Vacation!

Sorry about the lack up updates. It's vacation time and between the Pirates pitching and Steelers offensive line, I needed one. Be back Thursday September 4th, just in time for the first kick off!

Never Say Die, or Swept

First the Reds, then the Mets. Where does it end? It's like watching Dumb and Dumber, you think you've got something material...then the unexpected. The first joke of this movie is you lose 2 of 3 to the Reds. Both clubs are depleted, but the Pirates lack the pitching to make things interesting. 2nd joke, 20.5 games out of first. Wow. 3rd joke, Aramis Ramirez is a candidate for a gold glove at 3rd base. What has the world come to?! That guy couldn't keep one out of the dirt, or the 3rd row of bleachers in Pittsburgh! Silver Slugger? Possibly, but a GOLD GLOVE?! He's right up there with the annoyance level as Manny Ramirez. Trot around the bases with that cocky step and I'll throw one at your head from the 400 section the next time I see you. 4th joke, the Pirates have a hand to determine the outcome of the Wild Card race over the next 6 days. Get out of town! First, the Cardinals, and lets all hope for another brawl including a hitting coach pointing his finger at Tony LaRussa and his tight ass pants. We all know what Tony's packing and it's not exactly worth my 10 bucks to park. Both on the road in the Gateway city. Next up, Miller Park and the Brewers. Clever team nickname! My choice would of been the "High Lifes". Vegas just issued their latest odd's on Prince Fielder's chances of starting a rumble by the 6th inning on Friday, 10 to 7. I don't question Prince's ability to hit or field, or even run (2 inside the park home runs in his career), but I do have other questions. (1) How does one become so fat when they are a declared vegetarian. (2) How bad did that tattoo hurt getting stamped on his neck. (3) Who the hell gets a tattoo on their neck? Answer: Price Fielder.

Enough about the future, lets discuss the past. First, the Reds----oh, my God. How horrible was that pitching exhibition? Actually, not that bad. Jeff Karsten's made a couple of appearances and his first was in game 1 of the Reds series. Although, he had to go up against Edison Volquez, the Reds only bright spot this season. Karstens gave up 3 runs and the offense struggled, meanwhile Tyler Yates continues to blow up. Ian Snell, got another loss...surprised?

Then came the hard stuff, Pedro Martinez and Johan Santana on back to back days. Karstens, again when 6 innings giving up 4 and Santana had his first CG of the season on a 3 hitter. Tough stuff. The only bright spot of the series was Saturday when the Mets bullpen continues to implode as the Buc's came back from 2-0 to win 5-3 with clutch hitting in the 8th. Freda Felcher anyone?

Beat Down By Buffalo

1st Quarter

Steelers on the recieving end of the kickoff and Ben Roethlisberger wastes no time.

All business going 4-4 completing passes to Ward, Holmes, and Spaeth.

Brain fart alert, on a 3rd and short 7 year veteren Justin Hartig grabs too much shirt.

Next play, INT. It can go south in a hurry.

Trent Edwards shows why he should be a starter with a 23 yrd. completetion to Lee Evans.

3rd down would come up somewhere on the drive, but the Bills would convert.

Then another 3rd down, inside the 10. No stoppage, 7-0 Bills.

Roethlisberger would come back out for the 2nd drive and things would look like round 1.

Willie Parker had a 7 yard run and Ben hit Spaeth for a 16 yard completion.

3rd & 5 in Bills territory, Heath Miller does something stupid. 5 yards backwards.

No dice, incomplete. Punt it. And a good one too, to the 10 of the Bills.

James Harrison came through in the clutch with a huge sack at the 3 yard line.

2nd Quarter

3rd & 13 inside the 10 and the Bills would do it again. Trent Edwards? 23 yard run.

Then again...3rd down, Buffalo converts.

Trent Edwards to Royal for 6 and just like that 14-0 Bills.

That caps a 90 yard drive in 6:36. Bummer.

Big Ben would show himself for a 3rd drive and man did he show up.

Roethlisberger---->Hines Ward 24 yards.

Rashard Mendenhall got in on the game and poked around for a couple yards.

Pittsburgh was faced with a 3rd & 8....and then a penalty.

3rd & 13, again? Then, Roethlisberger----->Melwede Moore 14 yards.

That's a first down.

Next play, we're going downtown. Santonio Holmes, 40 yard TD reception.

14-7

Just like his days at the O-H I-O

The Bills would poke around on some runs and then JP Losman would drop back.

JP Losman, meet Aaron Smith. Sacked lunch.

The next drive for the Steelers would see Byron Leftwich for the first time.

(Disregaurd picture)

First play, Leftwich------>Nate Washington 24yards.

Leftwich would miss on a 3rd & 2 bringing up Jeff Reed.

Look at that hair!

Reed, from 42 yards....no good.

As the end of the 2nd half wound down, JP Losman, meet Lawerence Timmons.

Since we're in the pre-season, I myself am only taking a couple snaps. A first half analysis, in the way I plan on doing it for the rest of the 08-09 season. With more pictures to work with during the regular season, I'm sure to make it look smoother. Other notes to add, Roethlisberger and the offense looked sharp, but costly penalties quickly evaporated any chance of momentum. Dennis Dixon peeled off a long 47 yard TD scamper. Mendenhall continues to put up consistent numbers, with 11 touches for 30 yards and a 6 yard touchdown run. Byron Leftwich, looked lost and slow, an easy complaint for someone who has 5 days of experience with the playbook. Not to be mistaken with my thoughts of him being a nice addition as a back up. Dennis Dixon, give him a year or two, he may end up being a nice commodity and a different look for the defense should Ben fall off a tricycle again.

Pittsburgh Heads to Toronto; For Football?

PRE-GAME

This is something I'd like to do (time permitting since I DO work weekends. A little pre-game blog prior to kickoff followed by an amateur analysis soon after. I hope I can still keep things funny and head turning like I have. But, let's get to the real stuff.

Buffalo, has made a nice little 5 year deal to show Canadians that football fields are supposed to be 100 yards and not 110. At least when one of their players' get hurt, they don't have to worry about medical coverage, eh? Oh well, that's nice and all, but the Bills are still taking money away from their fans......then again, it is preseason. Buffalo has been everybodys pick (according to ESPN) to be the sleeper and wild card contender out of the AFC. Due to their easy schedule, they say. Whatev. The ball gets kicked off at 7:30 and I'll be sure to see how the first series for Roethlisberger, Parker, Ward, Holmes, and perhaps Mendenhall (???) do. Then we all get to see what kind of a back up Byron Leftwich is. Let me put this out there, he got pounded and picked off at every opportunity in Atlanta after being cut by Jack Del Rio. Gutsy call by the Steelers front office, but I like it.

Oh! And make it be known, Anthony Smith is not a thug. You can quote Mike Tomlin on that.

Here We Go!

Ted Williams' Son

Is it possible to hate someone so much, yet seems like he gets better every time you degrade him?

Oh yeah. Right.

Everything About Philly Stinks

We had it, right in our hands....actually Tyler Yates' hands. What has this guy's problem been? He was an unstoppable flame thrower out of the bullpen with Capps, Grabow, and Marte. His ERA is ginormous and it's getting to be as bad as Ian Snell. Speaking of....still struggling. It's awful and to put it bluntly, they blew a chance at taking 2 of 3. It started off in good vibes for the Pirates when it went 0-0 into the 12th before the Bucco's put up a 2 spot and hold on to win. That would be the end of the good news.

Bad news started pouring in while the team was in Philadelphia when they learned Phil Dumatrait was done for the year. His shoulder is going to need some medical experience applied to it and some serious rehab. Bummer, he was looking like a solid pitcher before the all-star break. Dang. Let's just hope he doesn't flop the the others, including Duke, Gorzelanny, Snell, and Maholm (who's been decent to say the least).

After losing 2 of 3, the Pirates came back from a 5 run deficit and pounded the Mets' bullpen in a make up game Monday at Shea Stadium. Good, I hate the Mets and I hate Pedro Martinez. Basically because he was friends with that bum Manny Ramirez. Does that guy still have a job in LA still? Oh right....they don't have anyone else to play left field. I understand now.

Next up, Jay Bruce, his brother Jesus, and his Dad Ted Williams from the Reds take on the Buc's.

Steelers Pre-Season; How Many More?

Big Ben is testing a sore groin, the offensive line is all "????", is Rashard Mendenhall and Limas Sweed legit? And finally...what do they do now about Charlie Batch?

Let's start with the first question. Roethlisberger seemed to do well as the Steelers marched down the field 80 yards while Ben threw only 2 passes. One counted for 19 yards, the other counted for 19 more for a Santonio Holmes TD. It was all running from the get go and Willie Parker showed that a broken leg ain't gonna slow him down. Which brings up to the next topic, the offensive line. No one knew what to think after Alan Faneca leaped to, now, the Brett Farve Jets (no longer New York). Parker ran the ball 3 times for 20 yards, peeling off an 11 yard run at one point. This however, was just a warm up for Rashard Mendenhall. By the way, the Steelers have been accused of highway robbery for picking Mendenhall up that late in the draft. Mendenhall, ran the ball 7 times for 34 yards and added a 15 yard run at one point and applauded the offensive line for the holes they opened up. Good chemistry is never a bad thing, is it?

Limas Sweed, had his chance to shine also. He got to see extra playing time and showed up for it. 3 catches for 23 yards showed that the Steelers have some faith in Sweed as a target. Don't forget, the Steelers have slowly but surly put together a solid WR core like back in the days of Yancey Thigpen and Charles Johnson. Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, Nate Washington, and now Limas Sweed. It is only pre-season, but it's nice to see the Steelers start of solidly with all their question mark pieces work out. Then again, these games don't count and the first string plays about 38 seconds out of the game.

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. A miscommunication on a hand off led to Charlie Batch making a dash for it and ending up with a broken collar bone. Now, that leaves the Steelers (and HC Mike Tomlin) looking for a quality, veteran back-up QB. Hey, is Chad Pennington on the market now? I'm sure Tommy Maddox is still looking for work. How fast did that guy's fame fall? Dennis Dixon, on the other hand, stepped in and did a fine job. But, the experience isn't there in case, god forbid, Roethlisberger should come up lame on a play. Charlie Batch did a fine job, if you remember, filling in for Ben after that fateful summer to forget. It's gonna be pretty exciting to see what Pittsburgh does about this void. Batch is expected to be out for 4-6 weeks and I'm not exactly sure what kind of product is out on the market as of pre-season week 1.

Note: Jeff Reed nailed 3 FG, one going for 50 yards. How clutch and consistent has that guy been since he was given an open tryout, after Todd Peterson couldn't hit the side of a barn from 30 in the open end zone. Plus, this guy is no wuss, he sports sweatbands, a mouth guard, some muscles, and some legs that need tailored jeans. If there was such a thing as a bad ass kicker, this guy would rank #1.

Horrible Pitching, Well...Almost

Only the Pirates can manage 7 runs and lose. 18 hits....in ONE GAME!? Something is obviously wrong when numbers creep towards the vente mark. That's Spanish for 20, for all of those who didn't attend and bilingual classes. Tyler Yates, has officially clocked himself out for the rest of the season. His ERA was one of the best out of the bullpen, that being a sub 3.30. Now, it's ballooned to a staggering 4.86. It's higher than Sean Burnett's, how is that possible?! Somehow, the Pirates managed 4 runs off of Dan Harren's illegal pitching delivery, but it's never enough, is it? Haren threw 97 pitches in the ball game and 71 of them counted for strikes. Crazy. It doesn't matter, Tyler Yates blew it and so did the Pirates. Game 2 was over before it even started. Brandon Webb took the mound and got his 16th victory and basically took the Cy Young award by the balls. But come one, he does pitch in the NL West....then again, they are all "professionals". That last part pertains to everyone, except Manny Ramirez, because we all know that isn't true.

And finally, how about Jeff Karsten's? Shuts down the Cubs and now almost gets a perfect game in his second game with the Bucco's. He went 7.2 before giving up a double to Chris Young. What a shame too, becuase the Pirates needed something to show for their trades. (That was sarcasm by the way.) He's obviously not a flashy pitcher (4 strike outs), and could him being new, with no scouting report have to do with his success? No one's figured it out and let's hope they never do. The Buc's needed some serious pitching when all of their trades went down and they've found something in Karstens. Meanwhile, Craig Hansen (from Boston), has given up a run in each of his first two outings with the Pirates. He carried a 5+ ERA when he walked into PNC, and he continues to struggle in the NL. Word is that he needs some work on his mechanics and location, but on the other hand he has some nasty stuff. Lord knows we hope that's true.

Newly Acquired:

TJ Beam - Called up. Meh, nothing special. He owns a 4.27 ERA and an enormous 6 foot 7 inch frame. He's never been consistent, at least not yet.

Denny Bautista - Picked up on waivers from Detroit. This guys has been solid for the most part lately and I don't see it ending. He's starting to pick his spots and hit them and besides his blow up of 4 earned runs against Milwaukee, this guy has been reliable 95% of the time. Solid move by the organization.

Jason Davis - Called up. Davis (who was in the bullpen for most of his tenure) has now been placed into the 5th spot of the starting rotation, since Gorzelany has forgotten what a strike is and Dumatrait still hurt. Davis has worked 7 innings, giving up 6 hits, 2 walks and striking out 3. It's one of those deals where you hope the best for the kid and hope everything works out. It can't get any worse, being 30th in pitching oughta tell you that.

Andy LaRoche - Acquired from the Dodgers, hasn't done anything besides a 2 run homer in Chicago and a base hit earlier. It's one of those deals where time will tell. He hasn't been in the big's long and there's talk that he's one of the best prospects to make a name for himself.

Scott Pearce - Called up, when Xavier Nady was traded and was declared the everyday starter by John Russell. He's been hanging around with a few hits here and there, but nothing consistent. I like where things are headed, but like all things they need time. Everyone is surely not going to come right in and be the Tampa Bay Rays.

Brandon Moss - Acquired from Boston and has been swinging a very good bat. He had a game tying home run in Chicago and has 3 RBI's to go with his .298 average. I really like this pick up by the Pirates and with Karstens, I think things are in go mode for the next 3-5 years.

Jeff Karstens - Acquired from the Yankees and here's your run down. ERA = 0.00. Enough said. This guy was a 19th rounder by the Yank's back in 2003!

Next up - In Philadelphia for a series against the Phillies. Jason Davis is scheduled to start Sunday.

AFC North, Crazy and Confusing

While the wife was out, I decided to take advantage of some down time while enjoying some of the X-Games and take a chance on my thoughts of the Steelers coming into the 08-09 season. With all the talk about the Browns being a potential AFC North champ, all I can do is laugh. Cleveland is born chokers (take the Browns 17 point playoff collapse behind Kelly Holcomb's career day). They have the players, but the jury is still out on Derek Anderson. We can sit here and say it was a one year fluke, but some of us caught ourselves saying that about Tom Brady. Then again, Tommy knew what defenses he was looking at via hand signal stealing. Like Barry Bonds' claim, you still have to hit (or in Brady's case, throw) the ball. We'll get into the Brown's later.

Let's start in Baltimore. What a mess. What the line in Vegas on who the Ravens starting QB is going to be? Kyle "overrated" Boller or 2008 1st round pick Joe Flacco? Does anyone remember the last impact player to come out of Deleware? Me either. Then again, not a whole lot of NFL stock came out of Miami of Ohio and we all know how that's turned out, but at least we know who to spell Flacco. Since Baltimore has become a franchise, they have never owned a potent offense. Maybe it's the color purple, but mostly it's the front office. Jamal Lewis was the last thing they've had to a skilled offensive player and Steve McNair was riding out a career since being in Baltimore. I'm a big Ohio State Buckeye fan, but I don't think Troy Smith is the answer either. On the other hand, since Baltimore has been in existence, they've had stout defenses, led by one time felon, Ray Lewis. Lewis, finds himself in the last year of his contract and there's already speculation about him not returning. Whatev, he should be in prison for all I care. Even if Lewis were to be gone next year, the Ravens still won Terrell Suggs and some of the best secondary personnel in the game. Hines Ward's best friend, Chris McCalister, is still hanging around and so is Ed Reed. Samari Rolle was added last year and with his father dying this year, he's still one of the best in the game. They're not on the top of any one's list to make a threat for the playoffs or the AFC North, but they're not push over.

The Cincinatti Bengals are all questions. They're already in full camp and they still don't have their top draft pick of Keith Rivers (LB out of USC). That's never a good start. The offense still has all the pieces and Chad Johnson is playing nice, since he's out from ankle surgery. They still have Carson Palmer, that other guy from Oregon, TJ - something, and question mark Rudi Johnson. All are solid skilled position players and with Chris Henry gone, that opens up a spot for a slot receiver role. The Bengals went 7-9 last year and it certainly due to lack of offense. Sure, Rudi Johnson was out for most of the season with some injury's and Chad Johnson's TD numbers didn't take effect till around week 12, then we got to see his goofy celebrations. The defense, at one time was solid, but went MIA for most of 2007 and it cost the Bengal's dearly. Odell Thurman missed some games at the beginning of the year for being a bad boy and everything else was just plain weird. Let it be known, the Bengals had a bad year, but like the Ravens...they are no push over. The Bengals are legit, adding more to the reason that the AFC North is one of the best in the NFL. Do not, I repeat, do not count these guys out. With that much firepower on offense, it can get scary.

Finally, the Cleveland Browns. As Steeler fans, we laugh. As football fans, we watch. The Browns, have some serious question marks, mostly with Derek Anderson. If he's anything like last year, we will certainly take a second look. If you like stats, then they are definitely on the Steelers side. The Browns haven't beaten the Steelers since 2000! Only, Hines Ward, Deshea Townsend, and Aaron Smith were around for that. Even the NFL looked at Cleveland as a possible contender for the AFC North, and possible playoff spot by scheduling them in Pittsburgh for the final game of the season. Hold on to your hats if it should come down to that game. Besides Derek Anderson, there's always Brady Quinn hanging in the wing. Another question mark, you can't have any expectations for that guy, but you can't over look him either. Jamal Lewis, is another guy who came out of no where. Basically looking for work, he found himself in Cleveland and looked like the old Jamal of old poking out 100 yard games left and right. The Browns are loaded at WR with Braylon Edwards, (FA) Donte Stallworth, Joe Jurevicius, and Josh Cribbs. Don't count out Kellen Winslow, he had a breakout year and is more a receiving target rather than a blocking linesman. Your call on that guy. To me, he's the real deal and a force to be reckoned with. The defense on the other hand, was mediocre. Giving up over 100 yards a game and 280 yards total offense a game. Willie McGinest is at the end of his rope and working his way out of the NFL, that's about the only "name" on defense the Browns hold. Like the Bengals, don't count them out, but they're mostly all offense and we all know, defense wins championships. Besides having to play these 3 teams twice, the Steelers own one of the toughest schedules in all of football and it's sure to be a nail biting ride.

This Is How It's Done, Manny.

With a gold glove play and clutch hitting, plus a standing ovation, Boston got a Christmas present to why I loved Jason Bay so much. I never enjoyed the crazy antics of the Red Sox, but with Bay Day there, I may have a change of heart. Jason Bay lit it up in his first game in big market Boston and I think left field in Fenway will be patrolled by #44 for a long time to come. With the retarded out and the classy in, Jason Bay will forever be my favorite Pirate/ball player ever. The Red Sox now have their version of a class ball player like New York's Derek Jeter.

Another Series Win; Last Game of the Bay Era

We never thought it would happen, but we kind of had the idea it could. It's Jason Bay though, he loves the city and the city enjoys Jason Bay. It all came down on one of the Pirates 6 Thursday's off this year, directly after a series win against the Rockies. Hey Bucco's! Thanks for getting some of that respect you lost from me last week while you were in Denver. The offense was still looking sharp and Ian Snell got a win? Somehow Ian lasted 7 innings and gave up 4 runs.....and won?! I guess we'll just leave that as it may and leave Ian Snell alone, because I'm sure he has a rough time sleeping at night with that 6.04 ERA. I think I saw that number as a score during X-Games 14 last night.

Like I said, the Pirates offense continues to shine (although we'll see what happens now that 2 of the top 3 HR knockers are gone) and Nate McClouth now has himself 22 home runs from the lead off spot. That's amazing. Shall I say almost Alfonso Soriano like? Minus the 34 foot bat though. You can't blame the Pirates in game three for putting up 4 runs and not winning. The offense got themselves 4 runs, all off of 14 game winner Aaron Cook. Zack Duke, however, looked like garbage and barely made it 5 innings. Just enough to get himself the loss and put more pressure on the offense and bull pen. The Pirates had to play from behind in every single game this season, with the Rockies scoring runs in the first frame in all three games. Thanks for the pressure pitching staff :). I guess with all these trades of high powered offensive bats, the pitching needs to step up.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Let's see what happens. The Pirates end up with some good young talent, although Andy LaRoche won't be playing with his brother for a while with Adam being on the DL. I have a lot of faith in what Neil Hunnington has brought into the organization and held his ground on these trades for once. Unlike Dave Littlefield, who would wet his pants 4 hours prior to the deadline and trade off hot commodities like they were Big Lots slashing prices. Andy LaRoche, ummm, take it as you want. He's supposed to be a pretty big deal at third base. No one has seen any of that yet. Maybe, a small Pittsburgh market is just what he needs. Then the Pirates get this guy Craig Hansen, who is supposed to be a dominant closer, says Peter Gammons. What happened to Matt Capps shutting things down? I guess there's always room for a another set up man. Let's wait and see how things pan out. It looks like this losing thing will be sticking around a while longer. I thought that's why we got guys like Bay and Nady back in 2004 and last year? I must of been mistaken.