ST. LOUIS -- I'll try this again, this time a little louder for everyone way in the back: It didn't have to be this way.
But oh, my goodness, it's going to be.
See, if one weren't scientifically inclined to accept the cold fact that the Pittsburgh Baseball Club's 136th season opener Thursday at Busch Stadium played out exactly as anyone anywhere who cared would've predicted -- Cardinals 9, Pirates 0 -- then it'd be an awful lot of fun to surmise that it was more of a mystical thing.