Feeling Sorry for the Pirates

From the Natinals incident to back to back 100 loss seasons it hasn’t been a fun time to be a Nationals fan. Even so I can’t imagine the feeling of being a Pirates fan right now. They are expected right now to play the role of the Washington Generals or Val Venis. They are expected to roll over and die an let Stephen Strasburg have a great debut. I bet this burns the players up. I bet they are going to feed on this and make Strasburg pitch his best to beat them. That is if they even care they will.

It could be that the Pirates clubhouse is a darkly lit din of sadness. Last chance players like Lastings Milledge and Ryan Church trying to prove their value so they stick in the major leagues. Guys like Ryan Doumit, Garrett Jones, and Andrew McCutchen counting down the days until they are traded to a contender and the Pirates “rebuilding” starts all over again. The Pirates haven’t won since Sid Bream rounded third and crushed the hopes and dreams of an entire city.

Have the Pirates really fallen this far? Has the team of Roberto Clemente and Honus Wagner become so much of a joke that they are being used to transition a potential star from AAA to the Majors? Are the Pirates the baseball equivalent of a fat Tony Atlas wrestling in a High School gym in some backwater New Jersey town? I don’t want to say I feel bad for the Pirates, but I do.

No major league team deserves the disrespect with which the media is going to treat the Pirates. Make no mistake about it Tuesday June, 8 is the Stephen Strasburg show and the Pirates are going to be expected to be a good little baseball team and do their part. Originally Strasburg was going to make his debut against the Reds, but then Pudge Rodriguez found himself on the DL and the Nationals didn’t want Strasburg to make his debut throwing to Wil Neives. So, it was pushed back, and it happens to fall on a day they are playing the Pirates.

Of course the talking heads believe this is so Strasburg can get a win in his debut. Of course in baseball everyone is dangerous, and every team is trying to win. I do not think the Pirates view themselves as the farm team for MLB, nor do I think the players view themselves as the unlucky fellow that has Lebron James’ nuts in his face on a little boy’s bedroom wall. I bet every Pirates position player is salivating at the idea of knocking one out of the park and ruining the Strasburg show. I also bet that whoever the pitcher is that day is just waiting to be that much better.

The question that remains is can they? If the Pirates play their best and try their hardest can they beat the Nationals. Sure they can, but can they if the Nationals also play their best and try their hardest? Probably not.  This game is going to end up being just like any other game played between the Pirates and Nationals just because both teams have something to play for. The crowd will be electric and the pirates will be out there to ruin the show and the Nationals will be out there to make sure it goes as planned.

In the end it doesn’t matter if a player like Kobe Bryant or Alex Ovechkin wants to put you on the wrong side of a highlight. By sheer force of will they get what they want. If Strasburg is as much of a star as people think he is, then by determination alone he will turn in the highlights and the Pirates will find themselves on the wrong end of the highlight reels. They can get as mad as they want, and feel as slighted as they want, but in the end they might have to hope to hold the game close and ruin Strasburg’s evening by beating Sean Burnett.