Buctober!

The lateness of he game and the post game celebrations on Monday, combined with some personal obligations on Tuesday, has delayed by about thirty-six hours the writing of a post that, as recently as Opening Day of this season,  I wasn't sure I would ever write, certainly not in 2013, if not in my lifetime.

You all know about the Marte Par-tay home run....

Which led to the incredible final out of the game.....

Which led to this, a sight we have not seen in twenty-one years....

What an incredible evening!  I was particularly struck by the interview with Andrew McCutchen, whose instinctual play in backing up Marlon Byrd in the ninth inning, which led to that Cutch to Morneau to Martin put out at the plate, was the kind of stuff that you don't always see; the Pirates have been criticized often and with some justification on being lacking in sound, fundamental baseball, but that play surely defines "sound, fundamental baseball", but to my point, Cutch was almost speechless in responding to the questions being asked. It was obvious to me that he alone grasped what that moment meant.  He knew, more than anyone else in that locker room, just how far the road traveled to that point was.  They don't call him the "Face of the Franchise" for nothing.

I also want to thank all of the folks on Facebook's "Pirate Chat" page.  This sounds incredibly cornball, but watching everything unfold on Monday night - and, in fact, throughout this entire season - while monitoring and contributing to Pirate Chat, well, it was sharing the moment with over 300 other like-minded folks.  Actually, not everyone on Pirate Chat can be described as "like-minded", but that contributes to the fun of the whole thing!

Still work for the Pirates to do.  Home field for that Wild Card Game is in their own hands and the Central Division title can still be won, but the Bucs will need help from the Cubs in St. Louis this weekend.  One good thing is that in last night's 8-2 win over the Cubs, they showed no hangover, emotional or otherwise, from the celebrations of the night before, and I expect that that will continue for these final four games and beyond.  In fact, I think that you can ABSOBUCCINGLUTELY count on it!