Alas, for those long-suffering fans of bad baseball teams - say, like the Pittsburgh Pirates - any ray of hope is latched upon to like fans of good teams latch onto pennant races!  Yet, for the first time in many years, I happen to think that the ray of hope that Pirates are showing now might actually be a longer-term sign of things to come.  Why?  There are several reasons...

 1.  Jim Tracy as manager.  Plain and simple, the Pirates went out and hired a professional manager to run their club.  This isn't necessarily to blast the previous run of managers.  But Tracy had experience when he came in, and that experience came on a winning club.  So he knew what he had to do.  Plus, I wonder if the challenge of taking a perennial also-ran like the Pirates and turning them into a competitive club adds to the challenge of this job.  Whatever his reasons, Tracy is beginning to really put his stamp on this team.  There are indications that this club understands the professional game of baseball.  They weren't like previous teams - scrappy and hard-nosed, but undertalented and not capable of higher competition.  This team is still scrappy and hard-nosed, but it finally seems to have a core of talent that could be built upon.  And now, that same young team seems to understand what it takes to win in the Majors. 

2.  That same core talent in two different areas is beginning to jell into a real team.  First, the pitching staff, which has been up and down all year, seems to have solidified to a point where a nice streak of quality starts is more than possible, its expected.  Zach Duke and Paul Maholm, as lefties who keep it down and get ground outs, are throwing their strikes down.  Ian Snell is a flamethrower, and doesn't seem to be the same headcase that Oliver Perez was.  The others are showing some consistency - whether or not they'll be solid 4th and 5th starters remains to be seen, but at least there are some positive signs. 

On offense, the Pirates have several core players that seem to be poised on the brink of success.  Certainly, Jason Bay is the Pirates best player, and is again quietly among the league leaders in several key categories.  Jack Wilson is again steady at the plate, and his defense (along with cohort Jose Castillo) is above-average.  Freddy Sanchez's hitting prowess is simply amazing.  And now, with the Chris Duffy actually looking like a professional lead-off hitter - and setting the table for this team - perhaps, just perhaps, the key elements are in place.

This isn't to say that the Pirates are going to be World Series contenders next year.  That's not a realistic expectation.  You have to crawl before you can walk, and then walk before you can run.  But should the Pirates turn in a second half of the season at or above .500 baseball, after turning in a first half 30 games under .500, you have to believe that the team has the elements in place to play .500 ball all year.  In the relatively weak National League, a .500 club would be vaulted into the post-season discussion, and that's not something Pirate fans have heard in a long, long time.

Is it truly realistic to think the Pirates could be a quality club?  Here's being cautiously optimistic when I say yes.  I believe that they can.  Too bad I can't say "wait till next year" because next year, too, is going to have more growing pains.  But is a 3-year timeframe realistic to expect something from the Bucs?  Again, cautiously optimistic: yes.