Looking Up

When it seemed like the offense was slowly, slowly disappearing, the team goes out and has a performance like tonight. The team roared back to life offensively, scoring 9 runs, mainly on the back of Pedro Alvarez and his two monstrous home runs. One of those homers was announced as the longest by a Pirate in PNC Park history.

The question that is on everyone's mind then, can this be a sign of things to come? As I have said, every time recently when I have asked, "Is this a sign, is this the start of something?", the team has gone flat. It could easily happen this time as well or we could really be seeing the start of a run. If it is the start of a run, the team has seemingly waited until the very last moment to start this run.

The playoffs are a very distant goal. Right now a winning record seems to be more in their sights, but even that is a baker's dozen of wins away. The team has struggled and now is going to be replacing a starter in their rotation so things are not going to just disappear and wins are going to start to come in.

The schedule though could setup nicely for them, should this be the start of something. sure they are going to Milwaukee, but the Brewers are not the same team that they have been. Then there are a bunch of games with the Astros and Cubs, prime candidates for stacking up wins. The have 10 games, yes only 10 games, against a team with a record above .500. Six of those games are against the Reds, three against the Braves, and 1 more against the Cardinals. The rest is the Brewers, Cubs, Astros, and the Mets.

While there has been some doom and gloom recently, the schedule sure does look up for the Buccos. If the offense can not go into hibernation, there might be a good bit of life left.