What a difference a week makes, huh? Just one week ago today, we were celebrating the Pirates' ascension to mediocrity and having fun speculating for how long it could last. Well, six straight losses later and the Pirates have completed the first quarter of their season with an 18-23 record. The last time they were 18-23? Last year.
So, things aren't looking good for the Buccos right now. But just as I didn't want to get too excited a week ago, neither do I want to get too down this week. The current losing streak does include a trip to Milwaukee, where we just cannot win. Eventually for us to be competitive we're going to need to solve the Brewers, but that time just isn't yet.
As depressing as the last week has been, 18 wins over a quarter of the season still works out to 72 victories, which would be a 15 game improvement over last year and a respectable total. Last year's team notably collapsed, which I just don't see happening this year. And, the same things I said a week ago still hold true: as long as our pitching can remain at a mediocre level, our offense is due to wake up from its funk and hopefully we'll see us go on a few runs here and there and pull some surprises. This is still a very young team and inconsistency is to be expected.
To update our predictions (http://pghblastfurnace.blogspot.com/2011/04/prediction-time-2011-mlb-season.html), here are the current divisional leaders:
ReplyDeleteAL East: Rays
AL Central: Indians
Al West: Angles
AL WC: Tigers
NL East: Phillies
NL Central: Reds
NL West: Giants
NL WC: Marlins
I still have some faith in this team. I also can't remember the last time I said that about a buccos squad. Isn't it bad that I can't remember the last time I had faith in a Pirates team in mid-May???
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