Pittsburgh Sports, Opinion and Politics | Just Watch the Game Blog

The Pirates are 5 1/2 games out of first place after a loss to the Cubs. The Cardinals are between them and the Brewers and the Reds are only two behind.

I’m way too tired to look it up, but I would bet that you would find that it is extremely rare for a Major League Baseball team to win a division if it is 5 1/2 games out on August 2nd.

If the Pirates took advantage of what is supposed to be an easy schedule and won their next six games and ended up 8-2 in their next 10, the Brewers could go 5-5 and still lead the Pirates by 2 1/2.

The only way it happens for the Pirates now is if they play way over their heads against the top teams in the National League for a long period of time.

I’m penciling them in for 79-83 and fourth place.

I said after the Pirates lost two out of three to the Cardinals last weekend that I thought it was the beginning of the end for them.

The decent showing in Atlanta didn’t change my mind.

Losing three in a row to the Phillies should convince even the most optimistic Pirates fan that the party’s over.

They’re 2 games over .500 and adding two mediocre quasi-power hitters to the lineup will not be enough.

Give the Nuttings credit for spending the money on Derek Lee and Ryan Ludwick, but it’s just another example of the Pirates having to settle for the crumbs left by the big boys.

The difference is that this time it’s at the trading deadline instead of during the free agency signing season.

They’ll have trouble finishing with a better record than the 97 Pirates, who finished 79-83.

That team was two games over .500 on August 20th.

Looking at the schedule the rest of the way, it’s hard to imagine the Pirates playing .500 ball for the next three weeks.

Of course, I’ve already been wrong about this team a couple of times this season

And people wonder why I despise Major League Baseball.

There used to be nothing I liked better in sports than the Pirates in a pennant race – first as a fan and later as a sportscaster/columnist.

As I’ve made it clear ad nauseum here and other places for at least the last 10 years, I consider Major League Baseball to be a joke and nothing close to what a real league is supposed to be.

The Pirates, for the first time in 14 years, find themselves in a pennant race.

The trading deadline approaches and it’s obvious to anybody who knows anything about baseball that they need a power hitter to stay in contention.

The two best power hitters available are Carlos Beltran of the Mets and Hunter Pence of the Astros.

Beltran goes to the team that won the World Series last year — the Giants.

And Pence goes to the team that won the World Series two years ago and already had the highest payroll in the National League — the Phillies.

Both the Giants and the Phillies –especially the Phillies –gave up top prospects to complete the deal.

The Pirates can’t give up their top prospects ( or at least don’t think that they can) because they only have one way to compete in the long run and that is by holding on to their prospects and hoping that they all become stars at the same time.

Prospects are important to the Phillies and Giants, but they can afford to give them up because they have enough money to buy already developed prospects and veterans.

I will never understand how anyone who understands the concept of a “league” has the patience for this bullshit.

A few years ago, the Penguins made a deadline deal. They gave up prospects for a guy named Marian Hossa and he helped them get to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The NHL has a salary cap.

And that allows the Penguins to be a real NHL team.

Major League Baseball does not have one.

That makes the Pirates a Major League team in name only.

Remember what happened to the Pirates this week the next time somebody tries to tell you that poor management is the main reason for the Pirates stinking for the last 18 years.

And don’t worry about next year.

I hear they’re planning a really nice ceremony to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1992 division champions.

Here’s hoping the Phillies go undefeated from now through Game 4 of the World Series.

Joe Butler of Metro Index Scouting thinks Major League Baseball should go to the replay.

There’s a new t-shirt that’s popping up around town. It reads, “I Was A Pirates Fan Before It Was Cool.’

I guess it’s cool to be a Pirates fan now but, sorry, I have to disagree that it was cool to be one for the last 15 years or so.

What’s cool about being willing to be slapped in the face?

That’s what Pirates fans have been getting since 1992. Not just from the Pirates but from Major League Baseball. The Pirates’ payroll in 1992 was $8 million less than the Yankees. Now it’s about $170 million less.

And, by the way, this team has done nothing yet.

It is better than any Pirates team has been in 18 years on July 18th.

That would be great if the season ended on July 19th.

There are two and a half months to go.

Still, the best part of any baseball championship is the run to the championship. What sets baseball apart from all the other sports is that everything changes every day.

So, if you are a Pirates fan, you should live in the moment and enjoy what’s happening. If they can contend for the entire season, you got your money’s worth and you got a good return on your emotional investment.

But, please don’t tell me that it was cool to be a Pirates fan the last 18 years.

The schedule gets tougher for the rest of this month and doesn’t get any easier in August. It’ll be cool if the Pirates are still contending in a bad division a month from now.

I was heavily criticized here for not getting teary eyed over Christian Lopez’ decision not to sell the baseball that Derek Jeter hit for his 3,000th hit.

I was rooting for greed when I said he should sell it to the highest bidder.

I still think Lopez is a schmuck for not selling it even after learning that Topps is giving him his own baseball card.

Selling it wouldn’t have been greed. It would have been taking advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

I became even more convinced that he is a schmuck when I read how much the Yankees are milking Jeter’s 3,000th hit.

Google “Jeter 3,000th hit memorabilia” and you’ll see that there is actually an official Jeter 3,o00th hit logo.

Funny, I don’t remember a Roberto Clemente 3,000th hit logo.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t blame the Yankees or Jeter for cashing in.

If there are people out there willing to pay $40 for a Yankees hat with that 3,000th hit logo, then the Yankees and Major League Baseball would be foolish not to take their money.

It’s not greed. Just business.

And more proof that fans get more gullible every day.

Scott Cousins of the Florida Marlins is receiving death threats because of this:

It’s a play that has happened thousands of times in baseball. A catcher, in this case, Buster Posey of the Giants, blocks the plate and pays a price when the runner tries to separate him from the ball.

Brian Sabean, the Giants General Manager, said that Cousins’ hit was “malicious” and “unnecessary.”

Maybe you could make a case for unnecessary.

Maybe.

But malicious?

Does the General Manager of the Giants think that Scott Cousins was trying to seriously injure his catcher?

Here’s what else Sabean said: “He (Cousins) chose to be a hero in my mind. If that’s his flash of fame, that’s as good as it’s going to get, pal. We’ll have a long memory. ”

Of course, you can always count on the fans to keep things in perspective.

Major League Baseball security has been called in because Cousins has been receiving death threats.

These are fans of the same team that Bryan Stow was rooting for the night that he was beaten within an inch of his life for wearing the wrong jersey to a Dodgers game.

But don’t let anybody tell you that more sports fans in America are losing perspective every day.

Obviously, there have always been deranged fans out there on the fringes but the over-the-top, widespread tribal mentality that led to Bryan Stow’s beating is a relatively recent development.

How optimistic are you that it’s not going to get worse before it gets better?

Meanwhile, it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that a Giant or two has been on the other side of a home plate collision.