The loss came and went with little fuss.

It was the 82nd defeat of the season for the Pittsburgh Pirates and it sewed up an 18th consecutive losing season.

Happy 18th birthday, Stinkiness. You can now vote, get married and buy a lottery ticket.

Just three more of these and you can legally drink Iron City beer. Awesome.

This suffering has to stop sometime, doesn't it?

The rebuilding process is a slow one, but 18 years is a little too slow.

An entire generation of poodles have been born, lived and died during this streak.

A cicada has gone into his 17-year sleep cycle and awoke without missing a winning season.

Even in leap years, the losing-season streak is at five.

But all is not bleak. There are some good things to go with the bad and the ugly:

The good

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An exciting core: The lineup is young, but has taken shape this season.Jose Tabata has shown he can be a potent top-of-the-order bat.He has speed and has shown good patience at the plate.Andrew McCutchen is another bat at the top of the order who can provide speed, contact and a little more pop. Neil Walker has shown he can hit for a high average and also has a little pop.Pedro Alvarez definitely has power. As he gets used to Major League pitching, he could be a 30-35 home run guy at PNC Park.•

Scouting: There is little doubt that there are finally baseball people in positions of power.For a small-market team, finding hidden gems is important. So is unearthing talent in other countries. The Buccos have increased their efforts in this department.The Bad•

Pitching: It's as if the Pirates took a mediocre pitcher, cloned him a few times and put them all in the rotation.Zach Duke and Paul Maholm are no better than average. Ross Ohlendorf is perhaps the best of the bunch and he is 1-10 with a 3.90 ERA.Toss in the forgettable Brad Lincoln and Charlie Morton, a combined 2-13 with a 7.96 ERA, and you get an unmitigated disaster.The Ugly•

John Russell: He is not the right man for the job.The Pirates need a manager who will light a fire under them, not lull them to sleep with monotone speeches.The Pirates need a manager who makes sound in-game decisions, not one who lets his pitcher hit in a tight game with Garrett Jones and Delwyn Young ready on the bench.•

The culture: Losing baseball has become acceptable. That attitude is just as harmful to the team as the poor pitching.Until that changes, the streak may be collecting social security before it is over.Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.