Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates did more over the weekend than just deal a severe blow to the New York Mets' hopes of repeating as World Series champions. They also left Manager Davey Johnson's pitching staff in shambles. In a five-hour battle Sunday at Pittsburgh, Barry Bonds tripled in the 14th inning and scored on Andy Van Slyke's fly ball to right to give the Pirates a 9-8 victory. That dropped the Mets to 2 1/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League East.

The Padres and Pirates fought with kid gloves Friday night. For the Pirates, pitchers Mike Dunne (age 24), John Smiley (22) and Brett Gideon (23) entered this season with 35 days of major league experience between them. For the Padres, pitcher Jimmy Jones (23) entered with 22 days. After 2 1/2 hours at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, it was hard to tell who had aged more. The Pirates won, 3-2, in a victory that left the Bucs waxing over the maturation of their young arms.

Somali pirates hijacked a Greek and a Ukrainian ship, and a NATO warship briefly detained 19 pirates armed with explosives after foiling an attack on a Norwegian tanker in the Gulf of Aden. Pirates said they were taking the Ukrainian ship, hijacked in the Indian Ocean with a cargo that includes United Nations' vehicles, to the Somali coastal town of Harardhere. "We have hijacked a ship carrying industrial equipment including white cars with the U.N. logo; our friends are on board it," a pirate who said his name was Hussein told Reuters news agency by telephone from Harardhere.

While Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda threw in everybody but the Marines against Pittsburgh Monday night, the Pirates struck back with a guy who actually played on the shores of Tripoli. Pirates rookie shortstop Sammy Khalifa, who was born in nearby Fontana but arrived at Dodger Stadium by way of the desert--Egypt, Libya and Tucson, Ariz.

The Padres had a storybook finish spoiled Friday night. John Kruk, who grew up two hours away in Keyser, W.Va., hit a pinch-hit, game-tying homer with two out in the ninth. He circled the bases and glanced up at a group of 60 hometown folks, and all was a fairy tale. It took the Pirates two innings to make the Three Rivers Stadium crowd of 13,109 forget it.

What is it about pirates that fascinates us so much? It is not just the swords and swashbuckling (although I have three young sons who would disagree with that statement), since pirates have reappeared in so many guises over the years. In the decades after World War II, the label was attached to rebellious disc jockeys broadcasting rock 'n' roll off the U.S. coast. At the dawn of the present century, it has been attributed to teenage nerds creating websites in their bedrooms to make free music downloads and software available to the masses.

On the Caribbean coast of Panama, at the head of a snug oval harbor guarded on each side by the ruins of two forts, lies what is left of the ancient city of Portobelo: a church with a famous "Black Christ," some old cannons, a few sheds on which in the heavy sultry air watchful vultures perch. Portobelo was once the terminus to which pack animals carried gold and silver from Peru and Bolivia for shipment to Spain. In 1688 the British buccaneer Henry Morgan fell upon the forts from the landward side, forced the town to surrender and made off with great treasure.

A new champion will be crowned in the City Section this season. San Pedro made sure of that with its 31-7 victory Friday night over Los Angeles Crenshaw — winner of the last two City Division I titles — in a Division I quarterfinal game at San Pedro High. Two big plays in the last six minutes of the first half gave the top-seeded Pirates (12-0) a commanding lead. First, Kenny Potter faked a handoff and ran around the left side for an 81-yard quarterback keeper that gave San Pedro a 21-7 lead.

New York Yankee infielder Dale Berra testified Monday that he shared cocaine with Dave Parker, John Milner, Lee Lacy and Rod Scurry when all five played baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates and said his own drug use peaked last summer while he was injured.