BACK PEDALLING

The recent Pirate collapse has a lot of people in the great city of Pittsburgh "back pedalling".It's the fans as well as the local media.

One cannot believe that it's strictly the recent Pirate playing with which they are upset. Rather, it probably is their inability to believe that they were wrong with their both their expectations and pronouncements.

It's not uncommon for people today to struggle with admitting they were wrong. We saw it in the NFL and NFLPA negotiations.

It also more recently happened when one of the credit rating agencies had the nerve to downgrade this country's credit rating.

Immediately, the leaders of both parties were quick to blame it on "the other guy" and the White House to claim Standard & Poor's used the "wrong" statistics in making their decision.

Who in God's name knew there was such a thing as the "right" statistics?

Gene Collier, the guy I most admire as a member of Pittsburgh's media coverage, said it best ab out the Pirates in todays column: "Thank you for the memories." It was a true capsule version of what I'm feeling today - even if Gene stole the line from comedian Bob Hope's theme song.

It has been my pleasure to be here, years ago, in 60, 71, and 79 when it was mostly fun being a Pirates fan. It was also fun again to be able to share in the recent excitement voiced by so many baseball fans.

It brought back a lot of memories of the family sitting on the deck above the garage at 392 Ave F and listening to the games - win or lose. We heard Harvey Haddix's 9 inning perfect game up there.

Cort TV is the local Pirate television network and they have made almost all the games available to us temporary Pgh transplants. Other than having perhaps the most boring announcers I've experienced in years,it's been mostly fun.

The post-game interviews with Pirate manager Clint Hurdle have been a hoot. A class act! And, perhaps the best choice local management could have made for working with these young ballplayers.

Oh yeah, they're still making rookie mistakes. Cedeno, their shortstop, obviously needs to request a bigger mitt, and also get a quicker start on potential double play combinations.

And Walker, a homegrown product,and perhaps their best player, sometimes allows his hustle and determination to end up in his making rookie decisions.

Yesterday, he called off players in better position to make a catch.
The first resulted in no harm as the batter struck out on the next pitch.

Later, he rushed to judgment on another pop fly with a runner on third and the right fielder charging the ball.

To even this old guy who got no further than playing pony league ball for Ned Mellon, (before the curve ball did me in) whether the ball was dropped or not, the outfielder was in a better position to make the catch or at least keep the ball in front of him.

The guy on third scored. But, I wouldn't trade Walker on a bet. If you're going to watch a guy make possible poor decisions based on hustle - give me 8 or 10 more Walkers.

The Pirate fans, as well as a possibly "former" usher at Mckechnie Field, were happy to have Doumit, their regular catcher return from one of his annual bouts with injuries.

Sadly, they were quickly reminded that he couldn't throw me out going from first to second; and must also be using Cedeno's glove behind the plate when attempting to block the pitches in the dirt.

But, even as I feared the outcome of the game, I stuck with it on TV for all nine innings. It must be in the Sullivan blood.

There is no back pedalling here.

I look forward to enjoying and renewing the intimate experience of being a Pirate fan in Pittsburgh. I expect to be attending one of the games in their next homestand with some folks who have invited my wife and myself to join them.

Win or lose - on this road trip starting today - we'll be there.