I lied to myself and most everyone around me, and, although I am not sorry for it, I feel like I have some explaining to do.

It has been 16 years since the Pittsburgh Pirates have had a winning season.  The last time was in 1992 when I was five years old. Mark Whalberg was still Marky Mark and the Power Rangers were to debut on TV in a year.  That was with the pre-soap opera Bonds who played with a wealth of talent around him on a team led by the great Jim Leyland.

Since then the Pirates have seen their share of transfers in ownership, management and coaching. This, teamed up with a great deal of trades involving rising stars whom the team can no longer afford, horrible draft picks and acquisitions of veterans for just the short-term, has made the Pirates the laughing stock of Major League Baseball.
These results also yielded a horrible farm system and continued pathetic season after season.  The brightest moments for the team in recent years have been the construction of beautiful PNC Park and hosting the 2006 All-Star game.

Pittsburgh really has never given me reason to be a devout fan.  They never win, parking and concession prices are way too high and management never really made me feel like they were trying their best to work for the long haul.  With each passing year I lied, saying that there was a fighting chance for the Buccos to get over .500, although, deep down I knew that was not true.  But maybe that is why I still like them so much, I can not remember them as winners, I was too young, so when, or better yet if, they become winners, I can enjoy it even more.

The more I grew up and followed the team the more I realized how ridiculous my lies were.  It got to the point where this year I almost decided to just not care.
But I just could not.

Maybe not this year, but within the next couple of years the Pirates will have their long sought-after winning season.

I am putting my faith in Rob Nutting, Frank Coonelly and Neil Huntington, the team’s owner, president and general manager respectively.  These three have finally shown the city of Pittsburgh that they are devoted to developing a winning system, not just a season.

Huntington comes from years in Cleveland, another small market team with a history of drafting well and having a nice farm system.  He has made tough trades to acquire some young talent as well as, most importantly, drafting and signing third baseman Pedro Alvarez out of Vanderbilt.  In Pittsburgh, Alvarez is already garnering comparisons to Hall-Of-Fame Pirate great Willie Stargell at the plate.

Huntington also spent money on only one veteran who will serve as a backup in Eric Hinske. Hinske spent last season with Tampa Bay and has already compared this year’s Pirates to last year’s remarkable Rays.  The Pirates will not come anywhere close to the accomplishments of Tampa, but hopefully they will not be seen as another fluff series on an opponent’s schedule.

It could happen.  Hinske will back up a relatively young, but talented, lineup.  Catcher Ryan Doumit displayed his power as he became a regular in the second half of last season.  If Adam LaRoche can shake off his notorious slow starts, and play a full year of good ball, he could crack over 30 home runs again for a team desperate for power.  Nate McLouth could play a full season like last year’s first half as he earned an All-Star trip and a Gold Glove in center field.

Pitching, however, will be the key to the Pirates success.  New pitching coach Jim Kerrigan, known for his work around the league, was brought in to help a rotation that sported the lowest ERA in the NL last season in which the relievers won more games than the starters.

Paul Maholm is solid, and Zach Duke had a spring training reminiscent of his rookie season, in 2005, in which he was exceptional.  The bullpen has only two really dependable pitchers in John Grabow and Matt Capps, but expect the younger guys to get better as the season progresses.

Pittsburgh has bats in the farm system at many positions, especially with rising star Andrew McCutcheon in center field in AAA ball.  McLouth could be used as trade bait to bolster up pitcher in the farm system.

So call it wishful thinking, but the Pirates seem to be coming together, finally.  They will become successful in a few years, this is no lie.

But can you really tell when a liar is telling the truth?

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I will never forget my dad telling me to enjoy the moment now.  “It doesn’t happen every year,” he said.

Since I was so young, I thought, “Yeah right!  This team is great!  They’re going to be in the World Series every year.”

That was 1993.  Fifteen years later, I will finally get to experience that anticipation and joy once again when the Phillies play the Tampa Bay Rays.

But my dad could not have been more right.  I was naïve to think that championships were easy to come by.  As is the case with many Millersville students who are also Philadelphia sports fans, I have never experienced a championship.  The last time a team won a title was the 1983, 76ers.

After being hopeful as a kid, I have grown up like many Philly fans as someone that thinks a championship will never come.  So many teams have gotten this close before in my life, and they have all come up short.  The ‘96 Flyers, the 2001 Sixers, and the 2004 Eagles.  Forgive me if I have lost hope at this point, but I have not been given any reason to be optimistic in the past.

Being a Philly sports fan is like being in a bad relationship.  Every team has broken my heart.  Common sense would say I should have given up by now, but I keep coming back.  I hold onto the good times and try to forget about the bad.  But they always seem to disappoint me every time I get my hopes up.

I can only hope the Phillies will be different.  They have the lineup to put up big runs.  Three of the Rays’ four starting pitchers are right-handed, which should be an advantage against a left-handed heavy lineup.  All of the potential that Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins, have should come out when the lights are at their brightest.  But what if they don’t?  What if this week off affects the whole lineup’s timing and they can not straighten it out in time?

The Rays are inexperienced.  They have never been this far before, so they should be complacent with just getting to the World Series.  But what if they aren’t? They have passed so many tests during this long season and postseason that it is hard to play the inexperience card anymore.

Our bullpen is the strongest out of the two.  Brad Lidge and Ryan Madson have been dominant in September and October.  If the Phillies have the lead after seven innings, a win should be a guarantee.  But what if Lidge finally blows a save?  He has to eventually, right?  Isn’t it possible that Madson reverts to the player he was a couple years ago?

Forgive me if I sound negative.  I root as hard as anyone for these teams.  When they lose, it can ruin the rest of my day.  I am just trying to prevent myself from getting let down once again.  I truly want the Phillies to win and I am pretty confident that they have the talent to match up with the Rays and win the World Series. If they don’t, it will take me a while to recover.

But I will never escape this abusive relationship.  I will still come back for more heartache next year.

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In the midst of a three game series the Rays currently hold the second best record in baseball and sit one half of a game above the Red Sox in arguably the toughest division in baseball, the American League East.

This is a team whose opening day payroll in 2008 was just below $44 Million.  Compare such a number to the Red Sox who opened just over $133 Million (fourth highest in the majors) or the third place New York Yankees at a bit over $209 (highest in majors).

So how can you not cheer for an organization which faithfully worked and put their faith in their minor league system, no matter how tough the growing pains would be? This is an organization which was smart enough to let talented players like Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes go because of their constant hot-headed behavior.

What’s not to like about the loads of young talent in their starting rotation and bullpen.  Twenty-four year-old left-hander Scott Kazmir is turning in his fourth straight 10-win season at starting pitcher.  Kazmir heads a rotation that features James Shields, Edwin Jackson, Matt Garza, and Andy Sonnanstine, all of whom have at least 11 wins and none are under the age of 26.  The bullpen is has been maybe the most surprising part of the team.  Journeymen Dan Wheeler and Grant Balfour each have an ERA under 2.50.
Youngster and converted starter J.P. Howell has an ERA of 2.51 down from last year when it was 7.59.  Finally we get to Troy Percival who at 39 years old has 27 saves this year, the most he’s had since 2004 despite injury trouble this season.  Still, bullpen is not the only part responsible for the turnaround.

Evan Longoria, a lock for American League Rookie of the year has provided the offense with some rejuvenation.  It has come at a much needed time while Carl Crawford and B.J. Upton are producing below their career averages.  Still you have to support Carl Crawford who has been in the organization since he was drafted in 1999.  This is his first year with a winning record in the majors after years of agony.  Carlos Pena has been another huge factor ever since last year when he turned his career around with personal bests in home runs and RBIs.  Pena also has had a down year as far as his batting average goes, but the Rays also have had catcher Dioner Navarro step up as he made his first All-Star appearance this season.

Still, the Devil Rays resurgence would not have been possible without manager Joe Maddon.  Maddon is widely regarded as one of the more intelligent men in baseball.  He is also known for his willingness to take risks and discipline his players when they need it (earlier in the year Maddon benched B.J. Upton for failure to hustle).  Maddon came into locker room and set a precedent and the rest of the Rays followed suit.

So as the Rays’ regular season winds down and the playoffs begin I’d encourage people to catch as many of their games as possible.  This is a team that has made one of the biggest turnarounds in sports history.  Almost a shoe-in for the playoffs the Rays are almost certain to entertain, and when they do, feel free to hop on the bandwagon too; I won’t blame you.

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I have watched this team take the field almost daily this season. This is a team that I considered the favorite to win the National League East from spring training and assumed that would be the case.

A team that fans and experts alike thought they knew so well has instead become a mixture of mystery and mediocrity that now limps towards October.

To start, Jimmy Rollins came into this season with an MVP trophy and a plethora of confidence.  Confidence ordinarily is not worth noting when it comes to Rollins, but this spring training it seemed to be more than his usual level.

It was not enough to claim that the team would win the division; he proclaimed the team would win 100 games.  Now Rollins has done a complete 180.  Forget MVP talks.  Never mind 100 wins.

Thanks to his lack of production at the top of the lineup and his complaining about Philadelphia fans being “front runners,” Rollins has gone from beloved to consistently booed in just one year.

While the offense starts with Rollins, it does not end with him.  Thought of as one of the best in the National League and the reason they were expected to repeat as division champs, their offense has struggled significantly over the last couple months.

Ryan Howard has put up the MVP-like home run and RBI numbers, but is not even in consideration due to his abysmal batting average and strike out numbers.  He is on pace right now to break the record for strikeouts in a season, a record he already possesses.

However, in terms of inconsistency, Howard seems to either hit a home run or strike out every time he steps to the plate.

Even Chase Utley, the model of consistency, has slumped after his
hot start.  I don’t think a lot of people expected him to lead the league in home runs like he did back in May, but hot and cold streaks have been the theme of his season.

Utley’s average was down to .281 just two weeks ago.  Utley is currently riding another one of those hot streaks and has brought his average back up to .293.  If the Phillies want to get into the playoffs, they cannot have Utley get cold again in September.

Pat Burrell instead has been the most consistent hitter on the team, which has led to his current stance with fans.  Gone are the days of calls for his banishment from Citizens Bank Park.

Burrell and Rollins have switched roles and Burrell is now the player that no one wants to see leave after this season.

The success of many of the Phillies’ pitchers has also baffled many.  The starting rotation has gotten way more out of Jamie Moyer and Kyle Kendrick than the Phillies front office would probably like to admit, no matter how confident they spoke publicly about their staff before the season. If the Adam Eaton project had actually worked out this season, I would have completely lost faith in everything I previously believed in about sports.

The bullpen has been confusingly phenomenal.  After being forced out of Houston, Brad Lidge is pitching better than he ever has in his career.  He finished last season strong and has been a top closer in the past, but I?don’t think anyone expected him to not have any blown saves so late into the season.

He is not the only one.  J.C. Romero showed what he was capable of last year.  But Ryan Madsen?  Chad Durbin?  Rudy Seanez?  Even Tom Gordon had his moments of greatness this year.  If not for the bullpen, the Phillies would not be anywhere near the top of the standings right now, and no one would have said that before the season.

A team plagued by slow starts in the past, the Phillies came out this year and looked like they were going to run away with the division. The Mets might not be a strong team, but the fact remains that this is going to be a race to the finish and probably come down to the last weekend of the season.

The Phillies always finish strong.  They came back to take the division on the final day of last season and must have a similar conclusion to the year.

One could assume that the same is possible this year, but if this team has proved anything this season, it is to never assume.

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