From Smokey Robinson to Franco Harris: The Pirates continue to chase the Cardinals

PITTSBURGH – I watched people trudge across the Roberto Clemente Bridge late Thursday night from the top of a hotel. The ballpark was lit over their right shoulders. Tiny groundskeepers – one among them had been swallowed by a tarp recently yet they toiled on, bravely – were closing up shop. Judging by their velocities and the slant of their bodies against the night, those on the bridge were like those I'd just passed on the streets, so damp, a little dejected and game for a long weekend of this.

"Who won?" I'd asked a young couple in soggy yellow T-shirts and expressions.

They were skirting a crowd on the sidewalk in front of Heinz Hall, where Smokey Robinson had finished a gig. Other spent Pirates fans threaded past loitering Smokey fans, who were still fresh in their evening attire and all fancy with their rainproof roof and waiting cars.

"Cardinals," the man had said. "Four- one."

"Ah," I'd said.

"Yeah," he'd said and frowned, like the Cardinals don't ever let up, man. They never let up.

"Goin' tomorrow night?" I'd tried.

"Yep," soggily.

I'd had dinner with a friend up the block. The game was on over the bar. The television was small and too far away, and the gathering at the bar light, so the occasional cheers and groans hadn't been enough to gauge a winner. Franco Harris had walked in as we finished our beers. He wore a perfect suit. Maybe he had come from Smokey. Probably.

Anyway, everybody's mouths did the same thing, simultaneously, wordlessly forming "Franco Harris" when he cleared the revolving door, because we were in Pittsburgh, and Ken Stabler apparently had died or not, and of course the Raiders and the Steelers were something a long time ago, and now here was Franco Harris himself with a pocket square.

He spoke to the bartender, who I'm guessing told him the kitchen was closed, regrettably. No kitchen in Pittsburgh should ever be closed to Franco Harris, not ever, but he left with a thank you and a smile, all very gracious. As he crossed the sidewalk he passed a man in a Cardinals jersey, who pointed and mouthed to no one in particular, "Franco Harris."

After learning the score I sat at a window and watched the last of PNC Park's patrons pass over the Allegheny River. The Pirates are a joy again, to be sure. The cabbie had said so on the drive from the airport. Five wins in a row, he'd reminded me, and eight of nine, before the Cardinals put an end to that with 7 1/3 shutout, reality-check, rain-delayed innings from Carlos Martinez on Thursday night, the first of four weekend games.

"But, the Cardinals…," he'd said, leaving it at that.

The Pirates are back three years running, a generation of angst and sogginess given way to, let's see, a second-place finish and division series loss to the Cardinals in 2013, a second-place finish to the Cardinals in 2014 (followed by a Bumgarner-driven postseason bounce), and now this: They were 50-35, the second-best record in the National League, have nice talent and charisma, will send four players to the All-Star Game, and were 5½ games behind the Cardinals.

This is not one fluke year out of 20-some, nothing that fleeting. It's what it looks like when an organization begins to sustain itself in the thin air of $70 million or $90 million payrolls, drafts and clever trades, and when the pitching comes and stays (and, in A.J. Burnett's case, returns), the superstar (Andrew McCutchen) gets help (Starling Marte, Josh Harrison) and a free agent (Russell Martin) is adequately replaced (Francisco Cervelli). In fact, through 85 games only one team has outpitched the Pirates' starters and only one team has outpitched the Pirates' relievers.

The Cardinals. Both ways. But of course.

In the 2½ seasons of their revival, the Pirates have played .582 baseball against everyone but the Cardinals, against whom they are 20-25 – a .444 percentage.

Bill Murray, the noted Cubs fan, had referred to them as, "The hated Cardinals, Satan's messenger on Earth," to which the more refined Pirates fan might amend, "The, uh, yeah, OK, go with that."

Down Adam Wainwright, Matt Holliday, Jon Jay, Matt Adams, Jaime Garcia and Jordan Walden, the Cardinals have been the best team in baseball, because they still pitch and, many nights, figure out the rest as they go.

"I'll be quick to point out we've got a long way to go," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "But they've been very dedicated to doing the work, to buying into, 'Doing my piece today.' A very simple philosophy. Couple that with a fight. There's a fight to this team you can't just draw up or pull out. It's there or it's not."

That leaves a lot in front of the Pirates if they are to cover the final yards of that revival. They're down Marte and Harrison themselves, which is how a baseball season works. They've played very well for weeks – 17-9 in June, 8-2 in July, have the best record in the game since the second week of May – and now it seems they'll have to find a way through, or around, the Cardinals. Starting, perhaps, Friday night at PNC Park, where they'd fill the joint and wave their pirate flags and bellow their response to the boats that honked their hellos from the river. Starting with Gerrit Cole, their ace, under dark skies and that 5½-game deficit and another dreary loss to the Cardinals from the night before.

So it was with some ceremony that, 2½ hours in, Pirates fans rose and applauded Cole, and stomped their feet and waved their flags. Over seven innings he'd bullied Cardinals' hitters with big fastballs, and local guy Neil Walker had popped a two-run homer, and soon Mark Melancon would come and finish a 5-2 win amid swirling yellow towels. They'd had to do something about these Cardinals, then come back Saturday with A.J. Burnett and Sunday with Francisco Liriano and move the Cardinals back a little again.

So, yeah, it was with ceremony that the folks here would celebrate a win on July 10 that by tomorrow wouldn't be any bigger or smaller than any other win. They honored Cole because maybe he wasn't at his very best, but he kept coming, kept pitching, kept fighting his slider and curveball until they behaved, and got the Pirates close enough again.

"I mean, I don't know, you have to ask the fans about that," Cole said. "A Friday night, first night it hasn't rained here in about two weeks, that stuff. Fans really respect toughness, determination and grit here. Those three words mean a lot. I'm not sure if the reason was the Cardinals. I'm sure it had something to do with it. …I mean, they're a really tough team. That's why they have so many freakin' wins."

There's so much more to go, so many more games out there. So many more trips back and forth across that bridge. Some more soggy than others.