For the life of me, I can't seem to figure out why the Tom Petty song, "Free Fallin'" keeps rattling around in my head.

I'm sure it will come to me, but where was I — oh yeah — I was going to talk about the Pirates.

How did everything go bad so fast? This was a team on an early-season roll, jumping out to an 11-7 record, which included three shutouts in a four-game span and four shutouts in seven games.

That now seems like a lifetime ago, which is exactly how long the Pirates have been struggling — at least if you're a 16-year-old.

Seriously, how did a team that had such an optimistic start bottom out two weeks before Memorial Day?

I was hopeful the team would ride its wave and, with the strong starting pitching it had received, that there wouldn't be as many losing streaks that can sink a season.

Instead, the Pirates enter tonight's game against St. Louis on an eight-game skid and losers of 12 of their past 13 contests.

The only positive note is the team is only 7Z\x games back, so it's not as buried as it could be.

Still, there's a real problem here. The loss of catcher Ryan Doumit to injury a few weeks back took a good bat, as well as the team's dependable catcher, out of the lineup. The bullpen's been a shaky mess, letting games slip away and helping to drop the team into the basement of the National League Central Division.

The demise has come from both sides, however.

Offensively, the team is hitting .252 with 20 home runs, 130 runs scored and just 262 hits in the 31 games. The on-base percentage is a woeful .325 and slugging percentage an abysmal .387.

Pitching has started to unravel. With a major-league best 3.30 earned-run average about two weeks ago, it has ballooned to 4.31 — still an inning lower per nine innings than a year ago, but the season isn't over yet.

In 269X\c innings this season, the team has 166 strikeouts (5.5 per nine innings) and allowed 123 walks and five saves.

It's nice to hear that the Pirates aren't panicking in the clubhouse, but there has to be a sense of urgency before things begin to unravel.

Hopefully, Monday's off day will help the squad recharge and come out with a better mind-set than the past two weeks, but a few changes might be in order.

I know the team doesn't want to bring up some of its rising stars, such as outfielders Jose Tabata and Andrew McCutcheon, just yet. They'll say they aren't in a hurry to rush these players, but it also means they don't want to start the players' major-league service clock, which will lead to earlier arbitration.

The Pirates can't sit back much longer and watch another season go down in flames. I'd rather see a hungry group of youngsters struggle and actually build for the future than to come out and pay for below standard baseball.

Pirates fans deserve better than this. This team is determined to set the record for consecutive losing seasons.

At least the younger players would make it interesting, and enjoyable to watch. They would at least come out swinging — which is more than you can say for the team right now.

Sam Tallarico is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.