Poor Jim Tracy

I've got nothing against Jim Tracy (now that he's gone from the Dodgers), and I wish him well coaching the Pirates. But you've gotta wonder how sad it is to go from one of the storied baseball franchises to the perennial cellar-dwellers of the NL Central. For one thing, the media coverage is not quite the same. Case in point, this USA Today piece from Seth Livingstone, which leads off as follows:

BRADENTON, Fla. — Pittsburgh Pirates manager Jim Tracy watched pitcher Paul Maholm give up three runs in the first inning of a spring training game against the New York Yankees. Yet Tracy wasn't bummed out.

That's because Maholm limited the damage and followed with two shutout innings. "Last season we'd have been more than likely out of that game in the first inning," Tracy says. "To walk back out there like that kid did and rectify himself with two very easy innings, that's growth."

"Yet Tracy wasn't bummed out." Is this a newspaper article or a third-grader's book report? Even by USA Today standards, this level of journalism is pretty low. At this stage, Tracy may even be pining for Bill Plaschke, god forbid.

I hope Tracy continues being not bummed out as the season continues. Dude. For reals.