[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TkkEKPVloA&w=560&h=315]
2012 is here and today, nothing else matters. Throw out your 19 years of frustration, through out the gaping chasm that last year’s collapse create, throw out every single one of your concerns about this team. Today, they don’t matter. Take the things that you like about this group of players and hold on to them. Maybe this year will be different. It’s not likely, but it is at least possible. As much as this year feels like it’s a space-filling year between the Bad Old Days and the Bright Future ahead, it doesn’t have to be. There are things that can happen this year that can make that future brighter, that can bring it closer than it’s been for the Pirates in a very long time. The Pirates need things to go right this year, and that starts today.
The Pirates will send Erik Bedard out for his Pirate debut against a decimated Phillies lineup. That Phillies’ lineup may not matter today, since they can send Roy Halladay to the mound. Baseball is back. It’s Andrew McCutchen’s first game as a multi-multi millionaire. It’s Neil Walker’s first chance to earn his own contract extension. It’s Pedro Alvarez’s first chance to assuage all of our fears about him. It’s the Pirates’ chance to get off on the right foot, to earn a foothold before the Penguins start the playoffs, to prove that maybe this year will be the year that something goes right.
The first pitch today will be at 1:35. I’m at work, unfortunately, but I’ll do my best to be in the comment thread. Let’s Go Bucs.
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