Gotta show love for Rick Chandler today.
In Deadspin’s MLB Closer, Rick asks:
Wouldn’t it be ironic — in a fun, cosmic sort of way — if the turning point for the Pittsburgh Pirates‘ franchise came on Tuesday night? It was the first time since 1960 that the New York Yankees had played in Pittsburgh, when, as you surely recall, Bill Mazeroski won Game 7 of the World Series with one of the most dramatic walkoff homers in baseball history. The Pirates celebrated that day 48 years ago with another win on Tuesday; 12-5, featuring 19 hits and homers by Jose Bautista and Ryan Doumit.
In light of last night’s drubbing of the Yanks, the question seems fit. Pat at WHYGAVS admits that the win feels like more than just a win…maybe not season-changing, but special enough. We’ve suffered through a stretch of losing baseball rarely seen in the MLB. One more year of this bullshit, and we tie the Phillies, yes, the 10,000+ loss Phillies, for the record of 16 consecutive losing seasons. So why couldn’t last night be the turning point?
I’m a relatively young guy, but I’ve been blessed to see the Pens win multiple Stanley Cups and the Steelers get that one for the thumb. I’m not predicting a World Series win in the near future, but damn it I wanna see it happen. Now, we need much smaller goals at this point…win streaks, .500 baseball, consistent pitching…but the goal of every team should be to win it all.
We entered last night’s game with the worst interleague record in history, and fittingly, were playing the team with the best interleague record in history. I’m not going to pretend the fans of the Buccos know anything about the MLB playoffs thanks to the string of sucktitude, but beating the Yanks the way we did last night felt awesome.
I’ve told you about the group of people who gather in NYC to watch the Pens games before. Myself and a good number of the same people do the same for Buccos games. Since I’ve moved to New York, I haven’t been able to watch as much baseball as I would like, what with starting new jobs and all. But last night, one guy summed up what we were all feeling when he said, “If we win tonight, this is our World Series.” There’s no better way to say it. The Buccos won a playoff game (in our minds, at least). We showed that our offense is legit, if at least for one night. Why can’t this be the 15-year-old spark needed?
To be honest, I really don’t know where I’m going with this post. The Pirates played awesome, a bunch of us actually felt good watching a Pirates game, Rick asked a similar question to what we were all thinking in a Manhattan pub on a Tuesday night, and I really want nothing more than to see that little bit of success duplicated.
So come on, Buccos. End our suffering, please? Build off last nights win.
(Disclaimer: This post sucks and I know it. Direct hate mail to psampmail@gmail.com)
