My thoughts after 2 weeks

We're two weeks into the season now, and I'm pretty much disgusted with the Pittsburgh Pirates already. Last year through May and even in July and August they were a team that may have been short on talent, but they had a ton of heart. We were lead to believe that without clubhouse cancer Jason Kendall the increase in chemistry and heart on the team would make up for the crushing loss of his bat. Instead, we have a team that desperately misses Jason Kendall's bat and couldn't seem to care less. I can't complain about Jack Wilson because of the whole appendectomy thing, but he really is not the same player as last year. Ty Wigginton and Daryle Ward are complete jokes. Neither can hit, neither can play defense, and neither belongs within 10 miles of a baseball stadium, much less a daily spot in a starting line up. Matt Lawton is hitting well because he knows come July, some contender will want a good left handed bat for their outfield. He also knows they won't pay attention to defense or baserunning at that point, or at least he hopes. He runs under fly balls, cuts off gappers, throws, and runs the bases like a tee-baller. Jason Bay and Craig Wilson are hitting, but they're hitting singles with nobody on base. Put them up in a pressure situation and it's a guaranteed K. The lone, shining exception on the whole team is Rob Mackowiak (you know, the guy that lost out to Tike Redman for center field in spring training, then almost got dealt away by Dave Littlefield). Mackowiak plays hard in the field, puts everything he has into every at bat, and runs out every ground ball, no matter how trivial. It will be a crime if he gets benched when Jose Castillo gets healthy. The pitching has been decent and sometimes even good, but it's not the starters fault if they don't come out of the game when they have no gas left. The blame there lies solely on one person, Lloyd McClendon. This may seem redundant, but he has no feel for a pitching staff. He tells reporters Tike Redman was benched for four days because other people were playing better, meanwhile Bobby Hill sits on the bench while Ty Wigginton is playing and batting .180. Freddy Sanchez sits on the bench while Daryle Ward bats .175 (put Mackowiak in left, Sanchez at second, Wilson at first). Lloyd promises us a team that will play hard, after 12 games this year, 11 times he's trotted out a lineup that couldn't care less (with the lone exception being last Friday). Bottom line is, this is a team with very little talent and absolutely no heart that is managed by a moron. Looking at the upcoming schedule (St. Louis at home, at Cinci, at Chicago, Houston and San Fran at home), they're going to be lucky to be 8-20. If he manages the whole year, I think 50 wins is a realistic possibility. Of course maybe that's a good thing, maybe Lloyd will finally get canned if that happens.

Those are my opinions after two weeks. That, and oh yeah, the pinstripes are AWFUL.