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.