Perrotto: Pirates Cross Threshold to Laughingstocks

PITTSBURGH — The Hall of Fame baseball writer John Lowe taught me a valuable lesson many years ago.

“You learn more about the team you cover in the other clubhouse than in your team’s clubhouse,” said Lowe, who worked mainly at the Detroit Free Press.

I ventured to the visiting clubhouse at PNC Park on Sunday after the San Diego Padres blanked the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 to complete a three-game series sweep.

I wasn’t necessarily on a fact-finding mission because I had other business. Yet it was interesting what I learned about the perception of the Pirates without even asking a question.

One of the Padres’ traveling party put his hand on my shoulder and sympathetically said, “I’m really sorry you have to watch that for the rest of the season.”

“Are they really this bad?” another Padres person walked up to me and asked. “I can’t believe they are this bad. The fundamental mistakes they make …”

I’m not saying who said what because they were private conversations. However, both are seasoned baseball men who have been around the game for decades.

So, that is the perception from the Pirates from at least one of their opponents.

Sometimes, perception doesn’t always match reality. In this case, it does.

The Pirates are 12-23, but it’s not just their awful record. The way they play the game is embarrassing.

Some of the things that happened on Sunday included Ke’Bryan Hayes getting picked off second base, Matt Gorski getting thrown out at home plate while attempting to score on a ground ball to the third baseman, starting pitcher Andrew Heaney not paying attention to the runners as the Padres executed a double steal, catcher Henry Davis letting a pitch right over home plate clank off his mitt for a passed ball and shortstop Jared Triolo misplaying a routine groundball.

Worse, the Pirates lacked spark and appeared disinterested. Some of their players looked like they would rather have been anywhere other than a ballpark.

Much of the Pirates’ record can be blamed on general manager Ben Cherington’s poor roster construction and manager Derek Shelton’s baffling strategic moves.

However, the Pirates hit a new low on Sunday. They made mistakes that should be eliminated before players graduate from Little League.

Remarkably, Shelton believes the Pirates might be overtrying.

“I think we’re trying to do a little bit too much,” Shelton said. “We’ve just got to kind of let the game come to us a little bit and not try to do too much.”

That remark made me think of the refrain of a song from many years ago, the “Lullaby” by Shawn Mullins in 1998.

Everything’s gonna be all right
Rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye
Everything’s gonna be all right
Rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye

Everything is not going to be all right for the Pirates. They are buried in the National League Central, nine games behind the division-leading Chicago Cubs.

I didn’t expect the Pirates to be very good this season. My prediction of a 74-88 record is proving overly optimistic.

The Pirates look like a team that will lose 100 games, which is incomprehensible to think it could happen in the sixth year of an interminable rebuild.

It should be embarrassing to the Pirates, but they have long proven to be embarrassment-proof. That starts at the top with owner Bob Nutting, who appears oblivious to all the bad stuff happening with the franchise on and off the field.

When the team in the other dugout is laughing at you, it’s telling.