WE WILL: Play Like a Real Team

I can just hear Littlefield now talking to his staff, "Look everyone! we're a real team! They're finally playing like a real team"

DL should consider signing Pinocchio as a starting pitcher.
A wooden arm should not wear down.

I am as surprised as anyone that the Pirates were able to take three straight from the Brewers. Especially since it followed a game where they were thoroughly demoralized by just 1 inning of ineffective relief pitching. Most Pirates teams would lose a couple following a game like that. Fortunately for this team, the Brewers gift wrapped the 6-2 win Tuesday with a 4-error performance that even the Pirates could not screw up, which the 27 men they left on base suggests they did try.

The papers have been mentioning that Tracy gave the team a speech before the series, but I have to believe he gave one before the game Wednesday as well....

We won yesterday. If we win today, that's two-in-a-row.
If we win tomorrow, that's called a winning streak; it has happened before

I beg to differ, Jim, it hasn't happened to this team before... at least not when they were facing a team over .500. It took the Pirates more than half a season, but they finally took a series from a team that is playing over .500 baseball. Looking back at how the games unfolded, it isn't that surprising which team won, however. The way the Pirates have won these games are just the way Littlefield and Tracy envisioned this team coming together over the offseason.

• Strong Starting Pitching - in 6 of the last 7 wins the Pirates' starter went at least 7 innings and gave up no more than 3 runs.
• Solid Defense - the Pirates are without an error during this stretch
• Power from the left side of the plate -Doumit and LaRoche have combined for 8 HRs in the last 10 games

Strong pitching and solid defense is how championships are won. The Pirates have had several stretches of both this season. The one thing missing though was Adam LaRoche treating the NL opposition like Japan circa 1945.

WWII would have lasted 7 months had they let LaRoche send an Adam bomb
at Hitler. Of course, they would have had to wait until July before letting
him loose on the Nazis.

The Pirates are 7-3 in their last 10 games. The ONLY team in all of MLB who has more wins in the last 10 than the Pirates are the Pirates next opponent, the Chicago Cubs.

We've seen spurts like this from the Pirates over the last 14 years. Typically they take a homestand like this, 6-2, and finish it off at 6-5. Let's see if this team is truly playing like a real team that can build momentum. If they keep this pace up Captain Jolly Roger will have to go see Dr. James Andrews due to the sore arm he's gotten from raising the flag in centerfield so much.



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