How to Rob a Pirate (or a whole team of them)

1) Become an umpire
2) Wait for the 19th inning of a game that involves the Pittsburgh Pirates
3) Decide you have better things to do
4) Call a guy safe who was tagged before his toes crossed the center of the batter's box

I didn't watch the game.  I live in Raleigh, and a Pirates' game here is a rare treat (or, in the preceding 17 seasons, a nightmare).  But I heard about it, read about it, and then watched the only moment that matters.  And there is only one conclusion to be drawn.

The Pirates were robbed.

It brings back memories of the Sid Bream Game -- yes, to Pirates fans that game has a title.

Some have compared this to the Joyce incident last year, in which a pitcher was unfairly prevented from achieving a perfect game because of an umpire who needed glasses, contacts, a cornea transplant, or some other form of medical eyesight enhancement.  Others have claimed that is unfair, because a perfect game is so rare -- but that cost one man a statistic, not a victory.  To those people, I say "blow it out your ear."

You wanna know what is rarer than a perfect game?  A winning season for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  And, with a lineup of people so unaccustomed to success, this is the sort of incident that can destroy a season.  This game -- not finally breaking above .500 at any point after spring training, not moving into first place, not taking two of three from the Boston Red Sox -- is the pivotal moment of the season for this team.  How manager Clint Hurdle rallies his team, how he utilizes this defining moment, will make or break the year for a team already so far above expectations that it seems like an era ago that this team was suckling at the teat of crapitude.

I'm bitter.  I'm ticked off, as should be any fan of this team, any player on its roster, and anyone who cares more about the game of baseball than they do the fortunes of their own team.  Because it's one thing to be the victim of a blown call; it's a whole other story to lose a game after 19 herculean innings against the very same ball club that started the Spiral of Suck nearly two decades ago because an umpire couldn't see a tag that happened five feet from his own face with nothing blocking his line of sight.

But, I will raise a glass to a team that has taken everything the league has thrown at them this year and risen above.  And I will offer up a prayer that they can do the same thing one more time, and use this not as an excuse for a(nother) failed season, but rather as a rallying point, from which shall spring forth the first legitimate playoff run  for the team this millennium.

Here's to you all, Buccos.  Now go look the league in the eyes, take this bitter pill, and ram it down their throats.