Pirates of the Allegheny

Zoltan!

Who would have expected the Pittsburgh Pirates to be having this kind of season?  Yes, the team of lovable losers and 19 straight losing seasons are 13 games over .500 and just 1.5 games back from the division lead.  And all this is despite and anemic offense for all of April and much of May. 

Andrew McCutchen is having an MVP season.  He leading the league in hitting with a .373 average to go along with 22 home runs and 66 RBI's.  But yet, opposing teams still pitch to him.  After a slow start, Pedro Alvarez has 21 home runs and 58 RBI's.  Neil Walker has upped his batting average close to .300 and Garrett Jones has added 13 home runs of his own. The bats have come alive after the team struggled to score 3 runs a game for the first part of the season.

The 1-2 punch of Joel Hanrahan and Jason Grilli is becoming almost automatic for the 8th and 9th inning.  As the setup man, Grilli has 56 strikeouts in 36 2/3 innings with a WHIP of 1.06 and an ERA of 1.96.  Joel Hanrahan, an All-Star two years running, has 28 saves so far on the season.  And former first round pick Brad Lincoln is beginning to show the stuff of a closer-in-waiting.    The Pirates have the best bullpen in the league.  If they have a lead after 7 innings, it's tough to beat them.

Maybe the biggest surprise of the season is AJ Burnett.  AJ was acquired from the Yankees for basically nothing during the off season in what was obviously a "Please take him" trade after two disappointing seasons in the Big Apple.  Burnett has 11 wins for the Bucs so far this season and is said to have stepped up as the clubhouse leader not just for the young pitchers on the staff but for the entire team, especially rising star James McDonald, a 10-game winner so far this season and the leader among starters in strikeouts (104) and ERA (2.93).

Many Pirates fans rolled their eyes at Neal Huntington's "five year plan".  But guess what?  He's right on schedule.  He took the General Manager's job in 2007 and immediately began trading away the top talent and highest paid players.  He began spending big dollars on the draft and adding much needed talent to the farm system.  It's 2012 and the Pirates are in a pennant race at the end of July.  With the veteran leadership from Burnett and Clint Barmes who have World Series experience and the growing star power of Cutch and Pedro, don't expect a collapse like we saw in 2011.  This Pirates team is for real.

Believe.