On Wednesday, I expressed my concern after the Pirates lost their third game in a row.
They had just started their current seven game road-trip, and I was worried that if they didn't turn it around and get at least a couple of wins on the trip, things could unravel pretty quickly like they did a year ago when they lost 10 games straight after sitting in first place at the end of July.
Well, these Buccos more than responded. They took the final two games in Philadelphia to salvage a four-game split, and they've taken the first two games of the weekend series in St. Louis.
At the very least, these Pirates will be coming back to PNC Park on Monday with no worse than a 4-3 road-trip. I think any fan would take that.
Maybe this really is a different team than the one that flirted with first place for two months last season.
A few weeks ago, it looked like things could really get ugly for the Pirates after they were swept by the Orioles in Baltimore and then lost the first game in Cleveland. However, they quickly silenced those fears by winning the final two games against the Indians and then going 4-2 on their last home-stand.
I don't know if these Pirates have truly blossomed into a legit contender, but I'm beginning to think they're more contender than they are pretender.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The Pirates Need to Nip this in the Bud Right Now
When the Pirates lost to Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Everyone eventually loses to Verlander, and, despite the loss, the 4-2 home-stand was a nice way to finish off interleague play.
But now the Pirates are on a three-game losing streak after kicking off their seven game road-swing by losing the first two games of a four game series in Philadelphia, and now I'm starting to feel a bit of urgency.
Not that a three-game slide is the end of the world, and I certainly had modest expectations of the team's march through Philly and then St. Louis this weekend, but I just think it's time they nip this losing streak in the bud before things get a bit out of hand.
We all remember what happened last season when things started to unravel in Philadelphia. They kept unraveling to the tune of a 10-game losing streak. The Pirates never recovered and went 19-43 down the stretch.
Obviously, a team is going to struggle from time-to-time during the course of a 162 game season, and it's certainly no shame to look vulnerable against the likes of the Phillies and defending champion Cardinals. But the mark of a good team is being able to keep the losing streaks modest, and a 3-4 road-trip might not set the world on fire, but it sure beats the heck out of 1-6 or 0-7.
Tonight, the Pirates have James McDonald on the mound. Hopefully, he can be the stopper he's been all year and help the Pirates get back on the winning track.
There are times during a season when a team, especially a young team, needs to just find a way to keep its head above water.
A win tonight will be a nice flotation device for these young Buccos.
But now the Pirates are on a three-game losing streak after kicking off their seven game road-swing by losing the first two games of a four game series in Philadelphia, and now I'm starting to feel a bit of urgency.
Not that a three-game slide is the end of the world, and I certainly had modest expectations of the team's march through Philly and then St. Louis this weekend, but I just think it's time they nip this losing streak in the bud before things get a bit out of hand.
We all remember what happened last season when things started to unravel in Philadelphia. They kept unraveling to the tune of a 10-game losing streak. The Pirates never recovered and went 19-43 down the stretch.
Obviously, a team is going to struggle from time-to-time during the course of a 162 game season, and it's certainly no shame to look vulnerable against the likes of the Phillies and defending champion Cardinals. But the mark of a good team is being able to keep the losing streaks modest, and a 3-4 road-trip might not set the world on fire, but it sure beats the heck out of 1-6 or 0-7.
Tonight, the Pirates have James McDonald on the mound. Hopefully, he can be the stopper he's been all year and help the Pirates get back on the winning track.
There are times during a season when a team, especially a young team, needs to just find a way to keep its head above water.
A win tonight will be a nice flotation device for these young Buccos.
FINALLY! A Playoff System Has Come to Division I College Football
After many years of speculation and gnashing of teeth from college football fans everywhere, we're finally going to have a postseason tournament to crown a champion for division I college football.
On June 26th, a committee comprised of university presidents voted in favor of a four-team playoff tournament beginning in the 2014 season. The first champion of this new system will be crowned in January of 2015. Yes, it's still three years away; and yes, we still have another two years of the current BCS system, but at least it's on the horizon.
The four teams will be picked in a fashion similar to how the NCAA picks its field for the Men's basketball tournament. It will be determined by strength of schedule and things of that nature.
Is a four-team field ideal? Probably not, but it's a step better than the BCS, and it's certainly many steps ahead of where college football was before the BCS system.
Will a playoff system hurt the bowls? I think it will definitely hurt the BCS Bowls because, essentially, the field of "important" games will shrink from five to two, but at least the semi-final games will rotate among the BCS sites each season.
And I'm sure there will be deals in place to have the traditional BCS games--Rose, Sugar, etc--at their sites during the years when there are no semi-final games.
It will certainly take the shine off of any BCS bowl that isn't hosting a semi-final match-up, no doubt. Playing in, say, the Fiesta Bowl is certainly going to seem less appealing under that scenario.
But if we're really honest with ourselves, other than the prestige of saying your team played in a BCS game, does it really matter, even now? The only game that REALLY matters right now is the National title game.
As far as the lower-level bowls, I don't think they'll be hurt that much. If a team is playing in the BBVA Compass bowl, it wasn't a national title contender anyway. A four-team playoff field will not take the shine off of that at all, because there wasn't much of one to begin with.
I think a four-team tournament to determine the national champion is a great thing for college football.
If they ever do expand the field to eight or 16 teams, it will make the BCS games seem like inter-squad Spring football games by comparison.
On June 26th, a committee comprised of university presidents voted in favor of a four-team playoff tournament beginning in the 2014 season. The first champion of this new system will be crowned in January of 2015. Yes, it's still three years away; and yes, we still have another two years of the current BCS system, but at least it's on the horizon.
The four teams will be picked in a fashion similar to how the NCAA picks its field for the Men's basketball tournament. It will be determined by strength of schedule and things of that nature.
Is a four-team field ideal? Probably not, but it's a step better than the BCS, and it's certainly many steps ahead of where college football was before the BCS system.
Will a playoff system hurt the bowls? I think it will definitely hurt the BCS Bowls because, essentially, the field of "important" games will shrink from five to two, but at least the semi-final games will rotate among the BCS sites each season.
And I'm sure there will be deals in place to have the traditional BCS games--Rose, Sugar, etc--at their sites during the years when there are no semi-final games.
It will certainly take the shine off of any BCS bowl that isn't hosting a semi-final match-up, no doubt. Playing in, say, the Fiesta Bowl is certainly going to seem less appealing under that scenario.
But if we're really honest with ourselves, other than the prestige of saying your team played in a BCS game, does it really matter, even now? The only game that REALLY matters right now is the National title game.
As far as the lower-level bowls, I don't think they'll be hurt that much. If a team is playing in the BBVA Compass bowl, it wasn't a national title contender anyway. A four-team playoff field will not take the shine off of that at all, because there wasn't much of one to begin with.
I think a four-team tournament to determine the national champion is a great thing for college football.
If they ever do expand the field to eight or 16 teams, it will make the BCS games seem like inter-squad Spring football games by comparison.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
The Only Downside of the Demise of Cookie-Cutter Stadiums is that Majestic Home Run Shots Don't Look as Majestic these Days
On Thursday night against the Minnesota Twins, Pirates slugger Pedro Alvarez hit a 443 shot that traveled over the right-field bleachers at PNC Park and landed on the walkway. It certainly was one of the more impressive displays of power in the 11 year history of the Pirates' beautiful baseball park.
PNC Park is one of several new "old-style" baseball parks that have become the norm in MLB over the last two-decades, as the old multi-purpose "cookie-cutter" stadiums from the 70's, 80's and 90's are now mostly a thing of the past.
There is no doubt that the new baseball parks are a welcome sight. It is much more enjoyable to watch a baseball game played on grass with awesome sight-lines and a wonderful backdrop of a city's architecture as opposed to what the old cookie-cutter stadiums used to offer: artificial turf, sight-lines that weren't always so great and a sterile environment for a baseball game.
No, baseball games weren't meant to be played in that kind of stadium. And, as I said, it certainly wasn't always a great atmosphere for baseball fans. The seating-capacity was often so big for those places, if you sat in the outfield upper deck, you couldn't even see a home run if it was hit in your section of the stadium. The only thing you saw was the outfielder disappear as he ran after the ball. You had to wait for the reactions of your fellow baseball fans seated below to know if it was a home run or not. I remember attending many Pirates games at Three Rivers Stadium in the outfield upper deck, and I might as well have been watching from the Goodyear blimp.
I do miss those old, monstrous upper decks, however, at least as a back-drop for a majestic home run.
It was rare for a baseball player to reach the upper deck in places like Three Rivers, Veterans Stadium, Olympic Stadium and the Astrodome, but when someone did, it was a memorable moment.
In the 31 year history of Three Rivers Stadium, there were only 13 home runs hit to the upper deck. It's probably not a surprise that legendary Pirates slugger Willie Stargell led the way with four such shots.
Stargell displayed his upper deck power in stadiums all around the National League in the 70's. In 1971, he hit the longest home run in the history of Veterans stadium. And in 1978, he became the first and only player to ever reach the upper deck of Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
Whenever anyone hit a shot in the upper deck at any stadium, it just seemed mythical to me. I'll never forget watching Jose Canseco's 540 foot shot that landed in the upper deck of the Toronto Skydome during the 1989 ALCS. I don't know the person who caught that ball, but I'll bet they weren't expecting to leave the stadium that night with a souvenir.
Even though I attended many games in the general admission seats at the old TRS, I was never lucky enough to be near one of those 13 majestic shots that landed in the upper deck.
The home runs in today's ball parks just don't seem as impressive to me. Don't get me wrong. When a home run bounces in the river outside of PNC or lands in the bay outside of AT&T Park in San Francisco, it is an impressive sight. But more often than not, a majestic home run hit today just disappears into the outfield seats like a golf ball hit into the Atlantic Ocean. Still a pretty awesome sight, but in my opinion, not as awesome as when the Stargells of the world would send a cannon bomb to the highest reaches of Three Rivers or its cookie-cutter contemporaries.
Anyone out there lucky enough to walk away with a home run that reached the upper deck of old Three Rivers or any of the old cookie-cutter stadiums?
PNC Park is one of several new "old-style" baseball parks that have become the norm in MLB over the last two-decades, as the old multi-purpose "cookie-cutter" stadiums from the 70's, 80's and 90's are now mostly a thing of the past.
There is no doubt that the new baseball parks are a welcome sight. It is much more enjoyable to watch a baseball game played on grass with awesome sight-lines and a wonderful backdrop of a city's architecture as opposed to what the old cookie-cutter stadiums used to offer: artificial turf, sight-lines that weren't always so great and a sterile environment for a baseball game.
No, baseball games weren't meant to be played in that kind of stadium. And, as I said, it certainly wasn't always a great atmosphere for baseball fans. The seating-capacity was often so big for those places, if you sat in the outfield upper deck, you couldn't even see a home run if it was hit in your section of the stadium. The only thing you saw was the outfielder disappear as he ran after the ball. You had to wait for the reactions of your fellow baseball fans seated below to know if it was a home run or not. I remember attending many Pirates games at Three Rivers Stadium in the outfield upper deck, and I might as well have been watching from the Goodyear blimp.
I do miss those old, monstrous upper decks, however, at least as a back-drop for a majestic home run.
It was rare for a baseball player to reach the upper deck in places like Three Rivers, Veterans Stadium, Olympic Stadium and the Astrodome, but when someone did, it was a memorable moment.
In the 31 year history of Three Rivers Stadium, there were only 13 home runs hit to the upper deck. It's probably not a surprise that legendary Pirates slugger Willie Stargell led the way with four such shots.
Stargell displayed his upper deck power in stadiums all around the National League in the 70's. In 1971, he hit the longest home run in the history of Veterans stadium. And in 1978, he became the first and only player to ever reach the upper deck of Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
Whenever anyone hit a shot in the upper deck at any stadium, it just seemed mythical to me. I'll never forget watching Jose Canseco's 540 foot shot that landed in the upper deck of the Toronto Skydome during the 1989 ALCS. I don't know the person who caught that ball, but I'll bet they weren't expecting to leave the stadium that night with a souvenir.
Even though I attended many games in the general admission seats at the old TRS, I was never lucky enough to be near one of those 13 majestic shots that landed in the upper deck.
The home runs in today's ball parks just don't seem as impressive to me. Don't get me wrong. When a home run bounces in the river outside of PNC or lands in the bay outside of AT&T Park in San Francisco, it is an impressive sight. But more often than not, a majestic home run hit today just disappears into the outfield seats like a golf ball hit into the Atlantic Ocean. Still a pretty awesome sight, but in my opinion, not as awesome as when the Stargells of the world would send a cannon bomb to the highest reaches of Three Rivers or its cookie-cutter contemporaries.
Anyone out there lucky enough to walk away with a home run that reached the upper deck of old Three Rivers or any of the old cookie-cutter stadiums?
Friday, June 22, 2012
Jerry Sandusky Found Guilty in Sexual Molestation Trial
Justice has finally come for the young men that were victimized by former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.
In a scandal that rocked Penn State University last November, Sandusky was indicted on 51 counts of child molestation and deviant sexual conduct against young boys over a period of several years going back to the mid-90's.
Sandusky was found guilty on 45 counts and now will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
Sandusky will be sentenced at a later date.
In a scandal that rocked Penn State University last November, Sandusky was indicted on 51 counts of child molestation and deviant sexual conduct against young boys over a period of several years going back to the mid-90's.
Sandusky was found guilty on 45 counts and now will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
Sandusky will be sentenced at a later date.
Penguins Trade Jordan Staal to Carolina in Draft-Day Deal
Jordan Staal was reunited with older brother Eric when he was sent to the Carolina Hurricanes this evening in a blockbuster draft-day deal. In exchange for Staal, Pittsburgh received the Hurricanes' first round pick (8th overall), young center Brandon Sutter, and defenseman Brian Dumoulin.
With the pick that they acquired from Carolina, the Penguins selected defenseman Derrick Pouliot out of Portland of the WHL.
The handwriting was on the wall when Staal, a free agent following the upcoming 2012/2013 season, rejected a 10 year contract offer in the $60 million range.
Staal was the Penguins third-line center during his six year career with Pittsburgh, and he established himself as one of the best two-way players in the NHL.
Staal rejecting the contract offer from the Penguins may have had more to do with his desire to join his brother Eric in Carolina as well as move up to a first or second line center than it may have had to do with money. Although, I'm sure money did play a factor, but there was no way Staal was going to be able to earn top-dollar playing for the Penguins.
Just shy of his 24th birthday, Staal has played his entire career behind centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Crosby is 24 and widely regarded as the best player in the world, and Malkin is 25 and is not only in the same neighborhood as Crosby in terms of talent, he just won the scoring title and the league MVP.
Like Staal, both Crosby and Malkin are going to be seeking new contracts in the coming years, and someone had to go.
With the pick that they acquired from Carolina, the Penguins selected defenseman Derrick Pouliot out of Portland of the WHL.
The handwriting was on the wall when Staal, a free agent following the upcoming 2012/2013 season, rejected a 10 year contract offer in the $60 million range.
Staal was the Penguins third-line center during his six year career with Pittsburgh, and he established himself as one of the best two-way players in the NHL.
Staal rejecting the contract offer from the Penguins may have had more to do with his desire to join his brother Eric in Carolina as well as move up to a first or second line center than it may have had to do with money. Although, I'm sure money did play a factor, but there was no way Staal was going to be able to earn top-dollar playing for the Penguins.
Just shy of his 24th birthday, Staal has played his entire career behind centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Crosby is 24 and widely regarded as the best player in the world, and Malkin is 25 and is not only in the same neighborhood as Crosby in terms of talent, he just won the scoring title and the league MVP.
Like Staal, both Crosby and Malkin are going to be seeking new contracts in the coming years, and someone had to go.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Pedro Alvarez Could be a Real Game Changer for the Pirates
In the movie "Crazy, Stupid, Love," Ryan Gosling plays a womanizer named Jacob Palmer whose only goal in life seems to be to bed as many women as humanly possible. One day, however, Jacob meets a girl named Hannah who represents the kind of relationship that he's secretly yearned for, and now he finds himself hopelessly in love. At one point during the movie, Jacob says of Hannah, "She's a real game changer."
Over the weekend, Pedro Alvarez, the Pittsburgh Pirates young slugger, showed everyone what kind of game-changer he can be by hitting four home runs and driving in nine runs in the last two games of the weekend series in Cleveland as the Pirates took two out of three from the Indians.
This wasn't the first time that Alvarez has displayed this kind of potential. He has shown the ability to go on these kinds of tears, and when he does, he's quite the difference-maker for the offensively challenged Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Pirates, who went into Cleveland with one of the worst lineups in baseball, looked like a completely different team with Alvarez leading the way, as they scored 18 runs over the last two games of the weekend series after getting shut out Friday night.
The good news is when Alvarez is on, he looks scary good, and his spurts of power sometimes last a week or so. The problem is, Alvarez has been off way more than he's been on during his short career, and when he does struggle, he looks almost helpless at the plate. He went into the Cleveland series batting .189, and there was even talk of sending him down to triple A Indianapolis.
To the team's credit, they've pretty much stuck with Alvarez through thick and thin, and for good reason. As I said, he's a game-changer, and the Pirates haven't had this kind of bat in their organization since, dare I say, the days of Willie Stargell.
I'm pretty confident they haven't had a guy who represents that kind of power since I've been following them, and my days as a die-hard fan go all the way back to the early 80's.
The Pirates have had some good players over the last couple of decades. Heck, Barry Bonds was great, and he was a perennial MVP candidate when he was with the Pirates, but even he didn't possess the raw power of a Pedro Alvarez (well, until he had that growth-spurt that is common for most guys in their mid-30's).
In the late 90's and 00's, players like Brian Giles and Jason Bay were also good all-around baseball players to a lesser degree than Bonds, and today, Andrew McCutchen is not only the best player on the team, but he's one of the best all-around talents in the game today.
However, there is no substitute in baseball for a big bopper in the middle of the lineup, and the fact that I can see that kind of potential in Alvarez is pretty darn exciting.
I'm a huge Steelers fan, and after Terry Bradshaw called it a career following the 1983 season, I spent two decades longing for the team to draft another franchise quarterback who was capable of leading it to a Super Bowl. When they drafted Ben Roethlisberger in 2004, and he was forced into the lineup due to injuries, you could see the raw talent that he possessed even though he didn't quite know what to do with it yet. I thought to myself, "That is what a franchise quarterback looks like. If he can find a way to reach his fullest potential, the Steelers will win a Super Bowl or two."
Well, during the course of Roethlisberger's second season, he began to put it all together, and the Steelers won their first Super Bowl in over a quarter of a century. A few years later, not only did the Steelers win another Super Bowl, Big Ben, an ever-maturing quarterback, actually led them to victory in the final moments.
Right now, I see in Alvarez as a power hitter what I saw in Roethlisberger as a quarterback during his first year or two.
If Alvarez can figure out a way to put it all together, he'll become that home run presence in the middle of the lineup that other teams must prepare for. He'll be to the Pirates what guys like Ryan Howard, Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols have represented for their teams over the years.
He'll be a real game-changer, and I don't just mean over the course of a nine-inning contest.
If Pedro Alvarez ever reaches his fullest potential, we won't be wondering if the Pirates can finally break their two-decade losing streak. We'll be preparing for pennant races and maybe World Series games.
Pedro Alvarez can be that kind of game-changer.
Let's hope he finds a way to put it all together.
Over the weekend, Pedro Alvarez, the Pittsburgh Pirates young slugger, showed everyone what kind of game-changer he can be by hitting four home runs and driving in nine runs in the last two games of the weekend series in Cleveland as the Pirates took two out of three from the Indians.
This wasn't the first time that Alvarez has displayed this kind of potential. He has shown the ability to go on these kinds of tears, and when he does, he's quite the difference-maker for the offensively challenged Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Pirates, who went into Cleveland with one of the worst lineups in baseball, looked like a completely different team with Alvarez leading the way, as they scored 18 runs over the last two games of the weekend series after getting shut out Friday night.
The good news is when Alvarez is on, he looks scary good, and his spurts of power sometimes last a week or so. The problem is, Alvarez has been off way more than he's been on during his short career, and when he does struggle, he looks almost helpless at the plate. He went into the Cleveland series batting .189, and there was even talk of sending him down to triple A Indianapolis.
To the team's credit, they've pretty much stuck with Alvarez through thick and thin, and for good reason. As I said, he's a game-changer, and the Pirates haven't had this kind of bat in their organization since, dare I say, the days of Willie Stargell.
I'm pretty confident they haven't had a guy who represents that kind of power since I've been following them, and my days as a die-hard fan go all the way back to the early 80's.
The Pirates have had some good players over the last couple of decades. Heck, Barry Bonds was great, and he was a perennial MVP candidate when he was with the Pirates, but even he didn't possess the raw power of a Pedro Alvarez (well, until he had that growth-spurt that is common for most guys in their mid-30's).
In the late 90's and 00's, players like Brian Giles and Jason Bay were also good all-around baseball players to a lesser degree than Bonds, and today, Andrew McCutchen is not only the best player on the team, but he's one of the best all-around talents in the game today.
However, there is no substitute in baseball for a big bopper in the middle of the lineup, and the fact that I can see that kind of potential in Alvarez is pretty darn exciting.
I'm a huge Steelers fan, and after Terry Bradshaw called it a career following the 1983 season, I spent two decades longing for the team to draft another franchise quarterback who was capable of leading it to a Super Bowl. When they drafted Ben Roethlisberger in 2004, and he was forced into the lineup due to injuries, you could see the raw talent that he possessed even though he didn't quite know what to do with it yet. I thought to myself, "That is what a franchise quarterback looks like. If he can find a way to reach his fullest potential, the Steelers will win a Super Bowl or two."
Well, during the course of Roethlisberger's second season, he began to put it all together, and the Steelers won their first Super Bowl in over a quarter of a century. A few years later, not only did the Steelers win another Super Bowl, Big Ben, an ever-maturing quarterback, actually led them to victory in the final moments.
Right now, I see in Alvarez as a power hitter what I saw in Roethlisberger as a quarterback during his first year or two.
If Alvarez can figure out a way to put it all together, he'll become that home run presence in the middle of the lineup that other teams must prepare for. He'll be to the Pirates what guys like Ryan Howard, Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols have represented for their teams over the years.
He'll be a real game-changer, and I don't just mean over the course of a nine-inning contest.
If Pedro Alvarez ever reaches his fullest potential, we won't be wondering if the Pirates can finally break their two-decade losing streak. We'll be preparing for pennant races and maybe World Series games.
Pedro Alvarez can be that kind of game-changer.
Let's hope he finds a way to put it all together.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)