Don't Look Back
By Magoo,
Anyone looking at the MLB standings today will find the Pittsburgh Pirates having the best record in the game. A lofty place; for any team, let alone one that has fallen apart like a cheap suit the past two seasons. Those who have followed the team can tell you why they are perched above the sky-scrapers of the baseball world. We baseball fans love to point our fingers don’t we?
Count Joe , a Columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, as someone who has done his share over the course of time.
In his Column today he wrote this about the team he is paid to dissect. ‘The Cardinals are perceived as remarkable balanced, a take supported by a longer view. Separating the season into smaller bites suggests a more disturbing reality.
A starting rotation that led the major leagues with a 2.15 April ERA and ranked second with a 3.01 May figure has slipped into gradual decline that has left it No. 21, 14, 14 and 16 the last four months. Since June 1 the starters have compiled a 4.06 ERA, leaving them 16th among 30 teams in that span.’ Of all things to point at, Joe has selected starting rotation to be the Redbirds problem. Interesting!
Now being a died-in-the-wool unabashed Pirate fan, I sat up in my chair as I read his words. It seems things are becoming a bit uneasy in the town that became America’s SECOND Gateway to the West. As a baseball fan I have personal memories of the Pirates winning three World Series. It’s a thrill that I want to share with my fellow Bucco fans again.
The smell of blood oozing from the enemy gets me all worked up. fanned that aroma my way this morning when he wrote, ‘The Cardinals are in second place but they are not in trouble of tumbling from the playoff picture.’
Even if the Cardinals fail to overtake Pittsburgh for the division title, they entered Thursday 8½ games ahead of Arizona for the league’s second wild-card slot.’
Did I read that correctly? I am guessing that suggests the Cardinals fans need to start looking over their collective shoulders.
More worrisome for the team is the final sentence of the Column, ‘What’s trouble is that only 48 games remain in the season and the Cardinals are trying to re-energize several starting pitchers, including their ace, Wainwright.’
What do you think Satchel would have said about that?