Why do the Pirates tease me this way?

Since the Penguins were bounced from the Stanley Cup Playoffs and my interest level in the Steelers won't ramp up until July, the Pirates are the only game in town.

For as bad as they can be, they can surprise you — as well as other teams around the league.

After Sunday's dramatic 1 10th-inning walk off home run by Ryan Doumit, the Pirates were 19-25. Obviously, that's not good, but it could be much worse.

Remember that horrendous seven-game losing streak in late April? I know you can't forget Milwaukee outscored them 36-1 in a three-game series at PNC Park, including that 20-0 debacle on April 22.

Then, they dropped three straight to last-place NL Central Division foe Houston before going to the Brewers and being drilled 17-3.

The Pirates rebounded with a pair of victories against Milwaukee to close out the series and to stop the Brewers' 22-game home winning streak against the Pirates.

That last run sounds a bit fluky. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.

After a win at Los Angeles, the Pirates lost three, won three, lost four, won two, lost two, won two and lost three before Sunday's win.

I'm remining you of all this because I wanted to point to a pattern of inconsistency that features blowout losses and narrow victories.

As a lifelong fan of the game, I've always tend to think positive about it. That's the way baseball is. Through good times and bad, baseball has always been there, warts and all.

Same with the Pirates. They were lovable losers in the 1940s and 1950s, the not-so-lovable losers of the early to mid-1980s and today's losers since 1993.

Still, when you haven't had a winning season in so long and you still cast an eye on the Pirates, you look for the positives. If you don't, you've given up on the franchise for good.

I don't want to give up. I still want to watch them and pull for them, so I can appreciate when things do turn around.

I want to be pulling for this team so that I'll be onboard when it eventually rebounds and becomes a consistent winner. Teams with their track record (five World Series, numerous division championships) always come back around again. Time and history will bear that out.

The up-and-down season the Pirates have had is a sign of youth. Young teams win and lose the way they have.

That gives me hope. Sure, I'll hear all the negatives for this and there have been a lot. The team seems committed to building from within — truthfully, it's the only way it can compete — and seems to have done that the past two years.

Entering today, the Pirates were seven games below .500, which is good for fourth place in the six-team Central.

Ask Milwaukee, Houston, Baltimore, the Chicago White Sox, Kansas City, Cleveland and Seattle where they are this morning.

With their records, at least this week, they wish the were the Pirates.