THE question

The Pirates are 0-3, currently the only team in the league with that distinction and among only four winless teams, even at this season's early date. Each of the three losses came in a winnable game, not all necessarily games that we SHOULD have won, per se, but all games we certainly COULD have won. That of course begs one question. Is it encouraging that we played three close games against the Brewers (who are probably a pretty good team, though we have nothing to compare them with except us at the moment) despite two Humberto Cota starts, not nearly enough Craig Wilson, Sean Casey the human double play machine, a bullpen that can't find the strike zone, Jason Bay being mostly unable to hit, a leadoff hitter that can't find first base, and a host of managerial decisions that would make Lloyd McClendon proud? Or are the two Cota starts, the lack of Craig Wilson, the bad bullpen, Tracy's in-game McClendon impressions, and the typical Pirate malaise that seems to surround these first three games simply harbingers of the doom to come?