It's borderline comical that for the last 18 seasons, the only
thing that Pittsburgh Pirates fans wanted was the .500 mark. Now
that they sit at that mark during the first week of August,
criticism of this team is at a season high level.  I've never
viewed that as an acceptable goal and neither should the fans or
players. However, with the club playing possibly it's worst
baseball at the worst possible time, it's understandable how
panic has set in.  Even though they sit 5.5 games behind the
division-leading Milwaukee Brewers as I write this, the chase
for the National League Central crown isn't a lost one. Sure
it's now an uphill climb, but it's doable. But it's going to
take beating some very good teams consistently.  The way to do
that is with good starting pitching.  It's almost sad that the
same five guys that are the sole reason why the Bucs are in
contention at this point of the season are also a major reason
for the Pirates recent five-game skid.  The starting rotation as
a whole has overachieved to t