Perrotto: Pirates Have Shown Great Improvement in One Offensive Category (+)

PITTSBURGH — Don Sutton once summed up the Pittsburgh Pirates’ lineup in easy-to-understand terms.

“Some teams say, ‘oh good, here comes a fastball.’ Other teams say, ‘oh good, here comes a curveball,’” the Hall of Fame pitcher said. “The Pirates say, ‘oh good, here comes a baseball.’”

That was more than 40 years ago, and it was meant as a compliment to a loaded Pirates batting order that includes such stars as Willie Stargell, Dave Parker and Bill Madlock. Basically, there was no easy way to pitch the Pirates.

In recent seasons, the Pirates again took the attitude of “oh good, here comes a baseball.” But it wasn’t in the good sense.