Published: April 21, 2009 11:56 pm      

Bucs provide some hope; Nats can only ask for it

Very much have been enjoying watching and listening to the Pirates so far this season. Not only is first-year broadcaster Tim Neverett a pleasure to listen to, but the Buccos’ pitching hasn’t been too hard on the eyes either.

Monday night it was Ross Ohlendorf who threw the Pirates’ fourth shutout of the young season, twice the number the Bucs had all last season, holding the red-hot Marlins to two singles over seven innings in an 8-0 victory, getting Pittsburgh off to a 7-6 start.

No, we’re not ordering champagne just yet. The Orioles, after all, have to get much better, apparently, since the Pirates can’t seem to win a World Series unless the O’s are there, but the first 13 games of this season have given Bucs fans some hope. For as long as your starting pitching keeps you in games, everything else — defense, bullpen and hitting — becomes a lot less taxed, and a whole lot better.

(The Pirates, however, will be taxed for the next eight to 10 weeks without the services of catcher Ryan Doumit, who must undergo surgery on his wrist. Catcher seems to be Pittsburgh’s thinnest position, and Doumit led National League catchers in hitting last year.)

As for Neverett, I swear I have turned on the Pirates three times this season, and when I initially heard his voice thought it was the late Skip Caray, one of the all-time greats. But as Duane McMinn also pointed out, during the course of a game you can also hear traces of the great Bob Uecker in Neverett’s voice. The guy really seems to know what he’s talking about, and whether it’s radio or TV, he makes it easy to listen, which is something we can’t say when his partner Greg Brown starts screaming as though he’s at a high school pep rally.

So far, though, the Pirates have hit it big with their starting pitching and with the hiring of broadcaster Tim Neverett. It’s been a combination that has made it a pleasure to watch and listen.

Then there is that ballclub in Washington, the Nationals, who, as an organization, seem to have problems hitting anything squarely, other than perhaps the ground. Although locking up third baseman Ryan Zimmerman for five years was just what the doctor ordered, not to mention the major-league debut of Jordan Zimmermann, who pitched well beyond his years and experience in gaining his first big-league win in the Nats’ 3-2 victory over the Braves on Monday.

Nats fans have to hope the team has hit bottom, and with the revamping of the bullpen, and with the demotion of a player or two the organization didn’t feel wanted to play by its rules, don’t be surprised if the Nationals establish some sort of traction and have close to if not the same record as the Orioles soon enough.

Don’t understand how much lower the Nats can fall, given all that’s happened the past year: the poor attendance at a second-year ballpark, the poor play, the signing of a top Dominican prospect who was four years older than he led them to believe he was, not to mention somebody other than the person he said he was, which has been at the center of a federal investigation and led to the club forcing out former GM Jim Bowden, and gutting its Dominican player-development system and starting again from scratch.

Then on Saturday, Nats manager Manny Acta fined outfielder Elijah Dukes $500 for being five minutes late for a game. Dukes’ sin? He was making an appearance at a Virginia little league’s season-opening gathering. But before we give Acta a W.C. Fields Kids-Hater Award, understand that Dukes, who earns $415,500 a year, charged the little league $500 for the personal appearance, which was not set up through the Nationals. Thus, the $500 fine, which the little league in question, after just paying Dukes $500, says it will raise to cover Dukes’ penalty.

Of course, the public-relations nadir for the Nats likely occurred the day before on Friday night when the team’s two best players, third baseman Zimmerman and slugger Adam Dunn, somehow were able to take the field with the team name spelled “Natinals” streaming across the front of their jerseys. Take it from somebody who has misspelled his share of words for public consumption, it’s no fun when it happens, and it’s never done by design. But when you’re down, people are going to keep kicking you to make sure you stay down.

Just ask the Detroit Lions how it feels to have screwed up the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, which doesn’t even take place for another four days.

Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.