Yeah, that's right

Last week, ESPN power rankings had Pittsburgh at #7 with the following comment and warning: "With 22 of their next 34 on the road, the Buccos needed a strong homestand. Taking two of three versus both the Giants and Dodgers qualifies." The Pirates took off for a nine game road trip with four games against division rival Cincinnati, and five interleague games against the Angels and Mariners. A split of the series in Cincy didn't help the Pirates move up to second place, but winning the next five games did. I'll take a 7-2 road trip any time. I'm actually disappointed that the Bucs have travel days on both Monday and Thursday of this week. I'd actually like to see more of this team. And maybe we'll see on the third of July. Heading home to WPA for a family reunion and Kennywood, and the Pirate are playing Philly the 2nd through the 4th.

Standings-wise, the 2013 has a 4.0 game lead over their 1992 counterparts, and a 3.5 game lead over the 2013 Reds. Alas, St. Louis is stil a ril bunch of jags n'at, so we are currently a half game out of first place pending the outcome of the St. Louis @ Houston game tonight. And Houston, currently at 0.372 is actually worse at home this year than on the road. It would be real nice if they could improve that record tonight.

Standings for Jun 26
2013  48  30 .615 --
1992  41  31 .569 4.0
2012  38  35 .521 7.5
2011  39  38 .506 8.5
1999  36  36 .500 9.0
1994  36  36 .500 9.0
1993  35  37 .486 10.0
1998  38  42 .475 11.0
2008  37  42 .468 11.5
1997  36  41 .468 11.5
1996  36  41 .468 11.5
2009  34  39 .466 11.5
2005  34  40 .459 12.0
2002  34  42 .447 13.0
2003  33  43 .434 14.0
2007  32  44 .421 15.0
2000  31  43 .419 15.0
1995  22  32 .407 14.0
2004  28  43 .394 16.5
2001  27  47 .365 19.0
2010  25  49 .338 21.0
2006  26  51 .338 21.5

In the meantime, while this may not be Better than Ezra, it's still "Good"

Halfway there before we are halfway there.

The Pirates got their 41st win of the 2013 season on father's day, meaning they are halfway to 82 wins and a winning season. And the All-Star break is still a month away. This is the fastest the Bucs have gotten to 41 wins since their last winning season in 1992. In 2010, by they time they got halfway to 82 wins, they were 101% of the way to 82 losses.

Win #41
2013 Jun 16  41  28 0.594
1992 Jun 23  41  29 0.586
2012 Jun 29  41  35 0.539
2011 Jul  1  41  40 0.506
1997 Jul  4  41  43 0.488
1999 Jul  6  41  41 0.500
2008 Jul  7  41  47 0.466
1993 Jul  9  41  45 0.477
1994 Jul 10  41  45 0.477
1998 Jul 13  41  51 0.446
2003 Jul 13  41  50 0.451
2002 Jul 14  41  50 0.451
1996 Jul 16  41  52 0.441
2004 Jul 17  41  47 0.466
2000 Jul 21  41  54 0.432
2005 Jul 21  41  55 0.427
2007 Jul 21  41  55 0.427
2009 Jul 21  41  52 0.441
2001 Aug  1  41  65 0.387
2006 Aug  3  41  68 0.376
1995 Aug 16  41  60 0.406
2010 Aug 22  41  83 0.331

In terms of Pirates vs Pirates standings, the 2013 squad is in first place since "the streak". While they are tops in this fictional 22 team division, they are 3rd in their real five team division of the 2013 NL Central, three games behind StL (jagoffs), a half game back of Cincy, and and a full twelve games ahead of the fourth place Cubs. The Midwestern powerhouse of Stl, Cin, and Pit are currently the top three teams in all MLB right now and Pittsburgh has a five game lead over San Francisco for the the second wild card spot. Edit: The standings have been updated slightly. I had a small bug in my standings script after I added the "fastest to win NN" feature. Binary search problems. I should study Computer Science some day.

Standings for Jun 16
2013  41  28 .594 --
1992  37  26 .587 1.0
1999  33  30 .524 5.0
2012  33  31 .516 5.5
2011  35  33 .515 5.5
1997  33  34 .493 7.0
1998  34  36 .486 7.5
2008  34  37 .479 8.0
2002  32  36 .471 8.5
1996  32  36 .471 8.5
2009  30  34 .469 8.5
2005  30  34 .469 8.5
1994  29  35 .453 9.5
2000  29  36 .446 10.0
1993  28  35 .444 10.0
2007  29  39 .426 11.5
2004  25  36 .410 12.0
2003  27  39 .409 12.5
2006  26  42 .382 14.5
1995  17  28 .378 12.0
2010  23  42 .354 16.0
2001  22  43 .338 17.0