Feel Free to Vomit

Game 4 Saturday night was the difference between being right back in the series or....where we're at right now. Now, were down 3-1. Where do you go from here? Well, you got three options. ONE: You tap out, give up. It's over. You can go to work all jagged off and angry while thinking; this is going to be a looooong summer. Well, October doesn't come for a while, so whoever is taking bachelor #1, they're going to be one miserable person.

TWO: Detroit is really good. It's obvious. It's only a matter of time before all that Pens gear goes on sale. Or THREE: 3-1, sure it's Mt. Everest. We were only a crossbar and post from a Marian Hossa backhand from possibly being at 2 games a piece. It's not over until you're dead and the only things dead on the ice have been octopuses. Detroit holds the cards and Detroit holds all those cards that could lose it all. Pittsburgh is on the doorstep knocking, because unlike Detroit, they have nothing to lose.

Which person are you?

If the Pen's can pull off the inevitable and win IN Detroit, the momentum can shift again, bring game 6 back home. Pittsburgh can once again possibly tie up the series at 3-3. (I work the night shift, I have a lot to think about.) When you start thinking of winning games 5 and 6 to get back into the series. What about game 7? Are the Penguins good enough and able enough to pull off the unthinkable against Detroit? Is there any evidential proof that Pittsburgh could win 4 straight game and take the cup against the shut down defense of Detroit? I couldn't tell you, but I'm sure this Malkin guy chipping in wouldn't help. Or, that whole 2nd line for that matter. Game 5 is going to be something special. Watching Sidney Crosby out there in desperation is going to unravel your mind. He's got some broad shoulders, but can he carry this team? It's Detroit's to lose. The Pen's can make their decision for them.

...God help us.

Sidney Crosby (and Adam Hall) Does It All

Breathe in...breathe out. That game last night was the difference between watching Detroit celebrate on your home ice or tying the series up on Saturday night. It looks like we'll be hoping for option 2, as the Pens win a thriller in game 3. The big news before the game out of the Pens camp was the replacement of Kris Letang by Daryl Sydor. Good move coach "T", it worked nicely. The passion to win along with the fear of losing was in the building and it made for some crazy noise inside the Igloo. Game 3, was on, and everybody in Pittsburgh could feel it.
The first period started off kind of like what we saw in Detroit. They were owning possession and were getting shots on net while the Penguins were trying to survive by clearing the puck to center. Then at around the halfway mark, you could see it. The momentum, the possession, the will to live had been turned to the Pens side. The Penguins were throwing up some great shots that were only finding pads and posts. Then it came, a turnover by the Red Wings and Sidney Crosby was on the puck before Henrik Zetterberg knew what had hit his skate. A sweet little drop pass to Marian Hossa off the turnover created a shot that would rebound right to Crosby who buried it 5 hole by Chris Osgood. 1-0 Pens. HUGE. The Pens got one last good shot on net from Marian Hossa, but his arm was too busy being tore off from a Detroit defensemen. That would do it though, period ends.
Period two, the Pens started the period on the power play and Sidney Crosby skated through about 900 Red Wings before unleashing a wrist shot that would find more pipe than a water sanitation center. Evgeni Malkin woke up for a second and found himself wide open a top the left circle and he unleashed a slap shot that would of made Ron Francis blush. Luckily, Osgood was in the way and the rebound caromed off of him and the Red Wings cleared the zone. It didn't matter, the Pens were OWNING Detroit and the Pens flew back into the zone. Sergei Gonchar threw one on net that bounced around to Ryan Malone, couldn't bury it. Then Marian Hossa got the rebound, couldn't bury it. Then there was Crosby who got Hossa's rebound and said "I got this." Buries it, 2-0 Penguins. After that, the only thing worth mentioning was Crosby flying through the air on a Kris Draper hip check. I like how Eddie 'O on NBC decided to let everyone know that Crosby didn't "whine" or "pout" but simply kept playing on. Derrrrrrrr Eddie. After a Hal Gill trip, hook, or whatever it was put Detroit on the man advantage and Johan Franzen lost consciousness skating through 3 Penguins before letting the puck meet the mesh behind Marc-Andre Fluery. That made it a 2-1 game.
The start of the 3rd showed that the Crosby, Dupuis, Hossa line was one track for pure dominance at even strength. Hossa picked up the puck from behind the net on the back hand and unleashed on that found Peter Piper. Then the insurance came. Andres Lilja had his back to Gary Roberts. That's mistake hockey 101 right there. Lilja gets beat down to the ice by a 42 year old god. The puck worked it's way over to Adam Hall who found the side of the cage before picking the puck back up again and did his best Michael Jordan, Larry Bird McDonald's bank shot commercial. The puck found Chris Osgood and then it found itself underneath the net cam. Goal, 3-1 Pittsburgh picked up some nice health insurance. After that Tomas Holstrom had a shot on net that would find the post and the Pens took a huge breath. The next part of the period was pure NHL hockey and somebody from the Detroit bench must have made a face at Brooks Orpik. The dude, went OFF!

Handing out checks like it was the first of the month.

Detroit would be the first to settle things down with some passes and a goal from Mikael Samuelsson that netted a score at 3-2 and chance for the Wings to tie it up before regulation.Especially when Evgeni Malkin gets called for a hooking penalty with less than 5 minutes remaining. The Penguins, stepped up once again and killed it off and the Pen's would soon kill off an empty net attack before take the game and changing the series. Breathe in. Breathe out. Sleep, eat, repeat Saturday.

Bucco's Start Out Nice, Ends in an "L"

The Pirates had something going last night until the bottom of the 5th inning came. The Buc's were taking advantage of more sloppy play and sloppy pitching from Johnny Cueto. In the 2nd, the Pirates go clutch hitting from arguably, two of the worst hitters on the team. Struggling Jose Bautista and slumping Ronny Paulino teamed up for a double and a single to start off the inning. Paulino however, was throw out at 2nd for trying to stretch what should have never even been thought of for a guy with his speed. In the 3rd, the Bucco's added on a second run on a 2 out base hit by Xavier Nady, driving in Jason Bay. In the top of the 5th Jason Bay reached on a throwing error and a long single by Xavier Nady moved Bay to third. Adam LaRoche, who has slowly, but surely started warming up, hit a sac fly to deep center bringing home Bay, 3-0 Bucco's. The fun would stop there as Ian Snell would load the bases on 3 consecutive walks. Brandon Phillips brought in a run on a sac fly and Adam Dunn would finish off the jobbing with a 3 run homer to right. That home run made it 4-3 Reds, and it also made Adam Dunn the all time leader in home runs by a lefty for the Reds franchise. It marked 8 home runs in Dunn's last 12 games, nothing out of the ordinary. I'll be surprised if he doesn't back this up with a 12 game hitting slump with 49 strike outs. Nothing happened score wise until the bottom of the 6th when hits and walks were being given out like presents on Christmas day. Ian Snell was pulled after loading the bases, again, on 2 hits and a walk. Damaso Marte came in relief and he didn't do much better. 3 hits and 4 runs later, it was a 8-3. The Reds added one another run to make it 9-3 in the 7th when Jay Bruce doubled to deep center bringing in Paul Bako. Bruce went 3 for 3 and the city of Cincinnati thinks they just discovered the next Jeff Francouer, aka GOD. The Pirates tried to get something going in the 9th when LaRoche hit a 2 run homer and Paulino added a solo shot him self, but the damage was done. Bucco's were toast, 9-6 losers.

Other Notes:

-Ian Snell continues to stink the joint up. 5IP, 7 runs. (Picture) It's not your hand! It's your arm, shoulder, wrist, finger, etc....

-Jack Wilson came back for his first game since going on the disabled list since the 3rd game of the season. He went 3-5, but he's not as good as this Jay Bruce kid.

-Even though the last week wasn't all that great, the Buc's are still 24-27. 6.5 back of the first place Cubs, the Red's are only 7.0 back.

-Jay Bruce may become the next Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams rolled up in one.

A Night of Theatre and Hockey

The Penguins are getting flat out, beaten. Not to say that Chris Osgood, who's extremely jealous that he doesn't see enough shots, flopping around on the ice helped anymore than it did. Is that why he does the things he does? Because he feels the need to act a little more, so he can "feel part of the team"? I swore off watching World Cup soccer because of the fact, those guys take a tap to the shin and fall down like their leg is being amputated. Same deal with Chrissy, Robin Williams (Video below) makes great reference to him at 1:15 in.

Is there any way the Pen's can pick up Oscar de le Hoya off of waivers? He's spanish, right?

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't allllll bad calls. I'm not the type who solely puts blame on the refs for determining the out come of a game, but that crap last night didn't help. Osgood has done his stuff before and it happens to be quite annoying and bush league. You can give credit to that of the Red Wings defense though, they're unreal. The Pens have never seen anything like this. The only thing remotely close was that of the Devils, but they didn't have the fire power (goal scorers) and their goalie at least faced 25 shots a game and made some ACTUAL saves. They also played the Rangers, who mid season had a sex change and decided they wanted to take the defensive route, but they also don't have the depth in scoring, nor the depth on defense to make it happen. And their goalie isn't 35 years old...and he's good. Besides Sean Avery, I couldn't point out a single linesman that has once dove for the better good of the game. Or faked an injury so severe that he may miss the last 5 minutes of a game, and then come out on his next shift 50 seconds later. That last sentence was my reference to Johan Franzen and his alleged career ending injury when the medical staff rushed to his service. I'm sure he knows that he's possible to die at anytime on the ice after suffering a concussion 18 days ago. Joke.

And what about poor Marc-Andre Fluery? He's getting hung out to dry like a pair of wet underwear on a clothes line. I think he's aware that the first goal to Stuart last night was a mistake and I'm sure it lingered in his mind all game long. If you can get a piece of it, you should of been able to get the rest of it. Now we all know what it was like to be Ottawa, New York, and Philadelphia. Except, those teams have seen us every year, for the last 3 years. Detroit is something new, and I have no idea how Therrien plans on figuring it out. Unless half the Red Wings defense gets polio over night, I have no clue how the Pens could put pressure on their goal tender. Osgood has been undressed a couple of times this series, especially in the first game, but the Penguins haven't been able to bury anything. Except for visiting the scrap yard and clanging some metal posts.

The only other thing that jags me around, is this Nikki Kronwall guy. Since when were we aloud to fly into a zone with skating strides, only seen in speed skating, so long and fluent and then....we have a player on the ice who just got next week knocked out of him? No wonder Joe Louis Arena stinks. It's because of all the crap going on in there. Wow, it's crazy stuff, I guess all of those Red Wing band wagoners around the nation, really are making the difference. And if the Wings should take the cup and down the road one of those "Red Wings fans" is asked "who their goaltender was in that series in '08?" I don't know how they won't be able to blush, laugh, or lie (that he was a great goalie) their faces off. Were down 2-0, it sucks. The Pens haven't lost in Mellon Arena since February and Peter Sykora (who was responsible for Chis Osgood's mental breakdown in net) said, "I wouldn't be worried if we lose one or both games on the road in Detroit. It wouldn't surprise me. All you gotta do is win at home. The only time home ice really matters is game 7. But you win your 2, and then your 1 at home. And you'll be fine." Thanks for the heart warming speech Peter, I could use a little more insurance than that though.

In conclusion, here's what's bothering me, and you could of saved yourself a lot of time by just scrolling to this part of the "article". Chris Osgood, what a piece of work. How can you even respect the guy? He did his crap in the Dallas series and now he's gonna pull the same stunt in the Stanley Cup? If they were to win, how can you even feel good about yourself after everything you've done in the playoffs? Nikolas Kronwall, you're a joke. Phil Borque said "If your a Penguin and you get hit by Kronwall, serves you right because you know he's on the ice". Correct Phil. But, how many strides is Kronwall going to take before he finds you? He watches YouTube clips of hockey hits online, all the time? Sounds like someone is obsessed. I'm sure George Laraque doesn't watch Mike Tyson fights or Gary Roberts doesn't throw in his latest DVD "How to be a bad ass 101". And finally, the offense. We're explosive and we know it. Exactly how do we become explosive against the Wings? Figure it out, we'll check back Wednesday night and see what you came up with. Oh! And one more thing. Turnovers! We made a living in the playoffs by owning the neutral zone. Four of the last seven goals for the Red Wings have come off of Penguin turnovers. Fix it.

Sigh, Game 1...You Know the Rest

As Barry Melrose would say, "You have to get your ass knocked around before you can win." Let's hope Barry's right on that one after Saturday night. I'm too depressed and tired to blog about the game. Let me just link you up over to my friends at The Pensblog. They'll let you laugh about it before I'll be unable to make any sort of justice out of the game. They'll at least help you laugh it off and get your mind right for game 2.

The Pensblog Game 1 Recap

Jason Bay Impresses Even Superman

Jason Bay, whether he likes it or not, got pumpled by his teamates after pulling through with clutch hits in the final 2 games of the 3 game series. It's good to see the Bucco's bounce back against the tough Cubs, who lead the division and have OWNED the Pirates so far this season. Lets get started, eh?

Game one, was a game that went sour, then good, then sour...so on an such. The Pirates were down 1-0 thru 3.5 until Jason Bay connected on a 2 run hommer to deep left center. The Bucco's added in the bottom of the 6th with a Jason Michaels single that scored Bay. Pirates 3-1. Tyler Yates was charged with the early blown save after he gave up scatted hits and walks in the top of the 8th giving the Cubs a 4-3 edge thru 7.5. In the top of the 9th, Alfonso Soriano led off the inning with a double to right center. Crap huh? Well, when Ryan Theriot attempted to lay down a sac bunt to put Soriano in a situation to score on a sac fly, Matt Capps threw in hard on Theriot and back up Rual Chavez threw down to second to pick off Soriano. The Cubs couldn't muster anything after that. The Pirates came up in the 9th and Kerry Wood started things off in his reputational way, by hitting his 765th batter of the year and Doug Mientkiewicz moved to second after avier Nady single. Freddy Sanchez layed down the bunt of his life to move Mientkiewicz over to third. Luis Rivas, with one out, hit a long fly ball to right allowing Mientkiewicz to tag up and score on the sac fly. 4-4, tie ball game. After John Russell emptied his bench, both clubs were letting their closers to throw up to 3 innings worth of pitches. In the 14th, Sanchez scored and moved to second on an error from Theriot and a wild pitch. Luis Rivas almost goofed up for the ages after he hit a ball to short stop Ryan Theriot, yet Sanchez was able to move over 3rd anyways. The Cubs thought it would be a good idea to walk Nate McClouth. Yeeeeah, not so. Jason Bay played hero in the bottom of the 14th with a 2 hopper off the center field wall. Game. Bucco's 5-4. They're now a dismal 2-9 against the Cubs. I'm sure we'll take wins in any shape or form.

Game 2, was filled with just as much drama in 3 innings less. Nate McClouth got the Buc's all tied up again in the 9th with a shot to left. What should have been a can 'o corn for Alfonso Soriano, turned into a battle with the sound. Soriano, lost the ball, and dropped it off the heel of his glove. McClouth was credited with a double, allowing Brian Bixler to score. In the 11th the Pirates' Chris Gomez beat out an infield single against Jon Leiber. Brian Bixler bunted him down to second. Luis Rivas struck out and Nate McClouth was intentionally walked to set up Jason Bay's 2nd day heroics. Bay lined a base hit down the left field line scoring Bixler and the Bucco's taking the weekend series. Bay had this to say about his efforts, "two in a career doesn’t make me Mr. Walkoff, but back to back is pretty neat.” Xavier Nady had him self a solo shot in the game and Luis Rivas had two solo home runs for the Pirates. Up next for the Buc's is a 3 games series against the Reds in Cincinnatti. The Red's as of this blog, are tied 9-9 in the top of the 15th in San Diego. Hope jet lag is on their side.

Other Notes:

-Phil Dumatrait had a solid outing in the 14 inning game. No win, but a quality start.

-Jason Bay is the last person to drive in the winning run in extra innings on back to back days since Albert Belle did it with home runs in 1995.

-When the Pirates visit Cincinnatti, Ken Griffey Jr. will be sitting on 598HR.

-Paul Maholm went 8 innings in the Sunday game, but gave up 5 ER and struck out 7.

Iiiiiiit's A Hockey Night In Pittsburgh.

If your sporting the black and (Vegas) gold tonight, wherever you are. Like myself here in Atlanta, Ga. Do me a favor. Forget the Pirates, forget Rashad Mendenhall and the Steelers training camp. Forget Super Bowl XL or any other Pittsburgh sports banner. Tonight marks another night to light the candle. Us Pittburgher's will once again stand together, where it's at your house, at a bar, at some buddies house, in your car, and via XM radio to those truck drivers. And to those who are on the journey to Detroit to witness game one in person, to those in Mellon Arena watching a jumbotron, or for those at the Bucco's game watching highlights between innings(Not many of you I'm sure).

Even at the Colonial golf tournament in Ft. Worth, TX

Can you feel the Pens fever?

We Stand Together.

Or as Gordon Bombay would say: "Ducks fly together"

This is it. Where were you during the bad years? With Fata, Murely, Koltsov, Morozov...who cares? You're here now. I don't know if you have goosebumped like me, but I'm chomping at the bit! The only people that want this worst than me....probably those dudes out on the ice. In hockey we have to play a best of 7, that's fine. I brings us together...longer...and gives us more chances the games don't play our for the first 3. We can still do it. Will we have to go 7 games? Let's hope not, but if we do, wouldn't it be worth it? I'm not condoning 7 games. I'm all for 4. Tonight if you feel moved. Be sure that you won't be alone when that chant raises up in you...LETS GO PENS! The Ice Attack is back. Let's do this.

Go Pens!