Funny, but this could all somehow work out swimmingly.
Yeah, yeah, I know: The Pirates remain buried at the bottom of Major League Baseball's overall standings at 7-17, they remain a deep disappointment to a public that's ostracized them for every reason from Bob Nutting to payroll to Seven Springs to blah blah blah ... and none of that's erased by one rousing 5-4 roar-back and three-game sweep of the Brewers on this soggy/sunny Sunday at PNC Park.
If you missed it, as most of this team's most monotonous critics tend to do, it was made possible by this:
Gregory Polanco. Of all people. Two-run blast to reclaim the lead for good in the eighth inning.
Nice, huh?
The boys enjoyed it, too. As if Polanco's instant smile back toward his bud Jose Osuna in the on-deck circle didn't betray that, there was a ton more once he returned to the dugout:
"We needed to win this one. We needed to fight. The opportunity came," Polanco elaborated on that reaction. "I told Osuna in the on-deck circle like, ‘Hey, watch.’ Something to motivate yourself. That’s something that we do. ‘Hey, watch, I’m about to hit this ball really hard. I’m about to put a good swing on the ball.’ That’s why I was watching it. I looked back to Osuna and said like, ‘You see? I told you.’ "
Also nice, huh?
Look, they are where they are. They are what they are. And with Colin Moran (concussion evaluation) and Kevin Newman (lower abdomen) getting hurt in this game and the injury list now up to an obscene 13 -- virtually half the opening-day roster! -- they'll almost certainly stay where they are and what they are. With lots and lots of losses to follow.
And yet ...
(Insert loud inhale, louder exhale.)
And yet ... stick with me on this, but it's starting to look at least plausible that the entirety of 2020 will align perfectly with what this particular franchise needs at this point in time.
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