Tim Benz: If we are going to take the Pirates seriously, then we should be seriously ticked about that series vs. the A's

Well, that was an awful series for the Pittsburgh Pirates. They just dropped two of three at home and were nearly swept by the hideous Oakland A’s (14-50).

What’s next? Are they going to lose back-to-back games to the Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets?

Come on, Penguins fans. Don’t get mad. I’m just kidding. Obviously, I know baseball teams can’t play hockey teams. And obviously, no self-respecting NHL team would ever lose back-to-back games against those two awful opp…

Oh. Right. My bad.

Actually, the phrase “my bad” was probably said quite a bit around PNC Park this week. By the Pirates hitters. And pitchers. And fielders.

And anyone who bought tickets for a friend or loved one and forced them to watch any of those atrocities.

That 11-2 loss the Pirates endured on Tuesday for “Pup Night” was America’s most blatant violation of animal rights since Michael Vick operated Bad Newz Kennels. I heard PETA is coming after Bob Nutting.

Sure. I’m mad that the Pirates pitching staff gave up 20 runs in less than 24 hours to the worst-hitting team in baseball. I’m also mad that Pirates hitters left 27 men on base and went 4 for 31 with runners in scoring position during the three-game set against the worst pitching staff in baseball.

But I’m mostly angry that more fans aren’t more angry about it.

I mean, I get the whole mentality of, “It’s Major League Baseball. Every team is going to win a few in a row now and then.”

Sure. But if the Pirates are supposed to be taken seriously as a contender for the National League Central crown, they can’t lose two of three to a team that had lost 14 straight road games heading into Pittsburgh and had totaled just 12 victories prior to the series opener Monday night.

Keep in mind that if an Oakland relief pitcher doesn’t walk in two runs Monday night — and if an outfielder doesn’t throw to the wrong base — maybe the Pirates lose all three games to this sad sack excuse for a Major League roster.

Yet I felt like most of the reaction on Twitter and from Pirates fans I encountered leaving the park on Tuesday and Wednesday was essentially, “Oh well. Typical Buccos. Go figure; it’d be them that loses a series to the A’s, huh? Oh, well. The pierogi race was fun.”

There’s an element of reality to that. But following the Sunday sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals to push a winning streak to five games, everybody in town was waving the Jolly Roger and pointing out how great it was that the Bucs were fighting for first place after Memorial Day weekend.

I feel like this is sports fandom and sports media in the 21st century. We want to let our professional sports teams live in a comfortable space all the time. We want to say that the Pirates should be taken seriously, and it’s great that they are in a pennant race in June.

However, when they are nearly swept in a series by perhaps the worst baseball team ever assembled, we just tussle their hair and say, “Oh, those loveable-loser Buccos. We never thought they were gonna be all that good anyway.”

Fine. If they sweep the Mets this weekend, pardon me if I don’t start forecasting what major acquisition they’ll make at the trade deadline then.

I mean, these Pirates can’t be both things at once. They can’t be postured as a serious pennant contender for 162 games every time they win two or three in a row and then immediately tossed aside as just a team rebuilding in a vacuum every time they make a mess of themselves like they did this week against Oakland.

Or 18 times during the month of May.

It’s not just the fans and media either. It’s not like the locker room itself seemed to have a true grasp of how poorly it played all three games.

“Not the result we were looking for out there as a team,” Rodolfo Castro said after the game through interpreter Stephen Morales. “But we continue to play hard. And it’s part of baseball. We go out there every day and do our best. Oakland played some good baseball.”

Indeed, the A’s played better than they had most of the season. But if that’s the Pirates’ “best,” the Milwaukee Brewers will run away from them in this division race sooner and not later.

“It happens,” third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes said of the series loss to Oakland. “They are a Major League team. They have Major League players. If you are not executing the right way, any team can beat anyone on any day. You can’t take any team lightly, no matter what their record is … That’s what’s so good about baseball.”

Or, “so bad” in this case for the Pirates.

“It’s part of the ebb and flow,” manager Derek Shelton said of the Pirates’ poor results with runners in scoring position during the series. “I wish I had an answer for that. I would’ve been a better hitting coach for 15 years.”

Well, the Pirates better reverse the flow along the banks of the Allegheny and get back on course soon. The Mets open their series at PNC Park Friday, struggling. They have lost five in a row heading into a Thursday night game in Atlanta.

But based on what we just saw against the hapless A’s, it’s clear the quality of competition is irrelevant for Shelton’s team. They are going to show up and prove to be playoff worthy on their own, or they are going to look like the NL version of the A’s themselves.

Remind me, what game is Tristan Jarry starting against the Mets? Is it Friday or Saturday?