It's April 7th, and the panic is already on. We're only one week into the six month journey that is baseball season, and people have already written off the Pirates. I'm not saying there's no reason to do so.
This has been a very disappointing start. One win, five losses to start the year. The total inability to get hits, let alone runs. A series loss to the divisional rival Chicago Cubs, and a sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers. It wasn't pretty. The Bucs wasted two beautiful pitching performances by AJ Burnett. They wasted a surprisingly decent showing by Jonathan Sanchez. Today's loss to the Dodgers marked the first time this year where the pitching staff did not give them a legitimate chance to win. The offense took a step forward, with Andrew McCutchen crushing the team's first home run of 2013. Hits weren't quite as scarce as before. People seemed to be getting better quality contact. But still, there's not much good to take out of the first six games of the season.
But amid all of the widespread depression among the Pirates community, I'm about to say why it is absurd to panic just yet. Here's why:
Pitching is the foundation for success. It is absolutely the most important thing for a winning baseball team to have. The Pirates have it. AJ Burnett has turned in two top-notch starts. Wandy Rodriguez delivered a handling of the Cubs' lineup. Even Jonathan Sanchez turned in a quality start, pitching through six innings allowing three earned runs. The bullpen has performed well, with Jared Hughes succeeding in both of his outings, Tony Watson getting out of a bases-loaded situation unscathed. The pitching is certainly there.
The obvious, glaring issue with this team is the hitting. The team collectively has hit below .200. Until today, there were zero home runs, and only two doubles. The only player to have two hits in one game was Starling Marte, and they were both singles. Alvarez isn't looking good, if you know what I mean. However, you should wait before hitting the panic button. Look at last year's season. We started in a very similar fashion, with excellent pitching and extremely bad offense. But they pulled through. Eventually (May 25th to be exact) the offense lit up. And don't be fooled, the Pirates have some serious weapons. Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Garrett Jones, Neil Walker, and Starling Marte make for a formidable core. If something, anything, can spark this offense, it could easily light on fire once again. It's not a lack of talent, at least I don't think so. It's something intangible.
This bodes well for the Pirates because it means things could turn around at any moment. Today we could hit this horribly, but as soon as tomorrow we could have a big day at the plate. I'm not saying it will turn around tomorrow. I'm saying that it could turn around tomorrow. And there's no reason to say it won't be tomorrow. They face the Arizona Diamondbacks, who play in a very hitter-friendly ballpark, which could be just the thing to get this offense going.
I'm not pretending that this first week hasn't been bad. All I mean to say is that the potential is there to pick things up any day now.
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