NORTH SHORE NOTES
View From the Crow's Nest
By Jim Lachimia

*The media regularly lambasted former Pirates' GM Dave Littlefield for trading away Chris Young, who is now one of the aces on a very good San Diego Padres team. But the biggest tragedy of the Littlefield era was shipping Aramis Ramirez to the Cubs and getting little in return. For the record, it was infielders Bobby Hill and Jose Hernandez and some pitcher named Matt Brubeck. With Chicago and Pittsburgh in the same division, the pain of that deal remains suffocating four years later. Last month, Rammie banged a pair of monster three-run homers off the Buccos in a 13-8 Chicago victory at Wrigley Field. Littlefield was being a good soldier in that instance, and quickly doing what his boss told him to do (unloading salary), but it still goes on his ledger.

*The old saying, "It's a long season and you shouldn't get too high or too low," does make some sense. But too many players around baseball function as though they're pacing themselves to get through six months. That's what makes the energy and enthusiasm that Pirates' outfielder Nyjer Morgan exhibits so refreshing. He's a lot more fun to watch than the expressionless-robot types walking around out there. The last Pirate that generated as much excitement as Morgan on his own was pitcher Oliver Perez during his storybook 2004 campaign.

*Tom Gorzelanny and Ian Snell look very much like a budding pair of aces, which is something the Pirates have needed for a long time. Consider this: No Pirates' Opening Day starter has reached double figures in victories since Todd Ritchie went 11-15 in 2001. Pittsburgh's last Opening Day starter to reach double digits in wins and finish with a record above .500 was Zane Smith (10-8) all the way back in 1994.