Pablo's Misc Corner - 6/19/07

Some apologies are in order.

First of all, I'd like to apologize to ALL those loyal Pablo fan(s) out there who haven't gotten any content for over a week. That is all my bad. I was even down at the game on Friday and no post-game notes were given. This week I seek to remedy that. A second apology goes to Tenacious J who is still waiting on his Bucco tickets from me. Tenacious... you have my word you will have them by the end of the week.. sorry for the delay.

Negativity is the name of the game. GQbed and I were chatting about it. Plenty of it surrounds this team so miserable, so mired in losing, so irrelavant and poorly run. The jokes about the Pirates stinking went from an afterthought to nauseating. Its sometimes hard to remember that this was a once proud franchise that would go toe to toe with any in the league. I can understand the frustration and what is prompting some to protest this team June 30, perhaps even with a walkout if necessary. I have already stated I think this move is wrong, but I do understand why its happening. What kinda stinks is that on the game against the Nats when the protest is supposed to go down, I will be taking an out of town friend to his first ever Pirate game. Not only is this his first game in Pittsburgh, its his first big league game! I'm sad that his first exposure to my beloved Pirates will be a game that is being protested.

On another note completely, I'd like to address the current state of the team. We sit at 30-39, which is bad, but not as bad as the 30-60 start from last year. (Unless of course we lose our next 21 games, which is not out of the question) Remember the hype the entire winter about 37-35? Tracy couldn't go 30 seconds without mentioning it. Well, for the fun of it, lets assume the Pirates will get another 37 wins after the All Star break, unlikely as that is. In order for this team to achieve 81 wins, it has to win another 51 games. Thus, over the 19 remaining games before the All Star break, the Pittsburgh Pirates must go 14-5. Don't hold your breath, but 2 1/2 weeks of .750 ball could completely turn this season around.

I want to start a new feature on the Corner. A "This Day in 1997" portion that will highlight what the 1997 Freak Show Bucs (my personal favorite Pirate team of all time) were doing on the date in question. This is a leadup to a July 12 column commemorating the last Pirate team that put up a fight.

THIS DATE IN 1997:

The Pirates lost 7-6 to the Mets at Shea. The Bucs entered the bottom of the 9th down 6-3 and facing John Franco. Dale Sveum hit a 3 run shot to tie the game, but the Pirates lost in the bottom half of the 9th. Pittsburgh fell to 33-37 with Ricardo "Pontiac Grand Am" Rincon taking the L.

Petey Pablo OUT!!!