You know it’s getting bad when even Paul Skenes, the rookie pitching phenom, can’t inspire his teammates or Pirates fans.

I don’t know about you, but it barely registered in my mind that Skenes would be taking the mound in Game 2 of a three-game weekend series against the Dodgers out in Los Angeles on Saturday night.

Maybe that’s because Pittsburgh went into the night on a massive slide that included seven losses in its previous eight games.

You can now make that eight losses in nine games after the Pirates fell to Los Angeles by a score of 4-1.

Skenes did okay for himself, pitching six innings while allowing four runs on six hits. He struck out eight and walked one batter. But the youngster took the loss, just his second of his rookie campaign. It was also the second straight game the Pirates lost when Skenes started.

The Pirates offense was again putrid, as it waited until the ninth inning and a Ke’Bryan Hayes solo shot to get on the board. By then, it was too late, which is now what you can say about Pittsburgh’s chances of getting back into the wildcard race at this point in the season.

General manager Ben Cherington, manager Derek Shelton and even owner Bob Nutting indicated that the Pirates would have to improve internally if they were going to go anywhere this season. While Cherington was applauded for his moves at the trade deadline on July 30, you must admit the brain trust was right. Maybe it was a bad-faith argument–just a way to train the fans not to demand so much at the deadline–but that is the most logical answer when it comes to a young team finally getting over the hump.

To think you can take a mediocre squad and suddenly make it a good one with a few moves to acquire some decent players certainly isn’t as logical as many would want you to believe as they spend weeks pounding their fists and yelling for the general manager to “do something!”

But it’s the world we now live in. Sports fans are about as addicted to trade talk as they are to anything else–including watching actual games.

But their current struggles are a clear indication that the Pirates still have a ways to go before they can be true contenders in the National League. Maybe our sights were set too low as fans. Perhaps we need to demand that the front office builds a roster good enough to compete for the National League Central Division. It should be World Series for bust for these guys and this organization. If the Pirates are going to make any trades or sign any free agents, the goal should be to make Pittsburgh’s roster good enough to win it all while this Paul Skenes window is still open.

At any rate, the 2024 Pittsburgh Pirates had a nice little run, but that’s all it was. There is more work to be done.

As for the remainder of the season? There are 46 games left on the calendar. How will these Buccos, who are currently 56-60, respond? That could go a long way in telling us just how ready they are to take things to another level next season and beyond.