Is it for real?

So I said after the Brewers series we'd have a better concept of exactly which Pirates were the real Pirates. This past weekend did tell us one thing for sure, the Pirates themselves are pretty sure that they way they're playing now is a lot more real than April was. They certainly don't go out on the field thinking that anyone is better than they are. They were out hit 12 to 6 on Sunday and still won, a sign of a good team, or at least one that's turning the corner. They've been playing well without their ace from last year (who I don't think is coming back any time soon) and without any noticable production from the All-Star shortstop (at least not at the plate, he's a big part of the D that the Stats Geek talked about today). They took two out of three against a team very similar to them, the Brewers, and they did it with pitching. So the question is, is it for real? Is it time to get our hopes up? Sid Bream said on the radio on Sunday that he was in the clubhouse and it feels like it did in the late 80s when the Van Slyke, Drabek, Bonilla, and Bonds lead Buccos turned the corner from doormat to division champs. Daryle Ward, who's gotten an undeserved bad rap on this site (more on him later), says that everyone in the clubhouse feels like every time they take the field they're the best team on the field and they're going to win. Unfortunately us Pirate fans have been jaded by years of false hope. In '97 we lead the division at the All-Star break and were still in the thick of things at the trading deadline when we traded for Shawon Dunston, only to fall to 79-82 and finish a handful of games out of .500. In 2001 PNC Park opened and it was supposed to be our Jacobs Field. We lost 100 games. Last year we were over .500 in May and as close as 3 games under in mid-August, but still finished 17 games under. So are these Pirates for real? They might be. I don't think any pitcher is pitching that far above a level they can sustain for the whole year (maybe Redman, but I'm still guessing his ERA will be under 4 by the time things wrap up). I don't think Jason Bay is playing any differently than he will the whole year and I think Daryle Ward might have finally turned the corner Houston was hoping he would turn 5 years ago. If we get to mid/late June and the team is still going strong (not 9 out of every 12 mind you, but not falling in a slump like this April or last June either) and still playing consistently well, we might have something on our hands. Until then I'm still too afraid to get my hopes up too high.