Gene Puskar, Associated Press Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka threw 61 strikes among his 92 pitches against the Pirates yesterday at Bradenton, Fla. Click photo for larger image. Related article Pirates Notebook: Red Sox's Matsuzaka impresses everybody

BRADENTON, Fla. -- It seemed yesterday as if the Pirates were the Washington Generals, the foils who accompanied the Harlem Globetrotters' basketball wizardry.

As if the Pirates were the sideshow for Boston's heralded Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Most of the perhaps 100 media types at McKechnie Field were there to see and chronicle the exploits of the Red Sox's pitcher. Not Pirates starter Tom Gorzelanny.

"A lot of media," Pirates manager Jim Tracy acknowledged.

Some grousing about cramped working conditions. Some in awe of the Japanese media rushing to record every move made by Matsuzaka. Television cameras and cables everywhere. ESPN. Tracy loved it.

"I think this is a great thing for us because of the way we began to establish ourselves last year and the way we've played this spring and what our ambitions are," he said. "This is probably a very good thing that we're being exposed to this environment."

Tracy's goal is to have the Pirates in this kind of media frenzy in some not-too-distant October. Likely not this one, but soon. He cited the 37-35 record over the final 72 games last season as a first step. He talked about the outstanding defense his team has played this spring. He mentioned the addition of first baseman Adam LaRoche and how the first baseman balances the lineup. He also mentioned the Pirates' streak of 14 consecutive losing seasons.

"You hear so much about the 14 consecutive losing seasons," he said. "There's no getting away from it. It's there. But is that a reason to sit here and say your benchmark is 81-81? We didn't sign up for that here. We signed up for a lot more than that.

"And until you go through a six-month season and that season tells you can't reach that, we're going to do everything we can to get to the latter part of August and the early part of September and look up and say, 'The Pittsburgh Pirates are involved in this thing.' That's what we want to try to do."

His players seem willing to buy into Tracy's mind-set.

"What we did last year was nothing short of amazing," closer Salomon Torres said, referring to that 37-35 piece. "If we start with the same momentum we showed the second half of last season, you never know what's going to happen."

Shortstop Jack Wilson takes a bigger-picture view of that 37-35 thing from last season as the start of this season approaches.

"What we did in the second half last season was nothing special. We really didn't do anything tremendous," he said. "Everybody just played. We played as a team, and it was fun and we won.

"And that was without an Adam LaRoche. Our team is definitely better than it was in the second half as far as the lineup goes. To me, the sky's the limit. I think we're going to surprise a lot of people.

"You start winning a lot of ballgames and get your name out there. After that, you'll have confidence, and it's endless where you can go with that."

Some Pirates fans would accept a .500 record as "endless."

"It's not the ultimate goal, but it's kind of a step," left fielder Jason Bay said of reaching .500. "And if you look at the [National League Central] division last year, that was pretty good."

The St. Louis Cardinals, who won the World Series, captured the division with 83 victories. Bay believes the Pirates, who finished 67-95 in 2006, might have approached that total last year had they avoided a few potholes. He cited the team's record after 90 games -- 30-60. Its 13-game losing streak in June. Its eight-game losing streak in late September.

"If we'd played close to .500 ball in those stretches, that puts us right there," Bay said.

"No one's sitting around thinking .500 is the World Series for us, but it's a step in where you want to go. The goal for this team is to get in the playoffs and play in the World Series. We want to start playing games in August that mean something [instead of] by May or June it's like, 'Gee, we're already out of it.' I think [getting to .500] is something that will really help us -- not just for this year but next year. And if we get to that point, you never know what happens."

Tracy believes getting to that point and beyond has to do with the team's approach to games, among other factors.

"I'm not going to sit here and make a prediction [about the number of wins]," he said, "But you know something? Our approach is important -- our approach to the game on a day-in, day-out basis, our approach to business every single day. If we're more concerned with our approach and handling the game itself and situations that come up during the games, our numbers as far as wins and losses will take care of themselves."

LaRoche believes that could mean the end of the 14-year losing streak.

"I like what I'm seeing here," he said. "I like what I'm hearing -- the talk among the guys about coming up [through the minor leagues] winning. I was talking about that the other day with Jack [Wilson]. I said, 'You know, we have a lot of guys who came up winning, and, for them, when they get to Pittsburgh it's not fair to them to be talking about 14 losing years.' They weren't here."