Alvarez Debut Afterthoughts

A night that began with so much promise ended with another dreadful display from the hometown Pittsburgh Pirates. What we hoped would be the beginning of a new era in Pittsburgh baseball ended with fans mumbling “the same old Buccos”. Yes, it was the debut of the Pirates best hitting prospect since Barry Bonds and best overall prospect since Kris Benson (we will leave Chad Hermansen walking on water out of this) but Alvarez’ debut became a mere afterthought with the Pirates losing their 10th straight game.

The ineptitude of the Buccos over the past few weeks even channeled down the excitement for the Alvarez arrival. The crowd, though obviously larger than a normal Wednesday night, was still quite meager for the moment. The crowd also lacked the energy and buzz that was present when Andrew McCutchen arrived on a mid-summer day last year. Still, most of the crowd on hand was there to see the arrival of the next savior in Pirates history.

For his part, Pedro did ok. Alvarez got his first ovation when he began a 5-4-3 double play in the top of the second. He got another loud ovation when he came to bat for the first time in the bottom of the second inning. He promptly struck out, something that Pirates fans should get used to. Even if Alvarez turns out to be everything he is expected to be, he is going to strike out his fair share. By the end of the night, Alvarez finished 0-2 with a walk and a run scored. He also committed an error by failing to field a relatively routine throw to third in the top of the ninth. As far as debuts go, it was fairly ordinary.

We did see flashes, however, of the enormous potential Alvarez possesses. He worked a good at-bat in his first plate appearance before striking out. He worked another good at-bat in the fifth, drawing a walk and eventually scoring the Pirates’ first run of the game. Alvarez then hit a sharp line-drive the opposite way to left in his final at-bat in the ninth. The White Sox manager, Ozzie Guillen, and pitcher, John Danks, were both quick to praise the kid mentioning the obvious talent he possesses.

In the end, however, the so-so performance by Alvarez was overshadowed by the pathetic baseball that the Pirates are playing right now. I am embarrassed that I wrote just a few short weeks ago that this team was playing hard and fundamentally sound baseball for the most part. Over the past few weeks, they are doing anything but. The Pirates incompetence was punctuated by a Bad News Bears like 9th inning in which they committed four errors and threw the ball around like a bunch of ten-year-olds. It prompted a buddy of mine to text me, “Is this the Mount Washington little league team” in reference to my little league days. I had to quickly respond that we were much better than that. Pedro Alvarez may one day be the guy who leads this baseball club back to respectability, but what was obvious last night is that day is still very far away.