pirates to use seven catchers. Reliever Evan Meek, the team’s only All-Star in 2010, and the No. 3 starter Ross Ohlendorf are out with shoulder injuries. Shortstop Ronny Cedeno (concussion) and left fielder Jose Tabata (quadriceps) are also hurt.

Yet the team’s defense has improved markedly, despite two errors on Wednesday, and a pitching staff that ranks last in the league in strikeouts can confidently challenge hitters to put the ball in play. Like the Minnesota Twins in the American League, the Pirates’ rotation has no ace, but rarely beats itself with walks. The staff earned run average, 3.34, ranks fifth in the league.

“We’ve got to be aggressive in the zone — the bottom of the zone, preferably,” said the pitching coach, Ray Searage. “We know what we have. I’m not trying to make a Maddux, a Smoltz or those guys. They know who they are, and they’re happy in their skin.”

Searage replaced Joe Kerrigan as pitching coach last August, with the Pirates on their way to 105 losses, their most since 1952. The team fired Manager John Russell after the season, and focused on Clint Hurdle, a strong communicator who had guided Colorado to the 2007 World Series. For Hurdle, the Texas Rangers’ hitting coach last season, it was a two-way interview. He asked the top executives about the direction of the organization. He spent hours with the scouting director and the farm director. And then he bought in.

“To me, the greatest coaching opportunity in all of sport is here,” Hurdle said. “Show me an N.B.A. team with the history that this one’s had the last 18 seasons. Show me an N.F.L. team, show me an N.H.L. team. The skepticism, it’s all been earned. The angst of the fans, it’s real. If this was a marriage, there wouldn’t have been a separation. There would have been a divorce a long time ago.”

The team and the town are stuck with each other, thanks largely to the charming PNC Park, the jewel along the Allegheny River that has never hosted a national Sunday night telecast in its 11 seasons. Yet the Pirates have a rich history, with five championships between 1909 and 1979, and Hurdle has studied it.

Hurdle requested framed photographs of all the managers who have led the Pirates to a championship on the wall above the couch in his office. That is Hurdle’s goal, as he told the players in spring training.

“When he addressed the team for the first time,” second baseman Neil Walker said, “guys were looking around like, ‘Uh, this is kind of the same team we had last year — let’s be honest, hopefully we’ll continue to improve, but. ...’ And he squashed that right off the bat. He said, ‘We’re not looking back.’ ”

Few know the background as acutely as Walker, a Pittsburgh native who was 7 when the Pirates lost Game 7 of the 1992 National League Championship Series after leading until the final pitch. Walker said all of his old friends like the Steelers and the Penguins, but many gave up the Pirates to root for contenders.

The vision of playoff baseball in Pittsburgh has seemed absurd for so long, but now there is hope. Walker laughed when asked how his city would respond.

“I just keep thinking about what it’s like on Sundays here in the fall, when the Cleveland Browns come to town,” he said. “In this general area of the North Shore, downtown, we have 60,000 fans going to Heinz Field. Minus that by 20,000 and put them in this ballpark — I can’t even imagine. Pittsburgh fans are so passionate, and I’m one of them. It’s addicting.”

PITTSBURGH - JULY 08: Neil Walker(notes) #18 of the Pittsburgh Pirates hits a two run single against the Chicago Cubs in the third inning during the game on July 8, 2011 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

Sales of T-shirts and jerseys are up about 40 percent, Coonelly said, and television ratings are rising. Attendance, which sagged to under 20,000 per game the last three seasons, is averaging 23,631, its highest point since the first year at PNC Park.

Nutting, who grew up a Pirates fan in nearby Wheeling, W.Va., said the losing streak did not alienate a generation. Pittsburgh sports fans are never apathetic.

“I have nothing but respect for the fans who stuck with us, but also for the fans who said, ‘I love the Pirates, and I’m too angry to come to root,’ ” Nutting said. “I think every one of those people did it out of passion for baseball. I don’t think people ever lost interest. They cared, and you’re seeing that today.”

When a Long Shot is Your Best Shot

Are the Pittsburgh Pirates actually in the National League playoff race?

By Rany Jazayerli
http://www.grantland.com/
July 19, 2011

HOUSTON - JULY 17: Center fielder Andrew McCutchen #22 of the Pittsburgh Pirates is congratulated by Neil Walker #18 and Alex Pressley #44 after makeing a sliding catch on a fly ball off the bat of Clint Barmes #12 of the Houston Astros in the eighth inning at Minute Maid Park on July 17, 2011 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)

I watched a franchise die once. It was 1992, a warm October night in Atlanta. Francisco Cabrera struck the final blow, but he had accomplices. There was Pittsburgh Pirates ace Doug Drabek, who took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning and allowed a leadoff double. There was second baseman Jose Lind, who booted a routine groundball from the next batter. There was closer Stan Belinda, who relieved Drabek with the bases loaded and none out and gave up Cabrera's walk-off single. There was even Barry Bonds, whose weak throw to home couldn't catch up to Sid Bream — one of the slowest men in baseball.

I watched from my college dorm with my friend Vic, who had abandoned studying to watch his Pirates win the NL pennant after losing in the NLCS the two previous years. Instead, he watched as they were gunned down. After a moment of stunned silence, Vic turned to me for solace. "We're not going to be back here next year, are we?" he asked. It was common knowledge that Bonds and Drabek were headed out of town as free agents. The immediate future in the Steel City looked bleak. "It's going to be a few years," I told him.

We're at 18 years and counting.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are working on the longest streak of consecutive losing seasons in the history of the four major professional sports. Rather than rehashing what went wrong, it's easier to talk about what went right: The Pirates moved into PNC Park for the 2001 season, and it continues to be part of any discussion about MLB's best ballparks. (They christened their new home that year with 100 losses.)

And … that's about it. The Pirates haven't drafted well. Their owner forced them to take a safe college pitcher with the no. 1 overall pick in the 2002 draft, which is why they drafted Bryan Bullington instead of B.J. Upton. They rushed their players to the big leagues — 21-year-old outfielder Jose Guillen jumped straight from A-ball to their Opening Day lineup in 1997. Guillen was traded for bupkis two years later, and Pittsburgh was in his rear-view mirror by 2003, when he emerged as a middle-of-the-order threat.

That was the year the Pirates became the laughingstock of baseball. The Rule 5 draft is held every December to give teams with less talent on their rosters the opportunity to pilfer some from their wealthier brethren. It's a chance for teams like the Pirates to acquire players, in other words. Only the Pirates did such a poor job of identifying their best prospects (and protecting them from the draft) that five of the first six players selected were taken from their own roster. By the fifth pick, there was open laughter in the draft room.1

The Pirates hit bottom in the summer of 2007. With the no. 4 pick in the amateur draft, they bypassed collegiate star Matt Wieters in favor of left-hander Daniel Moskos, who would sign for $3.5 million less. Wieters is in his third season as the Orioles' starting catcher, while Moskos is trying to stick with the Pirates as a situational reliever. GM Dave Littlefield spent those savings and much more six weeks later, when he dealt two prospects to the Giants for veteran starter Matt Morris. Everyone in baseball could see the fork sticking out of Morris' right arm — everyone but Littlefield, who agreed to pick up the $15 million remaining on Morris' contract. Morris made 16 starts for the Pirates and had an ERA over 7 before being released the following April.

By then, Littlefield had been fired — with cause. New GM Neal Huntington has spent the past four years trying to rebuild the Pirates the way they should have been rebuilt all along — with patience. Every veteran player not nailed down was sent packing for prospects. The Pirates started to spend more money in the draft and in signing amateur talent from Latin America. The organization seemed headed in the right direction for the first time in two decades.

But the hole Huntington inherited was going to take years to climb out of. Even after 18 losing seasons, the Pirates were thought to be years away. If Hollywood had remade Major League last year, Rick Vaughn and Pedro Cerrano would probably have donned the black and yellow.

Maybe they have. How else to explain the 2011 season?

For the first three months of the season the Pirates played .500 ball, an astounding achievement for a team that lost 105 games last year. On June 28, the Pirates recalled an unheralded rookie outfielder named Alex Presley. Presley turns 26 next week; soon-to-be 26-year-old rookies are not supposed to be impact players. Presley hit a two-run homer in his first game, and the Pirates won, 7-6. Presley has kept hitting and the Pirates have kept winning. Presley had three hits Sunday, including an RBI single in the 11th inning. The Pirates won 7-5. He's hitting .352/.405/.521, and the Pirates are 11-6 since Presley was called up.

In the NL Central, where teams play musical chairs with the division lead, that's enough. After winning Friday night, the 48-43 Pirates found themselves ahead of St. Louis for first place.2 Pittsburgh dropped into a tie for second over the weekend, but Monday night Presley had two more hits and the Pirates shut out the Reds to move back into the lead, a half-game ahead of St. Louis and Milwaukee and four games ahead of Cincinnati in a four-team dogfight.

It's not entirely clear how they're doing this. Presley, a no-name rookie playing miles above his head, is the poster child for this team. The Pirates have one elite player, All-Star centerfielder Andrew McCutchen; he's the only regular hitting over .275, or who has hit 10 homers or drawn more than 35 walks. The Pirates rank just 11th in the NL in runs scored.

The strength of the team is its pitching. They rank fourth in the National League in runs allowed. Based on who's on the mound, that makes the Pirates a clear first in the majors in smoke and mirrors. Their rotation is a collection of soft-tossing finesse artists — the team ranks dead last in the NL in strikeouts — who are somehow getting guys out.

Paul Maholm, the ace of the staff, had a 5.10 ERA for the Pirates last year. He's walking and striking out roughly the same number of batters this year, only now his ERA is 3.06. Kevin Correia had a 5.40 ERA last season for the Padres while pitching in a home ballpark so big it can be seen from outer space. In Pittsburgh, he has a 4.04 ERA and made his first All-Star team.3

Charlie Morton went 2-12 with a 7.57 ERA for Pittsburgh last year. He has since revamped his pitching mechanics to duplicate those of Roy Halladay. The makeover resembles Halladay in the same way the picture hanging in your accountant's office looks like van Gogh's "Starry Night," but the results haven't been half-bad. That replica isn't worth nine figures, and the new Morton doesn't pitch like Halladay — in 102 innings, Morton has allowed 110 hits and 40 walks. And yet he boasts a 3.62 ERA.

And then there is Jeff Karstens, who entered the season with a career record of 12-27 and an ERA over 5. So far, he's not fooling anyone — in 108 innings, he has struck out just 60 batters, while surrendering 17 home runs. And yet he ranks second in the NL with a 2.34 ERA.

The Pirates' success this season is a house of cards built on quicksand in the center of a mirage. They are 15-6 against the dregs of the National League, the Cubs and Astros, and 35-38 against everyone else. According to Baseball Prospectus, they have a 4 percent chance of making the playoffs.

And yet I still think they should go for it.

The question "What should the Pirates do?" has a Pavlovian response conditioned by years of losing: If it's July, the Pirates need to be sellers. Trade any veteran with value for young players who might improve the team in the future. Rinse, lather, repeat.

The Pirates can't do that this year. No matter how flimsy their record is, those wins and losses are in the bank, and no team can betray its fan base by throwing in the towel when they're a half-game back. If they can't be sellers, they might as well be buyers.

That's particularly true because the youth movement they've been building since 2007 is still years away from reaching its potential. It doesn't help that the Pirates' top picks in 2008 and 2009, third baseman Pedro Alvarez and catcher Tony Sanchez, have both been disappointing as pros. The Pirates' top three prospects, right-handers Jameson Taillon, Stetson Allie, and Luis Heredia, are all 20 years old or younger. Gerrit Cole, who was the no. 1 overall pick in this year's draft and is expected to sign next month, might be the only impact player to debut with the Pirates between now and 2014.

Even if the Pirates were to hew to tradition and sell off their marketable players for prospects, Pittsburgh would still need everything to go right to be contenders in 2012 or 2013. They would need unexpectedly good performances from unheralded players, and they would need their NL Central rivals to underachieve. They would need a season, in other words, like the one they're having right now.

The Pirates will have a better idea if they should be buyers or sellers soon enough. Monday's win was the first of six straight games against the Reds and Cardinals. Then they're looking at seven games against the Braves and Phillies leading up to the trade deadline. They could easily be six games out after that stretch, in which case they'll probably feel comfortable auctioning off some veterans.

But if they can hang tough for the next two weeks, the Pirates need to be aggressive buyers. Their elite pitching prospects should be untouchable, but anyone else should be fair game if the Pirates can pick up a third baseman who can hit, a first baseman who can improve on Lyle Overbay's .238 average and seven homers, or a starting pitcher whose deal with Beelzebub isn't about to expire.

Sure, it's unlikely that the Pirates will stay in the thick of the NL Central race for the next 70 games. But that's nothing compared to how improbable it is that they've stayed in the race until now. Resurrecting a franchise often requires a miracle. The Pirates are more than halfway there.

Rany Jazayerli runs the Rany on the Royals website and co-hosts The Baseball Show with Rany and Joe podcast. He is one of the original founders of Baseball Prospectus, and works as a dermatologist in suburban Chicago.

Pirates' resilient fans merit salute

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Monday, July 18, 2011

Gerry Ryan, a retired nurse living in Lawrenceville, hadn't seen anything like it in all her years as a Pirates season-ticket holder: She had gone to PNC Park's box office Saturday to buy additional tickets for relatives, and the line snaked back into a seldom-used serpentine. Four windows were open, three more than usual. And it would take 20 minutes to make the purchase, about, oh, 20 more than usual.

"Amazing," Ryan told me. "Nice to see Pittsburgh fans jumping on the bandwagon after all these years. Me, I'm a diehard."

Wendy and Joe Golembiewski moved to southern California in 1998 and still rooted for the Steelers and Penguins, though they gave up on the Pirates shortly thereafter. This summer, they are back to watching the Pirates and admitted to me in an email they feel "conflicted" about it.

"I don't want to be a bandwagon fan," Joe wrote. "Is there some penitence I should pay? Maybe a few lines of 'We Are Family?' Let me know so I can have a clear conscience when I watch the games."

Some reconciliation clearly is in order.

But, rather than suggest that Joe or his fellow bandwagoners start singing in the streets, I propose they simply tip their caps to those who stuck it out ...

Those who tolerated Raul Mondesi going AWOL, Derek Bell retiring to his yacht, Jeromy Burnitz counting his cash, Kris Benson nibbling at corners, and Kip Wells heroically overcoming hangnails.

Those who, on the morning PNC Park opened its gates, mourned the loss of Willie Stargell.

Those who watched Turner Ward smash through a wall, Al Martin dive into the Dodger Stadium seats, and Brian Giles scale a fence like Spider-Man, only to be teased by their peers for supporting a team that allegedly had no talent, no heart.

Those who sat in silence in April 2010, sick to their stomachs, as the Brewers touched home plate for the 20th time in one afternoon.

Those who came to grips with Barry Bonds leaving for nothing and becoming the all-time home run king; Jose Bautista leaving for nothing and becoming the current home run king; Jason Bay and Freddy Sanchez being traded for what now is one Double-A reliever each; and, always atop this list, Aramis Ramirez being handed to the Cubs to balance the books.

Those who survived six years, one month and 26 days of Dave Littlefield.

Those who were unable to fully enjoy the Steelers' and Penguins' triumphs because some wiseacre's photo-shopping of a Pittsburgh road sign -- "City of Champions ... and the Pirates" -- went viral on the web.

Those who fumed at ownership first for losing $30 million, later for making $20 million, and generally for failing to instill hope, the heartbeat of any franchise.

Those who were flummoxed at why Randall Simon would swing at a sausage, why Batman spoke ill of the Pirates, or why a racing pierogi was fired for a Facebook post.

Those who were flummoxed by Lloyd McClendon's incessant usage of the word "flummoxed."

Those who heard the Sax Man on the Clemente Bridge, just a month ago, playing "Rocky" for all those Philadelphia fans and shouting, "Let`s go, Phillies!" Here`s betting the Sax Man is playing a different tune these days.

Those who stayed in their seats until the final meaningless Kevin Young home run of another lopsided loss.

Those who cringed at "Let's Go To Work," "Come Hungry" and, of course, "We Will," the slogan so stupefying that it ensured the Pirates would never try another.

Those who attended the home finale two years ago, eager for a crumb of a reason to cheer in another lost season, and witnessed John Russell pulling Zach Duke one out shy of a complete game. To this day, I never have heard the place angrier.

Those who wore a Roberto Clemente shirt to school because it was the only way to show support for the Pirates without being mocked at recess.

You know who you are.

You'll be back at the ballpark tonight, same seats, same as any Monday night against the Reds the past two decades, rain or shine, first place or historic failure. And you'll bring your own bottled water.

But if that's not enough to earn you the proper recognition, hey, I saw this teenager on Sixth Street, Downtown -- couldn't have been a day older than the 18-year losing streak -- wearing a T-shirt that read, "I was a Pirates fan before it was cool."



Read more: Kovacevic: Pirates' resilient fans merit salute - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/s_747210.html#ixzz1SXivvKfg

James Harrison's words define image

By LZ Granderson
http://espn.go.com/nfl/
July 16, 2011

One of the greatest hip-hop cuts of all time is "They Reminisce Over You" by Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth. Released in 1992, this introspective monologue started off as a tribute to a friend of the group who had passed away but ended up becoming the lead song to the soundtrack of many black Gen X'ers lives, of which I am a part.

To this day, whenever I hear the haunting sax refrain that drives the melody, my head involuntarily begins to bop, as my mind does a quick inventory of the decisions I've made and how I hope to be viewed when people reminisce over me.

I thought of this song when I saw the photo of a shirtless James Harrison, brandishing two guns and a frown -- driving up the page clicks for Men's Journal, while simultaneously driving home nearly every negative stereotype of today's black athlete.

In the apology that followed he said he's a gun collector, a hunter and a fisherman who advocates for the responsible use of firearms and "could just as easily posed with my fishing poles."

"…… I am not promoting gun violence by posing for that photo."

Hmmm, WWJD (what would James do?): Go for the fishing poles or play off a cover image of the video game series "Hitman" in which the main character, Agent 47, is an assassin and the subtitle of the latest installment is "Blood Money?"

Decisions, decision.

I'm not going to say that Harrison's apology isn't sincere. But I am amazed at how the language an athlete tweets or uses in interviews always seems vastly different from the language used in apologies.

It's a free country and Harrison doesn't owe anyone anything, not even his community. If he wants to push a negative stereotype of black men in general and black athletes in particular, it is what it is. The days of black athletes feeling morally obligated to "give back" or be positive role models are long gone.

It's every man for themselves.

It's every man, rep themselves.

Still when I think about the Harrison interview and all his other blips, I couldn't help but recall the Rock-Smooth lyric, "when they reminisce over you, my God."

• Skipping out on meeting the president of the United States -- twice.
• A domestic dispute (charges were eventually dropped).
• And now trying to downplay a photograph that emulates an assassin and comments critical of fellow Steelers. (His beefs about teammates' play in the Super Bowl would have more bite if dude had more than one tackle.)

But that's neither here or there. In less than five years, the 33-year-old Harrison will likely be out of football, but our impression of him, carved from what we know of his life up to this point, will live long after.

Realistically he probably doesn't really give damn about that, me, you, or how anything he said in the story -- or apology -- makes him look. And maybe years from now that's what they'll say about him: "He didn't give a damn."

Too bad, because they could say so much more.

Harrison was an undrafted free agent who has scratched and clawed his way to being one of the best defensive players today, maybe of all time. His legacy should be one of resilience and determination. His narrative should be repeated every hour during the NFL draft, much in the same way Tom Brady's is. This is a guy who was underestimated and dismissed now forcing the league to recognize. He should be so much more than what he's allowed himself to become.

I will always have a soft spot for people like Harrison because, as someone who started life with my share of mistakes, I know people can change. And as novelist George Eliot once said, "it's never too late to be who you might have been."

But that doesn't take away the fact that we must realize who that person is today. I'm not outraged by a single thing Harrison said in that interview because, sadly, I've come to expect that out of him. He's always linked to questionable behavior, so I expect questionable words.

My surprise is reserved for the day he changes. I'm not being cynical, I'm just being real.

I remember when I used to cringe every time someone of Harrison's profile pulled something like he did in Men's Journal. Between our culture's insatiable appetite for scandal, and the small number of positive black images in the press, the black community couldn't afford to have its public figures lead reckless lives. There simply wasn't a balanced portrayal of the black community in the media. There was one episode of "The Cosby Show" vs. a week's worth of "breaking news."

I'm not sure things are too much different now, but at this point it doesn't really matter. Harrison's in Men's Journal, Rodney King's in jail -- again -- and Chris Brown's in dire need of growing up.

And that's just in one week.

I guess I'm at the point where my desire for someone to be something he's not has given way to accepting who he really is. Fines and suspensions can punish, jail can deter but eventually a person's going to be who he is going to be. I hope for change but accept people may not. If Harrison was reported arrested tomorrow, I doubt anyone would be shocked. He's projected that kind of image.

And when they reminisce over him, that's what they'll say,… unless he decides otherwise.

LZ Granderson is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at lzgranderson@yahoo.com.

Ex-Red Raider Karstens has Astros' number

Misfortunes magnified when he's on the mound

By JEROME SOLOMON
The Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/sports/
July 16, 2011

HOUSTON - JULY 15: Pitcher Jeff Karstens(notes) #27 of the Pittsburgh Pirates throws against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on July 15, 2011 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)

Maybe the Astros were thinking: "Bring on Jeff Karstens." The turnaround has to start somewhere, right? Or does it?

The All-Star break brought a new order to the lineup and what Brad Mills hoped would be a renewed spirit to the start of the unofficial second half of the season.

Unfortunately, it didn't bring about new results.

As has been the case throughout a dreadful 2011 season, the Astros, the bad boys of this sad summer, continued their losing ways, falling to the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 on Friday night.

After it was over, Karstens had to wipe globs of shaving cream out of his ears after teammates splattered a generous chunk of it on him during a postgame television interview.

One of them joked, "If you don't like it, don't pitch so well." He should have told Karstens that if he didn't like it, he shouldn't take the mound against the Astros.

As was the case the first two times he faced them this season, Karstens made it look easy, needing only 83 pitches (64 strikes) to throw a five-hit complete game for his third win over the Astros in the last month.

Total mastery.

In three starts against the Astros since June 14, he has given up only one run in 22 2⁄3 innings.

Making it look easy

It took only 34 pitches for the 28-year-old righthander from Texas Tech to get through the first four innings Friday, and he faced the minimum 15 batters through five innings. Karstens barely broke a sweat.

"They swung at a lot of early pitches, so that kind of helped me out a lot," he said. "If they would have been a little more patient and took some more pitches, I probably wouldn't have lasted that long.

"When you come out and throw strikes, they have to be aggressive; they can't really fall behind, and that kind of played to my advantage."

And the Pirates took advantage all right. They scored a run in the first inning and pretty much coasted from there.

"It was pretty simple, as all we had to do was score one run the way he was pitching," said Pittsburgh center fielder Andrew McCutchen, who brought home two runs with a triple in the third. "We got an easy win, pretty much. Well, he made it look easy, anyway."

Easy like a Friday evening at Minute Maid Park. Easy like everybody is making it look against the Astros these days, as their woes continue.

Bucs the team to beat

The Astros, who are 1-10 in July, have lost five games in a row and 15 of their past 17. The team is on pace to shatter its all-time worst record.

The Astros also slipped to 2-8 against the first-place Pirates.

Yeah, the first-place Pirates. This is the first time Pittsburgh has been in first place this late in the season since 1997.

The Pirates and Astros (30-63) each score just under four runs per game, but Pittsburgh (48-43) is fifth in the National League with a 3.46 ERA, compared to the Astros' league-worst pitching staff and its 4.68 ERA.

Brett Myers, who did strikeout a season-high 11 batters Friday night, dropped to 3-10 with his fourth straight loss. He threw 111 pitches, 42 of them balls.

Since he allowed only three runs in his six innings of work, it went down as a quality start.

Stuff of legends

What Karstens did was better quality. Much better.

Karstens, a San Diego native who attended junior college for two years and spent only one year at Texas Tech before being taken in the 19th round by the New York Yankees in 2003, has been hot of late.

He has allowed two or fewer earned runs in 12 of his last 13 starts and only three in the other.

Karstens already has eight wins, which is twice as many as the former Yankee has put up in any other season.

They say he doesn't have spectacular stuff. Tell the Astros that.

Perhaps he doesn't scare hitters with a high-90s fastball, but he throws strikes and hits his spots.

"He's just been on an absolute roll," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "He's just in a real good place right now, and everybody's feeding off of him."

And like the rest of baseball, Karstens is feeding off the Astros.

jerome.solomon@chron.com 

twitter.com/jeromesolomon

Pirates are proof to Astros that there’s life after dormancy

by Steve Campbell
The Houston Chronicle
http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/
July 15, 2011

PITTSBURGH, PA - JULY 10: Neil Walker(notes) #18 congratulates teammate Paul Maholm(notes) #28 of the Pittsburgh Pirates after their win against the Chicago Cubs during the game on July 10, 2011 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

The Pittsburgh Pirates are young, and they’re hungry. They try hard, they’re eager to please, and for all Pirates manager Clint Hurdle knows, they help the elderly cross the street in their spare time.

Well, excuse Hurdle if he doesn’t hand out trophies for any of that.

“Try hard?” Hurdle said. “That’s like grits with breakfast in the South: It just comes with the deal. This isn’t a try-hard league. This is a do-good league. You don’t go up when you do well here. You stay here until you stink, and you figure out how to do well again.”

After two decades of trying times, the Pirates have emerged as surprise do-gooders. The Pirates, who averaged 97 defeats the previous six seasons, hit the All-Star break trailing St. Louis and Milwaukee by one game in the National League Central. Hurdle’s squad begin a three-game series against the Astros tonight at Minute Maid Park with a 47-43 record.

The Pirates’ last winning season was 1992. Those were the days Barry Bonds was a sleek, five-tool left fielder, Doug Drabek was the staff ace and the Astros played under a roof that didn’t open.

“I don’t think we have to prove anything to anybody but ourselves,” said Pirates second baseman Neil Walker, who is seventh in the NL in RBIs (59).

“To a degree, you could say we’re naïve. Everybody is writing us off. But we believe in each other.”

Pittsburgh has the lowest payroll in the NL ($45.0 million), with three All-Stars (center fielder Andrew McCutchen, closer Joel Hanrahan and starting pitcher Kevin Correia) combining to make less than one-third the $18.5 million salary Astros left fielder Carlos Lee commands. The Pirates also have the youngest team in the NL (average age: 27.2), which McCutchen suggests “has its perks.”

“Being a younger team, we’re not going to get tired,” said McCutchen, who is batting .291 with 14 home runs, 54 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. “We’re not going to give up. We’re just like that little gnat that bugs you all the time, won’t get out of your face. We’re going to stay there the whole time.”

Hurdle, 53, took the job last November with Pittsburgh coming off a 55-107 season. He talks with a straight face about becoming “a world championship organization.” A former Kansas City Royals phenom who never became a star, Hurdle managed the Colorado Rockies from 2002-09. His only winning season was 2007, when he led the Rockies to the World Series.

Baby steps

Because of the Pirates’ relative inexperience, he said he manages with “almost an instructional-league mentality.” When making an in-game correction, Hurdle likes to have the offending player repeat what was said to make sure there are no misunderstandings.

“I know there are days you need to be a leader,” Hurdle said. “There are days you need to be a coach. There are days you need to be a couch. And there are days I just flat-out need to be a manager. I do think there are days they just need to know what’s important to me. Feelings get hurt sometimes, but we’ve got to put our big-boy pants on and work our way through those and know the ultimate focus is us winning ballgames.”

The Pirates have won with an offense that hit the break 11th in runs scored with 354. It’s no secret the Pirates’ success hinges on solid pitching and tending to details. The Pirates are fifth in the NL with a 3.46 ERA, sixth in defensive efficiency (.699), second in sacrifices (48) and fourth in stolen bases (71).

When the margin for error is as thin as it is for the Pirates, it’s essential to have air-tight pitching at the end of close games. Enter Hanrahan, who has parlayed a 97-mph fastball into a 1.34 ERA and 26 saves in 26 opportunities.

“Clint’s come in and done a great job,” said Astros third-base coach Dave Clark, a former Pirates player (1992-96) who managed in the team’s minor-league system (2003-04). “He brought in accountability, and the kids are going with it. They play hard for 27 outs. And when you have that kind of energy, anything can happen. Especially when you start believing.”

Don’t stop believing

They haven’t even wavered in the face of a spate of injuries that has caused them to use 44 players this season. Among those who have gone down for extended stretches are left fielder Jose Tabata, catchers Ryan Doumit and Chris Snyder, shortstop Ronny Cedeno, third baseman Pedro Alvarez and 2010 All-Star reliever Evan Meek.

“We’re trying to win on a daily basis; we’re not trying to put up numbers,” Walker said. “That mentality, everybody has it in this clubhouse. All we’ve got to do is win by one run each night.”

Walker describes Hurdle as “our biggest fan, but he’s also our biggest critic.” Hurdle says he’s “easy to please, hard to satisfy.”

“We’ve had questions in some of our meetings: What’s it going to take for us to do what you believe we can do?” Hurdle said. “I say, ‘It’s going to take everything you’ve got, every day you show up.’ There weren’t any questions after that. ‘OK, we’ve got it.’ ”

steve.campbell@chron.com

twitter.com/campbellchron

Pinch me! My Pirates as buyers!?

They're a game out of first and they might try to get better at the trade deadline

By Johnette Howard
http://espn.go.com/
July 15, 2011

Pittsburgh Pirates' Andrew McCutchen(notes) (22) warms up on deck during the bottom of the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Pittsburgh Saturday, July 9, 2011. It was announced during the game that McCutchen was added to the National League All-Star team. The Cubs won 6-3.(AP)

The million-to-one shot came in. Hell froze over. A month of Sundays hit the calendar."

-- Shirley Povich on Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series

Pirates management has spoken. Now I am studying what Clint Hurdle and the boys still lack. I am scanning every corner of baseball -- the Triple-A rosters, the injury lists, the doghouses and top-shelf talent of every big league team -- and I'm asking myself what'll it be: pitching or hitting? Hitting or pitching? I am a native Pittsburgher and, for the first time in forever, the Pirates have declared themselves buyers, not sellers, as the July 31 trade deadline approaches.

Us! Buyers!

Do you know what a rare, strange, intoxicating change this is?

As baseball pulled out from the All-Star break this week, the Pirates sat just one game out of first place in the National League Central. A year ago, they lost a soul-numbing 105 games. As the second half begins, they're 47-43 and threatening to end their skid of 18 straight losing seasons, a record among the four major North American pro sports.

Do you know what this means?

Don't bother answering just now if you need a reply from me right away. There are only 17 shopping days 'til baseball's Christmas and I still have WAR, RISP, OPS and bar tab numbers to crunch before the trade deadline. (Can you believe what they charge for Iron City nowadays? I know it's the champagne of beers, but still …) The paranoid part of me wants the Pirates' surprising season to freeze in place right now -- where's a lockout when you really need one? -- and another part of me wants the Pirates to swing a buyer's trade just for the hell of it, just so we can say we did.

I don't care if it's a deal for a pine tar rag with a big upside and an exorcism to be named later. Just do it. Throw a news conference. Backslaps all around.

For too long, the Pirates have been the team only U-Haul could love. Our franchise didn't invent the roster fire sale, but it damn sure perfected it. Budding talent (Nate McLouth), a past batting-title winner (fan favorite Freddy Sanchez), players on the brink of salary raises -- we had 'em all and traded them away in other years. The Pirates were a club that made other teams' dreams come true. The last deadline move that looks like a get-better-now trade to me is when former general manager Dave Littlefield dealt Oliver Perez and Roberto Hernandez to the Mets for Xavier Nady in 2006.

But now, the Pirates are in a tight division race with co-leaders Milwaukee and St. Louis. We're ahead of Cincinnati. And we're buyers again, baby.

BUYERS!

"We absolutely are willing to add to this club if the right opportunity comes along," Pirates GM Neal Huntington said Wednesday in a phone interview.

Well, as long as we're out shopping then, I told Huntington, any chance we could pry Jose Reyes away from the Mets?

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha," Huntington said.

"That's not a 'no,'" I nearly sang.

"It's not a 'yes,'" he shot back, still laughing.

Eh. I know. Perhaps I overreached. Reyes is an MVP candidate in his contract year and he's expected to seek at least $20 million a season over seven. The Pirates, whose entire payroll was only $51 million on Opening Day, always fight small-market constraints.

Still, this season has gone a whole lot better than last year, when I wrote this lament about being a Pirates fan. We're a lot like long-suffering Cubbies fans -- just without the sense of humor. We have the same free-floating anxiety as Mets fans, but without the sticker shock.

You may recall -- we certainly never forgot -- that we had a chance way back in the 1992 playoffs to stop the Atlanta Braves and that infernal Tomahawk Chop from ever really taking off, and we blew it. Or to be precise, Barry Lamar Bonds, our Gold Glove left fielder, blew it. He failed to throw out ex-Pirate Sid Bream at home plate in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series. It can happen, you say? Sid ran as well as any first baseman with a knee brace and two invisible bear traps on his feet could be expected to run.

No Pirates team has had a winning record since. That play still looks like our Bucky Dent/Buckner/Aaron "Freaking" Boone moment all rolled into one. If it weren't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all. We had Bonds before BALCO. We had current slugging sensation Jose Bautista when he was still Jose Who?

The Pittsburgh Pirates three All-Stars, closer Joel Hanrahan(notes) (52), center fielder Andrew McCutchen(notes), center, and starting pitcher Kevin Correia(notes) (29) are introduced to fans between innings of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Pittsburgh Sunday, July 10, 2011. (AP)

Now look: The Milwaukee Brewers are hearing enough footsteps in the NL Central race that they swung a midnight trade Tuesday for Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez. To which we Pirates fans yawned and said, "So?"

Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan was chosen for the All-Star Game. He's 26-for-26 in save situations this season. A closer we've got.

A right-handed power bat is what the Pirates need. The Pirates need more offensive firepower across the board. The Brewers have Weeks-Fielder-Braun. The Cards have Pujols and Holliday.

Perhaps I should call Huntington back and see if it would be too much to ask for Reyes and a Carlos Beltran rental and a hitting upgrade at first, too?

"Fantasy baseball is a wonderful thing," Huntington said, laughing again, before we hung up. "But if the right piece is out there, we may stretch a little and we may stretch a lot. Or …"

"Yes?" I said.

"We may do nothing at all," Huntington added.

Not funny.

The Pirates' surprising start has happened for a lot of reasons. Since taking over as GM in September 2007, Huntington and his staff overhauled the organization top to bottom, knowing scouting and development have to be huge strengths. Hurdle, in his first year as manager, has been a godsend. Ray Searage, who was hired last August as pitching coach, has had a huge impact, too. The Bucs' pitching staff came out of the All-Star break with the fifth-lowest ERA in the majors. Some of their young everyday players like All-Star center fielder Andrew McCutchen and second-year second baseman Neil Walker (59 RBIs already) have shone.

To say Hurdle, a barrel-chested man with a granite jaw and booming voice, is a glass-half-full guy doesn't begin to capture him. After taking the Pirates job rather than wait for a second interview with the Mets, Hurdle declared, "This is one of the greatest opportunities in all of sports." Huh? Last year's Pirates just missed a grand slam for futility. In addition to having the worst record, they also had the majors' worst ERA (5.00), tied for the most errors (127) and were next-to-last in team batting average (.242). They were outscored by 279 runs. This year, they're plus-8.

This Pirates club has also grabbed attention by ripping to a 19-11 division mark so far, and by grabbing two out of three from the Phillies and then the visiting Red Sox in June. At one point, the Pirates drew four straight sellout crowds for the first time ever at picturesque PNC Park. Cynicism is falling away.

As Huntington says, "The great thing about those sellouts is the fans have been our fans. We've had home sellouts in the past when Philadelphia came to town, when Boston came here. But quite honestly, a lot of their fans made the trip. But last weekend, we sold out when we played the Cubs and it was our fans. That was a blast. I had a reporter tell me it was as loud as he's ever heard it here."

It reminds me of that scene in "Young Frankenstein" in which Gene Wilder, looking quite smart with his fright wig hair and lab coat, flips a big electrical switch and the cadaver blinks and Wilder backs away bellowing, "It's ALIVE! It's A-LIVE!"

In baseball terms, it's not quite the same as shouting, "The Pirates win the pennant! The Pirates win the pennant!" But if by some magical confluence of events, the Pirates make the playoffs this year, meet me on the South Side when the postseason starts. Pull up a stool and say hello.

As we like to say in Pittsburgh these days, I'm buying.

And after what we've been through, may it always be so.


Johnette Howard is a contributing columnist to ESPN.com and ESPNNewYork.com, and is the author of "The Rivals: Chris Evert vs. Martina Navratilova, Their Epic Duels and Extraordinary Friendship." She can be reached at jphinbox@yahoo.com.