Pittsburgh Pirates Welcome Umpire Jerry Meals to PNC Park

by Matt Shetler

One call doesn’t make a season.

Not in a long 162 season that’s filled with them.

Unless you’re the Pittsburgh Pirates, who saw their promising season collapse on one call. One very bad call.

I never been the type to make excuse and there is a lot wrong with the current Pirates, but this much is clear. It all changed on one call.

The scene was Turner Field. The inning was the 19th. The culprit was umpire Jerry Meals. Looking back, the Bucs season ended that very night on this very call.

The facts are that Meals didn’t cost the Bucs the season. It just played out that way. Instead of rebounding, they went into the tank. They didn’t just step into it either, they dove right in.

While Meals shouldn’t be excused for his blunder, it’s baseball, it happens. How a team responds to adversity makes champions. The Pirates aren’t there yet.

For the fans, Meals coming to Pittsburgh for the Cardinals series gives them a chance to vent some build up frustration.

For the Pirates, maybe seeing Meals again could serve as a reminder of what they had going before the horrible call. Maybe Meals is exactly what the Bucs need to get going again.