Two promising summers have wilted away like autumn leaves.

For the second straight season, the Pittsburgh Pirates have imploded in August only to fall into a deep September swoon.

Now, someone might pay the price by losing their job.

General manager Neal Huntington and manager Clint Hurdle are most likely to take the fall — and that would be a big mistake.

The Pirates don’t need to hit the reset button again. This franchise is clawing its way out of mediocrity, with Huntington and Hurdle playing significant roles in the team’s steady but frustrating improvement.

The Pirates’ collapse has been colossal, but don’t forget about their riveting rise.

The Buccos are 74-73 and haven’t been more than a handful of games outside the playoff race all season long. The present is painful, but the big picture isn’t all that bad.

No matter what record the Pirates finish with this season, it will be compared to their season-high mark of 16 games over .500. Quite frankly, that’s completely unfair.

In April and May, Pittsburgh went 25-25. From there, the Buccos caught fire in June and July with a 34-19 stretch before the current 15-29 mark so far in August and September.

The first two months of the season represent the true caliber of this ballclub.

The Pirates were producing some fantastic baseball back in July, but they were playing beyond a sustainable pace. The past two months have been a collapse; it’s also been a simple regression toward the mean.

There’s plenty of blame to go around for Pittsburgh’s prolonged stretch of pathetic play and it doesn’t land squarely on Huntington or Hurdle.

Let’s start with the players. Pitching carried the Pirates through the first half of the season and it has faltered in a big way down the stretch.

James McDonald, who recently lost his spot in the rotation, is the prime example with a 2.37 ERA through his first 17 starts of the season. He ballooned to a 7.08 ERA in his last 12 appearances.

The bullpen fell off and so did Pittsburgh’s stars. A.J. Burnett — a brilliant Huntington acquisition, by the way — was 13-3 with a 3.27 ERA through July. Since then, 2-4 and 4.62.

Andrew McCutchen hit .371 through July, but the 25-year-old MVP candidate — who Huntington locked up with a long-term extension — is at .273 in August and September.

If anyone off the field should take the brunt of the blame for the Pirates’ recent play, it should be ownership.

Huntington is handcuffed with a budget and since blowing up the roster in 2009, the Bucs have progressed.

If fans are looking for the Pirates to go all-in on a big-name player, it’s up to Frank Coonelly and Bob Nutting to open their wallets.

Then again, would fans even show up to the ballpark to see a top-tier player?

For two decades, Pittsburgh has been starving for meaningful baseball in September. The Pirates entered Tuesday 2 ½ games out of a playoff spot and PNC Park managed to bring in 15,492 — 40 percent capacity — to the box office.

The lack of support is almost as embarrassing as the product on the field.

I understand fans are disappointed with the Pirates’ slump.

The team initially exceeded all expectations, though, so don’t measure management against results no one in their right mind anticipated before the season began.

The Pirates are simply an average ballclub, which is actually a step in the right direction compared to the last 19 years.