FanShot

"If the Pirates are pulverizing, I wanna write that storybook end..."

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Two years ago, singer/songwriters Steve Wynn and Scott McCaughey, joined by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck on bass, recorded an album of baseball-themed songs, "Frozen Ropes & Dying Quails," as The Baseball Project. The album included the song "Harvey Haddix," celebrating Haddix's 12 perfect innings against the Braves in 1959, bemoaning how major league baseball didn't officially credit Haddix with a perfect game, and listing, in the chorus, all of the pitchers who had thrown perfect games. The album received heavy airplay in my household; I think McCaughey, a long-time R.E.M. sideman and the leader of the Young Fresh Fellows and Minus 5, is one of the most underrated figures in rock music over the past quarter-century. As this ESPN.com article indicates, Wynn, McCaughey & Co. are back in 2010. They're going to chronicle the season by recording one topical song each month and offering it as a free download on ESPN.com. The first number, "All Future and No Past," is about being optimistic at the beginning of the season, no matter how your team did the year before. It's a catchy start to the series, with McCaughey on vocals. As you might expect, they mention the Pirates, along with the Padres, Reds, Athletics, Royals, Orioles, Indians and 2008 Rays.