DK'S GRIND FEED

I was all set, computer bag over the shoulder, credential about the neck ... and for what?

For this?

JOSE NEGRON / DKPS

Ninth inning, Pirates vs. Cubs, PNC Park, Tuesday night.

And to write what?

I mean, sure, there's news to be covered, and José Negron was at PNC Park for the Cubs' 9-0 annihilation of the Pirates that'd follow, filing not one, not two, but three pieces. The job's the job, and we'll always do the job.

But from the columnist's perspective, really, what've I got to contribute? That they should fire everyone? Or sell the team? Or just stop sucking?

Come on. Been there a billion times over. Each one.

Or am I supposed to pretend that the minutiae of a given game are relevant? That Chicago's hitters began to turn on Andrew Heaney? Or that Bryan Reynolds was frozen by a straight fastball with the bases loaded? Or that the offense was blanked for the fifth time already?

Why? What's any of that matter?

Here's my perspective, for anyone who'd care: This 144th edition of the Pittsburgh Baseball Club's now 11-19. That's obviously 11 wins through 30 games. And that's one of the worst 30-game starts in franchise history:

• The actual worst such start in franchise history was 5-25 in 1952, just a half-dozen wins removed from the current start.

• The worst 30-game start by any team was 4-26 by the Orioles in 1988, though the current Rockies, now 4-25 after losing to the Braves tonight in Denver, could match that tomorrow.

• Only 98 teams have ever opened a season with eight or fewer wins in their first 30 games. The Pirates are on that list three times: The aforementioned 1952 team, plus 8-22 starts in 1957 and 2006.

• Even the infamous 1890 Pittsburg Alleghenys, the still-H-free earliest of the Pirates and the worst team in franchise history that I'm often citing in these exercises, escaped the above list in starting out 9-21 en route to a a 23-113 finish, a mere 66.5 games behind the National League pennant-winning Brooklyn Bridegrooms.

I'll always love those snazzy ties, though:

CARNEGIE LIBRARY OF PITTSBURGH

The 1890 Pittsburg Alleghenies, Recreation Park.

It's a joke. All of this. For real.

And if I may be so bold as to override the historical data, I'd argue that this start's darker than any of those others. Because back then, even with those part-time coal miners in the pic above, there was hope. There was always a thought that, yeah, wait till next year, or wait till these young guys grow up, or whatever.

Today?

This is Year 6 for the same management team of Travis Williams, Ben Cherington and Derek Shelton, the product's appreciably worse than it was when those three took over in late 2019, the payroll gap's the biggest its ever been in Major League Baseball's broken economic system, the fans are chanting for the owner's ouster ... and, maybe most unsettling, the owner's apparently A-OK with all this.

How else to interpret Bob Nutting's inaction?

How else to interpret not a single significant move being made in this regard after Year 5, never mind this deep into an even uglier Year 6?

On opening day, in an interview with DK Pittsburgh Sports, we asked Nutting what he'd consider to be a successful benchmark for this season:

"World championship," he replied without hesitation. "That would be a success."

So, we followed up, that's the expectation? 

Nutting: "I think it has to be."

Guess I'll get to work on how many 11-19 teams went on to hold parades later that same year.