I'll be the first to admit that my loyalties tend to be a little thin when it comes to the Pirates.,

I wish that wasn't the case, but I can't deny it.

Growing up in the 1970s, it was a great ride watching the Pirates win six division crowns and two World Series titles (1971 and 1979). They also snared three National League East Division titles in the early 1990s but couldn't get past Cincinnati in 1990 or the Atlanta Braves the next two years to get to the World Series.

Since then, there has been 16 consecutive losing seasons, one short of the major professional sports record for that type of futility.

I was really excited in the offseason about bringing in pitching coach Joe Kerrigan and said so in this column space two weeks ago and things began well enough when the team jumped out to a 4-3 start.

Granted, when that becomes a reason for optimism, that's a sure sign how bad things have gone. After a 7-0 win over Houston April 13 moved the Pirates to 4-3, the 1-6 Astros responded with 4-1 and 6-3 victories over the Bucs.

Here we go again, I thought. Thanks for showing up. We'll see you again next year. I hate to think that, but an occasional winning season in the mix would have eased my negativity and made the summer a little more enjoyable.

But, to the Pirates' credit, they refused to sink early, blanking Atlanta 3-0 and 10-0 on Friday and Saturday before dropping an 11-1 decision on Sunday.

The Pirates were sitting at 6-6 but have shown some signs of life. Still, the 11-1 Florida Marlins, who have a talented group of young players, a talented pitching staff, and oddly enough, a payroll lower than the Pirates, were coming into town.

I thought, at least for the first game, the Pirates could eke out a win against the Marlins, who came to town having swept the lowly Washington Nationals by coming from behind in the ninth inning in all three games over the weekend. .

The Pirates, behind the pitching of Ross Ohlendorf, blanked the hottest team in baseball 8-0.

The shutout was the Pirates' third in the past four games and fourth in the past seven games.

The 7-6 record the team has waking up this morning was the same as last season, and we know what happened there, so the optimism should be tempered a bit.

Still, if the Pirates can get solid pitching, at least it will be a watchable season

Hopefully, my negative thinking won't crop up as much if the team goes through a short losing streak.

The biggest losing streak the the Pirates are trying to halt, consecutive losing seasons, has to end this year or they will own a record of infamy by themselves, a storied franchise that has won five World Series crowns.

As the pitching goes, so will the 2009 Pirates.

No pressure.

Sam Tallarico is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.