BRADENTON, Fla. -- On the afternoon Clint Hurdle was ushered into PNC Park's press conference room, amid the muted promise of yet another manager ushering in yet another new era for the most moribund franchise in professional sports, that man somehow, some way stood tall as he spoke these words: "Our goal ... my goal ... is to rebond this city with its baseball team."
Yeah, that was all.
Why bother preaching patience, though he knew it was needed?
Why bother predicting success, though he knew that's what we wanted to hear?
Hurdle went for the spiritual.
And sure enough, on the night of the already etched-in-bronze Blackout game against the Reds, when Johnny Cueto dropped the ball and Russell Martin dropped the bomb, that broader goal was consummated in exactly that way, wasn't it?
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