FanHouse Joe Kerrigan

It's hard to think of a more one-sided "rivalry" in sports than the one currently contested between the Pirates and the Brewers. Before the Pirates' 8-5 win last night, the Brewers had taken 17 straight games between the two teams, dating back to May 22 of last season. Somehow (or maybe because of the losing streak, though the Pirates rarely seem to be the initiating team) a lot of bad blood has boiled up between the two teams, and it came to a head (again) Monday night in the eighth inning.

Last night's mini-altercation started when Brewers' reliever Chris Smith beaned Pirates' reliever Jeff Karstens. Karstens, you may recall, beaned Ryan Braun back in May, which sent Braun over the edge and led to some ridiculous and vague threats that never materialized. So Karstens got the message and started walking towards Smith, when he was intercepted by Jason Kendall, who appeared to point to first base. This is when things got interesting.

Futilitywatch '09 is a our semi-regular update on the Pittsburgh Pirates and their march toward their record 17th consecutive losing season.

In our last installment two weeks ago, we left the Pittsburgh Pirates for dead as they sat at 12-16, in the midst of what turned out to be an eight-game losing streak that dropped their record to 12-19. Since then, the Bucs have reeled off seven wins in 10 games and sit at 19-22. In fact, if their bullpen hadn't blown an eighth-inning lead last night, they'd only be one game under .500 and Bucco Fever would be sweeping Pittsburgh. Or something.

SAN DIEGO -- Joe Kerrigan saw it watching video over the winter. Zach Duke saw it in the attitudes of his fellow pitchers in spring training.

Now, the rest of baseball is seeing it too. The Pirates pitching doesn't stink. In fact, it's pretty good.

But is this real? Or just a three-week fluke?

Even Kerrigan, the veteran pitching coach, doesn't know for sure, but he's enjoying it while it lasts.