In two earlier blogs, I wrote critically about Pirate pitcher Kevin Hart. The first lamented his deliberate (as in painfully slow) pitching style. And my second noted that since arriving from the Chicago Cubs, Hart has regressed.
But then I put myself in Hart’s shoes and suddenly felt for him.
On July 31, Hart’s Cub record was 3-1 with a 2.60 ERA. For the Pirates, Hart is 1-5 with a 6.46 ERA.
More importantly, at the time of Hart’s trade, the Cubs were only .5 game out of first place and a game behind in the wild card race. The Cubs were certainly anticipating playing in the post-season and possibly getting to the World Series.
Suddenly, once Hart got the call that he had been banished to Pittsburgh, all that vanished.
“You’ve been traded to Pittsburgh.”
Imagine the chill those words would send through a young player on a competitive team.
Instead of looking forward to playing in October, Hart got the rude awakening that he was joining a team with a 17 year record of uninterrupted losing that has every possibility of reaching 20.
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