Despite absolutely miserable cold, wet conditions, there was a palpable buzz around the North Shore hours before Ivan Nova even delivered his first pitch.
The smell of beer and barbecue wafted in the air as tailgaters reveled in the parking lots surrounding PNC Park. Even at this early hour, a few scalpers were already hawking tickets that would fetch well above face value.
And, obviously, this had absolutely nothing -- zero -- to do with the baseball game being played a few hundred yards down West General Robinson.
Saturday afternoon's game between the Pirates and Marlins -- two teams a combined 30 games out of a wild card spot -- drew a meager announced crowd of 16,110 to PNC Park, about a quarter of which actually went through the turnstiles.
There was a time not that long ago, however, when a game exactly like this might have been the highlight of a season and not just a weekend. With Saturday's 5-1 win over the Marlins, the Pirates climbed back to .500 at 71-71. Buoyed by a five-game winning streak, matching their second longest run of the season, it's the first time they've been at the break-even mark since Aug. 20.
Now, hear me out on this: Before 'Cuuuuu-eto! Cuuuuu-eto!' and the magical 2013 season, and following a professional sports record of 20 straight losing seasons, the thought of a Pirates team being .500 in the month of September would have been cause for a celebration like the one that awaited Pitt and Penn State later Saturday night.
Now? Not so much.
Jordy Mercer was around in 2012. Josh Harrison, too.
Along with Starling Marte, they are the last of the Pirates who played in 2012 and experienced the playoff runs from 2013-15. And they've also seen the Pirates regress in '16 and '17.
As the Pirates play out the string in this most topsy-turvy season, from a surprising 26-19 record in May and to an 11-game winning streak in July, no one is satisfied with 2018:
Mercer and Harrison, the Pirates' double play combination for most of the last seven years, haven't even seen the field much lately as Clint Hurdle has turned to youngsters like Kevin Newman and Adam Frazier.
Obviously, Mercer and Harrison -- both likely to be elsewhere next season -- would like to see the Pirates finish strong and above .500, but that is not the goal and has never been.
"I don't know if that's a big deal," Mercer told DKPittsburghSports.com. "To me the bigger deal is making the playoffs. Since I made it for three years in a row, like, that's it. You make the playoffs, yeah, that's everybody's goal. But if you have a winning season? Uh, OK.
"Even if you don't have a winning season, maybe you finish two games under .500, but you look back at your season, pick four or five games out that will flip your season that makes it two games over and you're still not making the playoffs. What's that change? I don't know if that changes anything. For me, it's either playoffs or that's it."
Harrison concurred.
"You definitely want to finish on a good note but, to me, the goal is the playoffs and winning as many games as possible," he said.
The Pirates' 1-0 victory at Texas on Sept. 9, 2013, the win that sealed Pittsburgh's first winning season since 1992, meant little to either. It's the win over the Cubs in Chicago that came 20 days later, the one that sealed a postseason berth, that they remember.
"That's what it's all about: Playing a season of baseball, playing meaningful games in September and October and not just trying for a winning record," the shortstop said. "I think if you just try for a winning record, you get complacent. That's one thing you don't want to be. You want to continue to strive to be the best team you can be."
There was certainly no celebration on Saturday for the Pirates. They are all but mathematically eliminated, now 7 1/2 games out of a wild-card spot. But Harrison says no one is throwing in the towel.
"I remember those days, and at the same time, the time we broke (through) was the time we went to the playoffs," Harrison said. "At the end of the day, it just shows that you want the playoffs. I think there have been years, (teams that have) been right around .500 might have made the playoffs.
"It's not about the record, it's about wining games."
Whether the Pirates can finish above .500 remains to be seen, but it will not be easy. They have 20 games remaining but only seven of those -- one more versus Miami on Sunday, followed by three each against Kansas City and Cincinnati -- are against non-playoff teams.
If the Pirates somehow manage to finish .500 or better, it will be the first time the franchise has done so in a non-playoff year since 1988, when they finished 85-75 with the nucleus that would form three straight division championships from 1990-92.
Could that same scenario play out again?
"That's the goal," Harrison said.
But we should have a better idea in 12 months or so.
After two seasons in which the Pirates finished a combined 17 games under .500 in '16 and '17, they at least look like they're putting the pieces together to make a viable run at the postseason in the not too distant future.
If it does happen, that group can thank those that came before them. If this season is indeed it for Mercer and Harrison, they will have left Pittsburgh a better place then they found it.
“The bar can always be set higher, but it does give an idea of what needs to be done," Harrison said.
1. Nova reels in Fish again.
Pitching in the rain with temperatures in the low 60s was balmy compared to what Nova had to endure on opening day in Detroit on March 30, or in Chicago on April 9 where it had been snowing at Wrigley Field.
"This was nothing," Nova said.
Missing his last start proved to be nothing as well. Due to personal reasons, Nova skipped a turn in the rotation last Sunday against Atlanta in what turned out to be a 5-1 loss. Despite his absence from the team, he says he was still able to get his work in:
On Saturday, Nova was dominant, allowing just three hits and no runs over six innings while matching a season high with nine strikeouts (he also struck out nine Marlins back on April 15 in Miami).
According to Nova, the key was his curveball, which he said was the best it had been all season. He was also able to get ahead in the count on the aggressive Marlins all day and retired nine batters on three pitches or less.
"I think he got some sequences and some weapons that can attack the personnel that were in the lineup today," Hurdle was saying. "He sunk the ball in extremely well to the right-handers and the breaking ball got better as the game went on. He threw seven in a row at one time. I can't tell you the last time he threw seven breaking balls in a row, but it was almost like a bowler. He just got the spin and the lane and everything was finishing."
Nova didn't allow a runner to get into scoring position until the fifth and then only due to his wild pitch on a strikeout of Magneuris Sierra. In the sixth he allowed Starlin Castro to reach base on his MLB-worst fifth error of the season. The Pirates lead all of baseball with 21 errors by pitchers.
2. Adam Frazier can hit anywhere.
For the 33rd time this season, but the first since Aug. 24 at Milwaukee, Frazier batted in the leadoff spot. The way he's been hitting, it probably doesn't matter where Hurdle bats him.
"Today, I chased a couple, last night same deal, pretty upset about that," Frazier was telling me. "Just giving the pitcher extra opportunities is what I try to limit. Today, was tough with the rain and everything else and was fortunate to have a couple fall."
Yep, even when he wasn't having his best at-bats, Frazier still managed to go 2 for 4. He doubled in the fifth and then blooped a single to right in the seventh before coming around to score on Marte's double to make it 5-1.
Frazier has been the Pirates' hottest hitter since his recall on July 25, hitting .344 with 20 extra base hits and 20 RBIs.
But he had been batting mostly second during his current run. However, due to Gregory Polanco's season-ending injury, Hurdle said that he wanted to switch Marte and Harrison at the top of the order.
"I have no problem with (Frazier) hitting off a left-handed pitcher," Hurdle said. "I'm not a big fan of Marte leading off. I tried to change something in the lineup because we'd gone through a drought. (Marte's) always going to do the best job he can. But right now, with Polanco out of the lineup today, I think setting him down a little further can help lengthen the lineup out and get someone up in front of him and maybe hit a ball in the gap. And it did play out later that he did drive a guy in. (Marte) still can steal bases. With Polanco's absence in the lineup, we're looking for him to hit down in the order and not have him lead off."
Frazier had good success leading off last season, hitting three of his six home runs and driving in 32 of his 53 runs with a .704 OPS.
"It's something I've done a lot of," Frazier was saying. "I know how to approach it. Still take each at bat the same way and try and get a pitch to hit."
2. It was a day of firsts for Osuna and Reyes.
Osuna made his first career start at third base after making 10 starts this season at either first base or right field. Meanwhile, Pablo Reyes made his first start in right field in just his fourth game after playing previously at third base.
Osuna showed no problems at the hot corner, a position he also manned for five innings back on June 23 against Arizona.
Along with Frazier and Josh Bell, who hit a solo shot to lead off the sixth — his 10th home run of the season and second in as many games — Osuna was the other offensive star in the Pirates' latest win.
The 26-year-old Venezuelan went 2 for 4 while scoring a pair of runs. He doubled to lead off the second and then singled in the fourth.
Reyes went 0 for 4 but showed some promise in the field when he held Austin Dean to a single in the fourth after perfectly playing the carom off the cutout down the first base line.