Pirates upbeat despite epic fall

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

As the botched plays and bad losses and loud boos at PNC Park mounted in recent days, Clint Hurdle and the Pittsburgh Pirates stood firm in reciting a familiar refrain.

Over the course of a 162-game season, they rationalized, every club eventually endures a slump, a stretch of poor play, a losing streak.

“We know there’s no reason to panic,” outfielder Garrett Jones said, “because even the best teams have rough patches like this.”

But not one this costly — and this quickly — in major-league history.

Leading the NL Central on July 25, the Pirates lost the next day when plate umpire Jerry Meals admittedly made the wrong call in the 19th inning at Atlanta. And by Sunday night, Pittsburgh had lost 10 in a row and suddenly found itself trailing by 10 games.

Never before had a first-place team plunged 10 games back in a 13-day span, STATS LLC said.

“To go from in the hunt to out of the hunt in 10 games like this, it’s bad,” infielder Brandon Wood said after Sunday’s 7-3 loss to San Diego, finishing an 0-7 week at home.

“It’s amazing how quick things can change. But on the other hand, they can change that quick in the other direction as well,” he said.

Look at the Red Sox, the Pirates say, who started 0-6 and now have the best record in the American League. Or the Brewers, who have gone on separate 0-7 and 1-7 runs but still lead the NL Central.

They had better start heading the other direction soon if the Pirates are to salvage a season that was filled with such promise before the bottom fell out.

A year after losing 105 games for their 18th consecutive losing season, these Pirates peaked at 51-44 and were five games over .500 in July for the first time since 1992 when the trouble began with that 4-3 loss to the Braves.

Less than two weeks later, having acquired Derrek Lee and Ryan Ludwick to help for a possible playoff push, the Pirates were 54-59. They’d been outscored 82-37 during the 10-game skid and dropped 12 of 13 since peaking.

A sweep at the hands of the last-place Padres followed sweeps at Philadelphia and at home against the Chicago Cubs.

The sellout crowds that had been drawn in by the strong play of the Pirates in June and the first three weeks of July were booing during losses of 15-5 and 13-2 on Friday and Saturday.

Hurdle, in his first year of managing the Pirates, understood the fans’ reaction.

“If you’ve ever been involved in sports at any level, you’ve been involved in a situation where you don’t win,” Hurdle said. “At the major-league level, this is the life we’ve all chosen, so you understand what comes with it, whether it be public scrutiny, whether it be fan displeasure. When you do well, people cheer. When you don’t do well, people can boo. That’s always part of it.”