Does all the losing take a toll on the players?

Pirates reliever and current closer, Joel Hanrahan has had his share of playing for losing teams. (Before he was acquired by the Pirates he spent 2006 – part of 2009 with the Washington Nationals)

How rough is it on players to endure loss after loss?

“There’ve been times this year when I’ve left the park and I’ve gone straight home,” Hanrahan said. “I wake up, and I come straight to the field. Like, I’ve been embarrassed by what’s going on and I don’t want to be seen in public. Somebody would be like, ‘Is that Hanrahan over there? What’s he doing having a beer at 10 o’clock at night? Shouldn’t he be at home sleeping?’ “

In the past few weeks however, the Pirates have been playing much better baseball as a team. A lot of the reason for that is from the “young bucs” and some of the key pieces that are a part of the future. Hanrahan is one of them.

“Earlier in the year, it was a lot tougher,” Hanrahan said. “We felt we had guys who had won before and we felt we had a good chance to win every game. It didn’t work out. But now you look around the clubhouse and you get excited about these (new) guys getting a chance to play. We feel like we’ve got some really good pieces here. They’re getting better.”

Regardless of the Win/loss record, the future is getting brighter for the Pirates and that is exciting.

“You’ve got to come here excited,” Hanrahan said. “You’re getting the opportunity to play. You know that at 7:05 (p.m.) you’re getting a chance to compete, and what I love to do is compete. You almost treat it like it’s spring training. Let’s play hard, let’s learn something today. Look at the positives we’ve got going and try not to worry about the record.”