Sid's Back

I was in attendance. December 27, 2000. The Civic Arena. Mario returned. He scored, helped on two others and the Penguins rolled the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-0. I remember having tears in my eyes when Mario hit the ice. That night epitomized the reason I attend sporting events. It sounds silly to call it magical, but that's the best word to describe it, for me.

I was there last night. The Consol Energy Center. Sid returned. Same script, except Sid scored two to Mario's one, while assisting on two more and the Penguins rolled the New York Islanders by the identical 5-0 score.  It was everything that everyone there hoped it would be and more.* A magical night.

*Except, of course, for the Islanders and the poor kid making his NHL debut in the nets. Head coach Jack Capuano certainly didn't do Anders Nilsson any favors. Let's hope for his sake that isn't the most memorable game of his career.


A lot has been written about the game. The highlights are all over the news. Here is his first goal. It doesn't give you a good view of the expletive joy that Sid shares after roofing the backhander, but it captures the moment pretty well. What won't make the story but is in the highlight is Sid creating the turnover deep in his own end that eventually led to the goal. That is Sidney Crosby.

I haven't ever broken a story out of the archives, but I figured today, this one was worth re-posting. If you are a Sid fan, definitely check out some of the highlight that are linked in the piece. Well worth your time.

Sidney Crosby: What We Saw, What We Missed (5/31/2011)

Familiarity is awe's nemesis.

We see something often enough, it loses its magic. When we can no longer be shocked, awe gets locked back in the safe and on we move in search of something else that might line up the tumblers and open the vault once again.

On December 28, 2010 the day I wrote this story, we had become all too familiar with the story of Sidney Crosby.

At 14 he was already a nationally known figure across Canada. At 16 he represented his country in the World Juniors. At 17 he was the first pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.

There was nothing new here.

In his first year he was the youngest player in NHL history to score 100 points. The next, at 19, he became the youngest to win the Art Ross Trophy and the first teenager since Wayne Gretzky to lead the league in scoring.

You knew how it went.

At the end of that second season he was named team captain, after turning it down mid-season, again the youngest in league history. He won the Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP) and Lester B. Pearson Award (players' MVP) and became the youngest ever named NHL First Team All-Star.

The accomplishments were so many, they started to blur.

The third year brought his only significant injury, but also his first Stanley Cup Final and a tie for the playoff scoring lead. The next, he became the youngest captain to hoist Lord Stanley's Cup.

We had even started to gloss over some of it.

In his fifth he won the Rocket Richard Trophy, leading the league in goals scored for the first time. He won the Mark Messier Leadership Award for setting a positive example on and off the ice. During a break in the season he was chosen to be a member of the Canadian Olympic team, an alternate captain. In the second game he scored the game winning goal in a shootout. In the gold medal game he again netted the game winner. Against the United States. In overtime.

This is his sixth season.

He has a 22 game scoring streak, tied for the longest since the end of the lockout. He's on pace to score more than 60 goals. His team sits second in the league in points. If they named an MVP at the half way point in the season, the vote would be unanimous.

That's the story.

It's one with which we have become familiar, but it doesn't paint a picture.

Sidney Crosby is in the details.

We know the foundation for the numbers and awards is his legendary work ethic. There is always room for improvement in his game. Each off-season he focuses on a particular facet. One summer, skating--now few are better. Another, faceoffs--has become one of the best. Last year, scoring goals--led the league. This off-season, unpredictability--first in goals, second in assists.

His career arc spans a handful more than 400 regular season games. I've seen most of them. I've seen his game and personality develop. From entering the league and earning a well-deserved reputation as a whiner and, less-deserved, a diver to skating through a season where he has pushed himself to the top of the heap, unquestionably the best player in hockey, playing the best hockey of his life.

I've seen the blind passes, the unbelievable hands, the amazing goals and even the calculated fights. But these last 25 games have been different. This video shows his natural hat trick against Atlanta. As I wrote here, the goals showed off Sid's amazing arsenal, including the best tip you may ever see:



This assist against New Jersey, after receiving a hard pass in his skates, is ridiculously good:

But, it's more than skill. Earlier in the week, from NHL.com Crosby, among the league leaders in faceoff percentage, took advantage of the fact that Vernon Fiddler was kicked out of the right faceoff circle in the Phoenix zone for dropping his stick too early. Crosby duped the less-experienced Lauri Korpikoski, slid the puck forward, lunged and immediately fed a wide-open Malkin...

who buried it.



With familiarity, awe gets discarded.

There are other awards, there is a biography. That he's 23, bears repeating. But, don't ever get used to the level of hockey that Sidney Crosby is playing because you just never know how long it will last.

I was planning to publish this a few days after the Winter Classic. I was waiting to see if Crosby's scoring streak reached 30. It didn't. And then he didn't play again.

Hopefully Sidney Crosby comes back this fall and we see this all again. Again we get to be in awe of his talent. Maybe his missing the second half of the season will make us appreciate him even more, knowing a bad hit could end his career. I sure hope that never happens. I feel like we missed a lot of magic these past five months. I want to be awed again.
 
Last night, I was.

Back Up And Running & A Programming Note

I have taken a bit of a hiatus from the blog this summer because of my duties covering the Pirates. As most of you know my baseball writing is usually posted here and here because it is often pretty detailed and better suited for the hardcore baseball fans.

Now, with the Pirates season winding down, it's again time to crank up the blog. Season 2 of The Terrible Podcast is in full swing and we will have another episode up today with Steelers beat writer Ed Bouchette as our guest. There is a widget on the sidebar of the front page that allows you to access all the podcasts, but I will also start posting them again so they are sent out in the daily email. With the season opener only a few weeks away there is plenty to talk about.

While the local sports teams will always be a staple of The Hammer Speaks, there should be plenty of topics of broader interest that will hopefully keep you entertained going forward. I also will attempt to do a better job of linking to articles and topics that I find interesting. Hopefully you will too. This may mean more posts, but it should also give you access to some content that you might not normally come across.

You can subscribe to the blog by posting your email in the box on the front page. As a subscriber you will recieve a daily email once a day, but only if there is new content on the blog that day. It is generated automatically and sent out around 1 pm EST.

Please feel free to add any thoughts, comments or criticisms you have or things you might like to see covered or discussed. Thanks for reading and for your support.
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Starting tomorrow, Tuesday August 23, I will be hosting Stan Savaran's Show on 970 ESPN Pittsburgh from 10-Noon for the rest of the week. You can listen here. If you want to get involved the number is 1-412-922-2874.

You can follow me on Twitter @hammerspeaks and @DTonPirates.

The Terrible Podcast - Episode 66, Football on the Horizon

I'm introducing a new format for all the episodes of The Terrible Podcast. There is now a widget on the sidebar on the right which will allow you to see and play any episode. "Playlist" will list all the episodes and "Details" will give you a couple of paragraphs describing the content. The 66th and final episode of Season 1 was just added. Season 2 will get underway as soon as the CBA is signed, sealed and delivered. Thanks for listening.

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In Episode 66 of The Terrible Podcast Dave and I (hopefully) close the books on Season 1. If the CBA gets signed, sealed and delivered we will resume our in-season schedule with three episodes a week beginning next week with Episode 1 of Season 2. We'll have to figure out some fancy notation for that, something like 2:1 or 1:2 to go with our fancy logo.

In this episode we start with the latest updates on the labor situation. We have stayed away from the nuts & bolts so far because it was all speculation, but now the agreement is really taking shape and we discuss some of the important topics.

I weigh in with my thoughts on both the James Harrison and Hines Ward situations and then we get into the salary cap issues that Dave has written about in great detail on SteelersDepot.com. We also look at how the timeline will play out from here to the regular season if an agreement is reached in the next few days.

We wrap with a look at Dennis Dixon and whether he might be an attractive tender candidate for another team and answer a listener's question about the roles of Limas Sweed and Jonathan Dwyer.

We are revved up and ready to go. Hopefully we can get this CBA behind us and start ripping episodes for The Terrible Podcast Season 2 starting next week. Thanks for all the great support. Real Steelers football looks to be right around the corner.

An Illusion or One of the Best in Baseball? A Look at Jeff Karstens

One of the many appealing aspects of the game of baseball is its rich statistical record. By looking at a box score a fan can recreate what happened over the course of a game without having seen it. By looking at seasons of data, players from different eras can be compared and bar stool debates become enlivened.

Over the last thirty years, through the development of sabermetrics, our understanding of the statistical record of baseball has been advanced and the analysis has become more granular. Pitcher wins and RBI are less meaningful numbers, while FIP and BABip, among others, have been added to the lexicon and elevated in status.

With the reams of available data and the development of these new statistics, the predictive nature of player analysis has become much more refined. Now a variety of programs can, with some degree of accuracy, forecast each and every player's performance based on their past history and that of other similar players. Certainly there will be outliers, but in general these player forecasting models do a pretty accurate job of projecting performance.

All of which is a roundabout way of getting to Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Jeff Karstens. As Karstens rolled through the Houston Astros on his way to an 83-pitch, 5-hit shutout last night, a win that moved the Bucs into first place in the NL Central, the oft-seen debate again flared up on Twitter. Is Jeff Karstens really this good or is this just an incredible hot streak which too shall pass? The two positions are pretty clearly delineated:

Smoke & Mirrors:
ESPN.com baseball analyst Keith Law has become the evil personification of this position in the eyes of many Pirates fans. During last night's game Law tweeted this, this and this among other things.** Law's opinion is based on history and scouting. Certainly the 28-year old Karstens' major league performance coming into the season did not portend this type of success. In 50 starts and 89 total appearances he posted an ERA of 5.07, an ERA+ of 83, and a WHIP of 1.441. He had a K/9 of 4.5, not exactly Gibsonian, and a BB/9 of 2.8. Throw in his 12-27 W/L record and "Cy Young candidate" does not jump off the page.

**Law didn't endear himself to Pirates fans just before the all-star break either. When asked if the Pirates winning record was for real, he tweeted no, they were 38-40 against all teams not called the Astros. Fans rightly pointed out that he was cherry-picking his stats, ignoring the Pirates 8-4 combined record against the Phillies, Red Sox, Cards & Diamondbacks, all first place teams at the time.

Watch Him Pitch:
That is pretty much the best way to sum up the other point of view. Last night's game would be Exhibit A in the courtroom.

9 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K. 30 batters faced. 83 pitches-64 strikes, 8 Swinging Strikes


Advocates of this position argue Karstens has become a much better "pitcher." He has shown much better command and an ability to vary his pitches and pitch speed due to a new approach on the mound crafted with new pitching coach Ray Searage.

The Reality:
The great thing about statistics is first and foremost, before being predictive, they tell us what actually did happen. There is no room for debate here, so let's look at what Jeff Karstens has done thus far this year. His full player page is here.

When analyzing Karsten's numbers against the top 20 qualified National League pitchers based on ERA, we find some pretty interesting things. All twenty have made at least 16 starts and none more than 20. Kartens has made 16 and is the only one of the group to have appeared in relief, which he has done four times.

Of the group Karstens is 18th in IP, 18th in K/9, 20th in HR/9, 19th in HR/FB% and 20th in WAR.** His FIP-ERA is almost double any other pitcher on the list.

**Fangraphs has Karstens at a WAR value of 0.4 putting him ahead of only James McDonald among Pirates starters and 52 out of 60 qualified NL starters. B-R has him at a value of 2.5, first among Pirates starters and 17th in the NL.

On the flip side he is 3rd in ERA, 4th in WHIP, 1st in pitches/IP, 2nd in BB/9, 2nd in BABip and 1st in LOB%.

These numbers generally tell you everything you need to know about the debate. The Smoke and Mirrors camp points to the fact that Karstens doesn't strike anyone out, gives up tons of home runs and has been very lucky with an unsustainably low BABip and LOB% which are currently much better than league average. The argument says those numbers are due to revert and poof, the Karstens of old will reappear.

The Watch Him Pitch camp can point to Karstens pinpoint command as demonstrated by his amazingly low walk total, his low WHIP and the fact that he goes after hitters efficiently. They point to the fact that all his home runs allowed as a starter have been solo shots and batters are rarely squaring him up and making good contact. His LD% is a touch below league average and his HR/FB% should revert back toward the mean counteracting his BABip reverting the other way. His swinging strike % of 13% is just off the league average of 15% and is above his career average, while is K% is a career-best 14.2% and is a more reflective number than K/9 because he has faced so many fewer hitters.

Either way it is virtually impossible to argue that anyone has been better than Karstens since June 1. Since that time here are JK's numbers:

8 GS, 57.1 IP, 39 H, 7 BB 0.802 WHIP, 20 K, .554 OPS, 1.26 ERA, 5-0 W/L

While analysts and fans can point to numbers that may revert, past events don't change. This statistical record is in the books. It is what it is. And while some may not like how it was achieved or who it was achieved against** or that Karstens didn't strike out enough batters, I'm certain you won't find a pitcher who was better than Jeff Karstens the last six weeks. That's just fact.

**Detractors will point to the fact that three of Karsten's last six starts have come against the Astros one of the worst teams in baseball. While the Astros are bad, their lineup isn't that bad and as a team they have an OPS+ of 94, not much off the league average. Also, facing a team 3 times in 31 days generally works heavily in favor of the hitters, not the pitcher.

The $64,000 Question:
Karstens next three starts come against the Reds, Braves and Phillies, the last two on the road.
If you're are a Karstens fan, take heart in the fact that the Keith Law's of the world have been wrong before. An analyst that relies heavily on statistics and scouting reports is certainly likely to be right way more often than wrong, but it is very hard to ever believe in any player showing a dramatic change particularly later in his career. Law was spectacularly wrong on Jose Bautista, even at the start of this year, so it happens.

The reality is that few players do make a quantum leap later in their career and at 28 this would be a remarkable performance shift if Karstens were able to maintain it.

I've seen every game Karstens has pitched this year. As late as the beginning of June I was expecting and advocating for the Pirates to call up Brad Lincoln to take his spot in the rotation. Karstens inability to get deep in games and career track record were the reasons. Has my opinion changed? Absolutely. What I've seen on the mound is a different guy in terms of his command and pitch selection. While the comparisons to Greg Maddux sound silly, I can certainly see why somebody watching the last eight games would make them. Batters never seem to square up balls, he keeps hitters off-balance and his command is outstanding.

While it would be foolish to expect Karstens next 15 starts to be as good as his last eight, I do think Karstens is capable of continuing to pitch at a high level down the stretch. It's taken a long time for me to come around, but this is doesn't seem to be an illusion.

I'll just enjoy watching him take the ball every fifth day and see how it plays out. Maybe the Pirates have found themselves a pitching-version of Jose Bautista, and the rest of the league can kick themselves that they didn't pick him up off waivers when he was DFA'd off the 40-man roster less than two years ago. Maybe the baseball gods really are smiling on Pittsburgh for a change.

 

For all Pirates into: http://www.wpgb.com/pages/extrainnings.html#ixzz1STNihVPZ

That Roster Crunch IS Coming...In July

A lot has been written about the roster crunch the Pirates are going to face in December when a large group of prospects will be have to be protected on the team's 40-man roster or become subject to the Rule 5 draft. It is a new problem, and a good one, as it shows the increasing organizational depth the Pirates have developed during Neal Huntington's stewardship.

But the Pirates face a much more immediate roster crunch, and it is also one the team hasn't faced in years. During the second half of July as many as seven veteran major leaguers are going to come off the team's disabled lists and be ready to return to the 25-man roster. Some decisions will be easy. Some will be very difficult. How those decisions play out will go a long way in determining how long the Pirates stay in the playoff picture.

THE FIRST ARRIVALS

It is possible, even perhaps likely, that Ronny Cedeno, Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata and Joe Beimel will be ready to be activated July 15, the first day back from the all-star break. The three position players made up 3/8 of the team's opening day lineup and Beimel is a veteran lefty who Clint Hurdle told me he is looking forward to having back. Let's look at each player and a possible corresponding move.

Ronny Cedeno (7-day DL July 2, Concussion): This should be pretty straightforward. Cedeno is the team's starting shortstop. While his bat has been erratic, his glove has been excellent and if others in the lineup continue to hit the team can play Ronny even if he slumps. It is worth nothing that Cedeno hit .455/.511/.576 in the 11 games before he was hurt.

Corresponding Move: Option Pedro Ciriaco. Ciriaco doesn't get to play when he's up. He's filling a bench role in case of emergency. He won't be needed.

Pedro Alvarez (15-day DL retroactive to May 20, Quadriceps strain): Again a straightforward move. Various people have been calling for the Pirates to go out and trade for a "bat". Here it is. Alvarez didn't hit the first six weeks of the season, but he has far more upside than anyone available on the trade market and at no cost. He will be plugged back into the starting role at third base and play virtually every day the first few weeks in order to give him ample opportunity to get comfortable. If he performs like he did in September of last year this team's playoff chances go up dramatically.

Corresponding Move: Option Josh Harrison. Harrison is a utility guy who plays hard, but he doesn't project to be much more due to a lack of patience at the plate and a lack of power.

Jose Tabata (15-day DL retroactive to June 27, Right Hand contusion): Tabata probably needed the time on the DL for a variety of reasons--wrist and hand problems, leg problems. While he has struggled since mid-April he will be plugged right back in as the starting left fielder. The more interesting question is where he hits in the lineup. My guess is he gets dropped to the #2 slot.

Corresponding Move: DFA Xavier Paul. This isn't an easy move, but it is the right one. Paul is a solid late inning defensive replacement, but with Presley on the roster his skills are duplicated. He has a .663 OPS and has struck out 29 times in 109 at bats. There is a chance he will get through waivers, but the Pirates could definitely lose him.

Joe Beimel (15-day DL, May 28, Left Elbow soreness): I asked Hurdle about "handedness" in the bullpen and if there were any advantages or disadvantages to having three lefties in the pen. He said management would have a discussion, but he left no doubt that Beimel would be part of it by saying he was looking forward to having Beimel's "veteran experience."

Corresponding Move: Option Chris Leroux. This one is open to debate. If the team wants to have a mop-up guy on the roster, Leroux is the right guy for that role and they could send down either Dan Moskos or Tony Watson, who started great, but has been a little shaky of late. It's just a question of carrying two or three lefties. The good thing here is all three pitchers can be optioned, so the team can mix and match as they move forward as needed.

THE SECOND WAVE

This group is harder to project because the updates have been less detailed in terms of rehab, so there is a good deal of speculation on my part.

Ryan Doumit (15-day DL, May 30, Left Ankle sprain/non-displaced fracture): The question here is just when will Doumit be ready. The initial target date was about two months and everything appears to generally be on schedule. Look for him to begin a rehab assignment around the end of the all-star break and, if all goes smoothly, join the team around August 1.

Corresponding Move: Option Eric Fryer. He gets to go back to Indy, play everyday and try to put himself in the mix for one of the jobs next year.

Steve Pearce (15-day DL, retroactive May 29, Right Calf strain): The classic reason you never ask a player to diagnose his own injury. When hurt Pearce said he would be out for a day. Instead, for the second year in a row, he has missed a great opportunity to get significant playing time. Pearce's righthanded bat and ability to play first base will be a welcome addition back to the ball club. I expect him back around the first of August as well.

Corresponding Move: This one gets harder and will depend on performance over the next month. If Cedeno is settled in and playing well, I would expect the Pirates to option Chase d'Arnaud. Two reasons for this 1.) d'Arnaud would benefit more from playing everyday in Indy. 2.) Rosters expand September 1 and d'Arnaud will be recalled at that time. Certainly the team could DFA Brandon Wood, but for the occasional spot start and pinch-hit role I'd rather keep Wood in the organization and move d'Arnaud.

Ross Ohlendorf (60-day DL, April 9, Right Shoulder strain): When Ohlendorf went down I suggested we may never see him pitch for the Pirates again. I still think that is possible, but he pitched a 45-pitch simulated game yesterday and may finally be making progress. I'm guessing Ohlendorf begins an official rehab assignment on August 1. A pitcher is allowed to rehab for 30 days. If Ohlendorf progresses and is needed he can be recalled earlier, otherwise he can be added to the roster when they expand September 1. I don't see him playing a significant role down the stretch. Brad Lincoln will be first in line to get any spot starts. If he comes back he will be a long man in the bullpen.

Corresponding Move: None needed.

OTHER POSSIBILITES:

Evan Meek: (15-DL, June 13, Right Shoulder tendenitis): Meek is a bit of a wildcard. He hasn't appeared healthy all year, but two months off may do the trick. I think he will be back with the club by September 1, but speculating on arm injuries from afar is pretty much guess work. Adding a healthy Meek to a bullpen of Hanrahan, Veras and Resop should make any Pirates fan smile.

Chris Snyder: (60-DL, June 9, Herniated Disc Lower Back): Anything the team gets from Snyder this season is gravy. Because he is a free agent after the year he does have a fair bit of incentive to get back and play before the season is over, but expecting him to do much more than join the expanded roster in September is probably unwise.



The Pirates will go into the all-star break on Sunday with 72 games remaining on the schedule. If they win one of their remaining four games they will have a winning record going into the break for the first time since 1992. If they win all four they will be eight games over .500 and stand a very good chance of being in first place in the National League Central.

44 different players have played for the Pirates this season which makes the team's mid-season success even more remarkable. The team is likely to add seven players to the 25-man roster over the course of the next 30 days which should greatly improve its depth. Questions about playing time in right and left field, first and third base will likely shake out based on performance over the next couple weeks. A roster crunch in late July. An interesting problem for the Pirates to have and certainly one they haven't seen in many years.

Chicken Wire, Duct Tape and Spit: Assessing the Pirates

That's Clint Hurdle's new favorite phrase when asked how the Pirates are winning these days.

As WTM's signature line says at BucsDugout, "You are entitled to you're own opinions, You are not entitled to your own facts." I think some Pirates fans have started bordering on irrationality when it comes to assessing the Pirates' performance.

Last night I was listening to a talk show host talk about how frustrated he was with last night's loss. That's fine. I can see some - not much, but some - validity in that. Unfortunately, it takes me awhile to get home from the postgame show and I kept listening. For 25 minutes. The host and various callers were talking about all the Pirates' baserunning mistakes (see below) and finally he just said he felt like the Pirates "crapped away" the game and also suggested they did the same against Boston on Sunday. At that point I had to turn it off. When I got home I couldn't help myself, so I got on a Pirates blog and saw some similar arguments. I decided to sleep on it and see how it felt in the morning. The same.

First some facts. The Pirates are a bit "lucky" to be 40-39. Their Pythagorean Record based on runs scored and runs against suggests they should be 38-41. Also, they are 13-8 in one-run games. While Bob Walk, among others, thinks one-run wins are a sign of a good bullpen, history would suggest they aren't. Again it is more likely the team has been a little lucky and will probably regress back toward .500 as the season progresses.

Looking at specific statistics, at the plate the Pirates are 14th in the NL in wOBA and K%. They are 15th in SLG and ISO. They are 8th in BABIP. On the mound they are 12th in FIP, 15 in xFIP, but 6th in ERA. As you might suspect from those numbers, the staff is dead last in K/9 because the starters can't strike anybody out, averaging only 5.4K/9.

Those numbers aren't a formula for success. They aren't even a formula for a .500 team. The reality is the Pirates have the fourth-best BABIP against, the sixth best LOB%-against, virtually identical to 2-5, and have played very well defensively. That and some luck have the team right around .500 at the half way point.

Now let's look at the most recent five games against Boston and Toronto. The scores were as follows: vs. Boston W 3-1, W 6-4, L 4-2. vs. Toronto W 7-6, L 2-1.

During the Boston series the Red Sox had more hits, walks and home runs, the Pirates struck out more often and commited more errors. The difference in the series was the Red Sox went an amazing 1-for-26 with runners in scoring position and left 29 men on base. The Pirates were 6-for-26 with RISP and left 23 men on base. In Sunday's game spefically, the Pirates walked six, committed four errors and got out-hit. Probably the more appropriate assessment is they played like crap, not that they crapped it away. Yet, in the end they won two of the three games in the series.

So far in Toronto the peripherals are almost comically against the Pirates. The Jays have 11 extra base hits and five home runs. The Pirates three extra-base hits and two home runs. Pirates batters have struck out 20 times to the Jays' six, but they have out-walked them seven to five. Again the difference has been at bats with RISP where the Pirates are 5-for-13, leaving 12 on base and the Jays are 1-for-15, leaving 13 on base. Sure, last night the Pirates had three men thrown out on the bases*, but you might forget the Jays had two, including their leadoff batter in the first when they later got a walk and a single.

(*I'm amazed how many people are killing the Pirates for their baserunning last night. Let's look at the three outs on the bases:

1.) Walker thrown out at the plate on a chopper to third.

Situation: There were runners on first and third with no outs in the fifth of a scoreless game, and the Pirates had managed two hits against Brandon Morrow, a strikeout pitcher. Matt Diaz was at the plate and Ronny Cedeno and Eric Fryer were on deck.

Assessment: Walker was running on contact and the ball was a chopper to the left side. This was a coaching-staff decision and I generally agree. If you get thrown out you still have two on and a runner in scoring position. Bautista made a good play. I think it was the right decision, with the bottom of the order coming up. Walker wasn't running on his own.

2.) Diaz hung up between second and third.

Situation: Still a scoreless game in the fifth, now with Lyle Overbay on second and Diaz on first and one out. Cedeno bloops a single to right-center. Overbay scores and Diaz is hung up in a rundown between second and third. He is tagged out while Cedeno moves to second.

Assessment: This could have been a smart play or a bonehead play depending on what Diaz was seeing. Unfortunately I couldn't tell from the replays or the announcers. If Overbay was going to score easily and there was no chance of a play at the plate, then Diaz made a bad mistake. However, if Overbay, a slow runner, didn't get a good read on the bloop and the Jays may have had a shot at him at home, Diaz did exactly the right thing in rounding the bag and forcing the cutoff man to make a decision with only one out. In a scoreless game in that situation the Pirates would absolutely give up an out to guarantee the run scoring. Often in this situation the Pirates airmail the cutoff man and the team on the bases gets the best of both worlds, the run scoring and the runner to third. In this case the Jays made the play, but Diaz stayed alive long enough to allow Cedeno to get to second. Again, not a clear answer.

3.) Jones gets picked off first after breaking for second.

Sitaution: Garrett Jones on first with two outs and Andrew McCutchen at the plate, top of the eighth, down 2-1.

Assessment: On a 2-2 pitch Jones gets the steal sign, breaks for second and slips. Realizing he will be out by 20 feet, he reverses course and tries to get back to the bag, but is picked off by a good throw by Jose Molina. Criticizing this is just asinine. Yes, of course it's a bad play to slip when breaking for second, but things happen. This was not a mental error or a decision by Jones "to inexplicably stop" as one poster called it. Jones actually made a good decision once he slipped and Molina made a good throw. Again this was a coaching-staff decision to have him running. If he gets thrown out stealing Cutch leads off the ninth. If he makes it, there is a man in scoring position for Cutch. I have no problem with that thinking. A single by Cutch in that situation doesn't score Jones from first.)

So in the five games against the Sox and Jays thus far, the opposition has gone 2-for-41 (.049) with RISP and left 42 men on base. Is some of that because of good Pirates pitching? Sure. Is it going to continue at that pace? Not a chance in hell.

The larger point is Pirates fans should be doing backflips that they are 3-2 in these five games and 40-39 overall. The pitching staff has been good, though the starters have, as expected, been unable to sustain their fantastic first two months. The bullpen continues to be excellent, but the offense is and should be a major concern. The Bucs need to stay in touch until the all-star break and then get Alvarez, Tabata, Pearce and Doumit back and have them perform up to levels that they have seen in the past in order to generate more offense.

If that doesn't happen and the team puts up offensive numbers like this in the second half and the pitching drops off at all, their record is much more likely to be closer to 10 games under .500 than the 40-39 mark they are sporting right now.

When Clint Hurdle says it's chicken wire, duct tape and spit, he is showing that he and the front office understand that while injuries have forced the Pirates to rely on a major league-high 42 players, the team needs to play better to sustain even this level of performance based on their peripherals. The suggestion from some that the Pirates are blowing games that they should win just shows that the are looking through a very Pirates-colored prism. If things don't change they better find a smoke machine and some mirrors as well.

The Return of Zach Duke

Zach Duke was taken in the 20th round of the 2001 amateur draft, a lefthanded pitcher out of Midway high school in Waco, Texas. He made his professional debut the next year in the Gulf Coast League posting an 8-1 record, a 1.95 ERA and a WHIP of 0.933. And just that quickly the Legend of Zach Duke was born.

That's pretty much how it went as he climbed through the system. The numbers, aside from a declining strikeout rate, were outstanding and in 2004 he led all minor leagues with a 1.46 ERA and was named the Pirates' Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

On July 2, 2005 he made his major league debut against the Milwaukee Brewers, striking out nine and getting a no-decision in a 5-3 loss. From July 2 to July 21 he had a string of 22 consecutive scoreless innings and beat Gred Maddux and the Cubs 3-0. He was named National League Rookie of the Month, compiling an ERA of 0.87 which was the best among all starting pitchers in the major leagues. He became only the second Pirates rookie to win his first five decisions and only the fourth pitcher in the live ball era to have an ERA below 1.00 after his first six starts. He finished the year 8-2 and most hardcore Pirates fans can recite his 1.81 ERA from memory. The Legend had become tangible.

I watched Duke pitch live for the first time that year August 18 in Shea Stadium. He went 7 innings, gave up 2 hits and 0 runs. He walked 1 and struck out 5, throwing 103 pitches before being removed. The Pirates won the game 5-0 and Duke raised his record to 6-0. The Mets didn't get their first hit until the fifth inning and I remember laughing at Cliff Floyd as he struck out swinging two different times, completely fooled by Duke's offspeed stuff. His game score of 77 was his highest of the season and I walked out of the game thinking the Pirates had found their ace for the next five years.

In hindsight, that game may literally have been the apex of Zach Duke's Pirates career. From that point he compiled a record of 39-70 with the team. He had a solid 2009 even though he led the league in losses and he made the All-Star as an injury replacement. But after six seasons with the Pirates opposing batters were hitting were hitting .305/.351/.462 against him, and on November 19, 2010 the Bucs designated him for assignment. On November 24 he was traded to the Arizona Diamonbacks for a PTBNL that turned out to be reliever Cesar Valdez. The Diamondbacks avoided arbitration by signing Duke to a one-year deal for $3.5 million with a club option for 2012.

Tonight Zach Duke returns to PNC Park and will start against his former club and good friend Paul Maholm as the Pirates try to raise their record to 30-30 for the first time since 2005. I wasn't a big fan of the pitcher that Duke became and wasn't unhappy to see him moved. But at the same time I felt bad for a pitch-to-contact lefty generally pitching in front of a bad defensive team which is how things played out for Duke.

It all seems a bit serendipitous. Maybe Duke can go six strong before the Pirates get to the Snakes pen as they did last night. Either way this one will draw more than average interest as the Pirates try to get back to .500 against a former teammate.

The Daily Numbers 6/2: Chris Capuano's 7th Inning. Later a Homicide?

A couple of posts from my Extra Innings blog to whet your appetite if you aren't getting over there on a regular basis. If you watched the Pirates 9-3 victory over the New York Mets last night you probably wouldn't be surprised if Mets pitcher Chris Capuano was arrested for homicide overnight. Capuano breezed through six innings. He had given up 3 hits, 0 runs and thrown only 71 pitches. Here is a pitch-by-pitch recap of what happened in the seventh:

Batter: Andrew McCutchen

First Pitch: Infield single to first baseman Daniel Murphy. (Misplayed by Murphy & Capuano)

Batter: Neil Walker

First Pitch: Bunt single to third baseman Willie Harris. (Misplayed by Harris)

Batter: Matt Diaz

First Pitch: Ball
Second Pitch: Infield single to pitcher Chris Capuano. (Misplayed by Harris)

Batter: Chris Snyder

First Pitch: Called strike
Second Pitch: Infield single to shortstop Ruben Tejada. Run scores 2-1. (Misplayed by Harris on force at third)

Batter: Lyle Overbay

Frist pitch: Ball
Second pitch: Single to center off the glove of Angel Pagan. Run scores 2-2. (Misplayed by Pagan)

Chris Capuano is removed from the game after throwing 8 pitches. All five batted balls should have been converted into outs. Of course the three remaining runners would all come in to score, including one on another infield hit.

On the inning Capuano threw 8 pitches, gave up 5 hits and 5 earned runs. I'm certain the water cooler in the clubhouse had a bad ten minutes after Capuano left the field.

The 3 Best Catches You May See All Year (Poll)

I posted this on my Extra Innings blog, but for those of you who don't get there I thought I'd re-post here because these catches are all fantastic. Two occurred yesterday. Vote on the right as to which you think was best.

May 14, CF Roger Bernadina Washington Nationals

June 1, CF Adam Jones Baltimore Orioles

June 1, CF Andrew McCutchen Pittsburgh Pirates

Sidney Crosby. What We Saw. What We Missed.

Familiarity is awe's nemesis.

We see something often enough, it loses its magic. When we can no longer be shocked, awe gets locked back in the safe and on we move in search of something else that might line up the tumblers and open the vault once again.

On December 28, the day I wrote this story, we had become all too familiar with the story of Sidney Crosby.

At 14 he was already a nationally known figure across Canada. At 16 he represented his country in the World Juniors. At 17 he was the first pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.

There was nothing new here.

In his first year he was the youngest player in NHL history to score 100 points. The next, at 19, he became the youngest to win the Art Ross Trophy and the first teenager since Wayne Gretzky to lead the league in scoring.

You knew how it went.

At the end of that second season he was named team captain, after turning it down mid-season, again the youngest in league history. He won the Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP) and Lester B. Pearson Award (players' MVP) and became the youngest ever named NHL First Team All-Star.

The accomplishments were so many, they started to blur.

The third year brought his only significant injury, but also his first Stanley Cup Final and a tie for the playoff scoring lead. The next, he became the youngest captain to hoist Lord Stanley's Cup.

We had even started to gloss over some of it.

In his fifth he won the Rocket Richard Trophy, leading the league in goals scored for the first time. He won the Mark Messier Leadership Award for setting a positive example on and off the ice. During a break in the season he was chosen to be a member of the Canadian Olympic team, an alternate captain. In the second game he scored the game winning goal in a shootout. In the gold medal game he again netted the game winner. Against the United States. In overtime.

This is his sixth season.

He has a 22 game scoring streak, tied for the longest since the end of the lockout. He's on pace to score more than 60 goals. His team sits second in the league in points. If they named an MVP at the half way point in the season, the vote would be unanimous.

That's the story.

It's one with which we have become familiar, but it doesn't paint a picture.

Sidney Crosby is in the details.

We know the foundation for the numbers and awards is his legendary work ethic. There is always room for improvement in his game. Each off-season he focuses on a particular facet. One summer, skating--now few are better. Another, faceoffs--has become one of the best. Last year, scoring goals--led the league. This off-season, unpredictability--first in goals, second in assists.

His career arc spans a handful more than 400 regular season games. I've seen most of them. I've seen his game and personality develop. From entering the league and earning a well-deserved reputation as a whiner and, less-deserved, a diver to skating through a season where he has pushed himself to the top of the heap, unquestionably the best player in hockey, playing the best hockey of his life.

I've seen the blind passes, the unbelievable hands, the amazing goals and even the calculated fights. But these last 25 games have been different. This video shows his natural hat trick against Atlanta. As I wrote here, the goals showed off Sid's amazing arsenal, including the best tip you may ever see:



This assist against New Jersey, after receiving a hard pass in his skates, is ridiculously good:

But, it's more than skill. Earlier in the week, from NHL.com Crosby, among the league leaders in faceoff percentage, took advantage of the fact that Vernon Fiddler was kicked out of the right faceoff circle in the Phoenix zone for dropping his stick too early. Crosby duped the less-experienced Lauri Korpikoski, slid the puck forward, lunged and immediately fed a wide-open Malkin...

who buried it.



With familiarity, awe gets discarded.

There are other awards, there is a biography. That he's 23, bears repeating. But, don't ever get used to the level of hockey that Sidney Crosby is playing because you just never know how long it will last.

I was planning to publish this a few days after the Winter Classic. I was waiting to see if Crosby's scoring streak reached 30. It didn't. And then he didn't play again.

Hopefully Sidney Crosby comes back this fall and we see this all again. Again we get to be in awe of his talent. Maybe his missing the second half of the season will make us appreciate him even more, knowing a bad hit could end his career. I sure hope that never happens. I feel like we missed a lot of magic these past five months. I want to be awed again.

Waiting for Dejan Kovacevic's Retraction or Apology on Tony Sanchez and Twittergate

(Some of the links for this entry require a PG+ subscription. My apologies. This was originally published on my Extra Innings blog yesterday.)

This topic has been blown completely out of proportion and I think the Pittsburgh media missed the mark in a big way. Tony Sanchez said a bunch of things he shouldn't have on Twitter. He ripped the umps after a game and essentially accused them of cheating. He ripped the city of Altoona (where he plays) a few times or at least that's how it came off regardless of his intentions. It is certainly how I read those tweets.

I honestly was surprised that someone didn't discuss this with him sooner, but yesterday he signed off Twitter permanently. The media immediately jumped to the conclusion that the Pirates forced Sanchez to shutter his account and subsequently killed the organization. Dejan Kovacevic wrote that Sanchez, "...did this under orders from baseball operations." He continued, "That's yet another sign how thin-skinned this management team is." John Perrotto tweeted, "Memo to #Pirates catching prospect Tony Sanchez: Free speech is permissible in this country, don't be strong-armed by a paranoid employer."

(In response to Perrotto's tweet a commentator at the excellent Pirates blog BucsDugout wrote the following:

A journalist of all people should know that free speech as protected by the First Amendment means that the government isn’t allowed to regulate your speech. It doesn’t mean that your employer can’t fire your ass for saying something they dislike; there’s ample court precedent that your employer can discipline you up to and including firing you for pretty much any reason, including things you say off the job, if you don’t have a contract that says they can’t.

Rather than coming of as a protector of free speech, Perrotto comes off as uninformed. These journalists don't have any concern for Sanchez, they only have their own selfish interests in mind and want to have easy access to Sanchez and his comments through Twitter.)

While Kovacevic acknowledges Sanchez's "dumb" tweets, he doesn't seem to recognize, or at least doesn't state in print, the negative implications those tweets have for the player or team, particularly after it was widely reported that the Eastern League was looking into the situation and considering suspending Sanchez. I just can't fathom how this isn't blindingly obvious.

Dejan updated his blog last evening to state that the Pirates' Kyle Stark, Director of Player Development, emailed him to say, "The organization has not told any player they cannot use Twitter." Kovacevic added, "That was the whole statement," seemingly suggesting he deserved a longer explanation.

He got one today from Pirates President Frank Coonelly who shared his thoughts with Kovacevic. The opening line of Coonelly's statement to DK reads, "The Pirates did not force Tony to shut down his Twitter account." He goes on to discuss Sanchez's obligation to be professional, the Eastern League and MLB contact with the team and their concerns and how tweets can be misinterpreted. In discussing social media Coonelly reiterates "...we have not banned players from doing so."

This all seems pretty clear to me. The Pirates organization as a whole has a job to help the young men under contract to the organization develop into the best baseball players they can possibly be. In an attempt to further educate and develop Tony Sanchez, someone from the organization had a conversation with him about his Twitter account. It is a conversation that I, as his agent or father, would have had weeks ago. After the conversation, Sanchez decided to close the account.

After printing Coonelly's response, Kovacevic writes, "We can debate all day the semantics as to whether or not the Pirates indirectly told Sanchez to stop tweeting..." We can. The Pirates definitely wanted to get a point across. What we can't debate is whether Kovacevic owes the organization an apology or at least needs to retract his initial statement that, "He did this under orders from baseball operations." Kyle Stark and Frank Coonelly have both responded that the team did not order him to close his account. Kovacevic said they did. He should either correct himself or he is inherently saying the Pirates are lying to him. Let's see what he does.

UPDATE: Not surprisingly, Kovacevic is not going to apologize or retract his statement. To quote another commentor from Bucs Dugout: 

Have we really reached the point where management telling an employee to be professional is considered thin-skinned and oppressive? I mean, what Sanchez said about those umpires WAS unprofessional, by just about any imaginable standard.

I don't know if it's his ego, his clear dislike of the Pirates' front office or both, but Kovacevic is wrong here. He's hiding behind semantics and missing the larger point. I expected better.

The Terrible Podcast - Episode 57 (5/18) Dancing with the Lockout, Twitter, Fake Trade Episode

In Episode 57 of The Terrible Podcast Dave and I open up by discussing the current labor situation. While this isn't the most entertaining topic, we try to give you a short recap of where things stand now and what dates are important in the immediate future.

Turning to on-th-field issues, we discuss the undrafted free agents and how the teams around the league will have much more time to review film and decide which guys to sign once the lockout is lifted. Is this good (more money) or bad (much harder to make the team)?

We move on to the Jim Wexell tweet that Daniel Snyder had said the Steelers and Redskins had a draft day trade in place, presumably to take Mike Pouncey, but it fell through because "the player" was no longer available (Pouncey went #15 and the Skins had a pick at #16). Turns out Snyder never said that and it wasn't true. How responsible is Wexell and what should he do about it? We chime in.

But what if the trade was made available today? Would you trade Cameron Heyward and Marcus Gilbert for Mike Pouncey? We discuss and you can too. Call our new hotline at (814) 429-YINZ (9469). We want to hear your thoughts on that and anything else you want to tell us.

We close with our weekly Dancing with the Starts recap. Of course.

Thanks for listening and call the new hotline (814) 429-YINZ!

Winning...from Start to Finish: Awesome Video from Around the Net

*I love trick plays. The hidden ball trick is the meat and potatoes of trick plays and still catches a couple major leaguers each season. The Grand Illusion, which the University of Miami pulled off in the 1982 College World Series, is my all-time favorite because there were so many people involved and I actually saw it live on television. The guys in the dugout all jumped to the rail and looked down the first base line, yelling to their teammates to get a ball that had never been thrown. I couldn't find the video, but if you can, let me know.

I bring this up because the University of Maryland pulled off the best lacrosse hidden ball trick ever over the weekend. If you haven't seen it, well, you'll probably have to watch it at least twice to figure out what happened. This video gives you slo-motion from a different camera angle. Awesome. Of course Maryland went on to smoke UNC. Pull off plays like that and you win. Guaranteed.

*Speaking of awesome, here is a lacrosse-like goal scored at this year's World Hockey Championships. 19-year-old Mikael Granlund scored in the semifinal against Russia to give Finland a 1-0 lead in a game the would eventually win 3-0. I guess the only downside for Mikael is knowing at 19 that he has already achieved the thing that he will be remembered for for the rest of his life. But this guy did it first. In 1996.

*In the awesome defensive plays category Roger Bernadina makes the catch of the year.

*If you have to deal with a rain delay, you probably want these two teams to be on the field. Human jousting? Comedy.

*Make enough great plays and you might end up winning a championship. The soccer team AC Milan did just that winning Serie A in Italy. As the story says "the celebration started out with a massive parade through the streets of Milan. Then led to their stadium, as they still had a game to play (they won 4-1)." The piece de resistance came next. Kevin Prince Boateng, one of the team's players, did his Michael Jackson moonwalk impersonation to Billie Jean. This video is just too good. The crowd and the players are going nuts. As my man says, "The bar has now been raised." This (Madsen dancing and Shaq rapping) and this (William Gay in a red Yankees hat after finding Santonio's stash) no longer rate.

*After all the great plays and championship presentations, you probably want to hang out and celebrate with the guys who rang up this bill at Tryst in Las Vegas. Solid.

*And finally, if you drank all that booze, you'd probably think this was real.

The Terrible Podcast - Episode 56 (5/11) Alan, FWP, Troy, Ike and Top Lists Episode

In Episode 56 of The Terrible Podcast Dave and I bring you 35 minutes of joy and light. Okay, we bring you 35 minutes of off-season football talk. We open with a short update on the labor situation and note that Art Rooney is going to take part in the negotiations that are taking place in Minneapolis this coming Monday. After that we get into what is probably the most interesting news of the week, the retirement of Alan Faneca. We discuss the following: Good or bad decision for the Steelers to let Faneca walk when they did, best Steelers guard or lineman ever and certain Hall of Famer? Lots to discuss in each case. We have our answers what do you think?

After that we discuss the news around Willie Parker (would the Steelers take him back?), Troy Polamalu (where's he working out?) and Ike Taylor (how much dough does he want?). Oh, and Dave gives our weekly update on Hines on Dancing with the Stars.

We close by reviewing two more list released by ESPN.com. These always get Dave riled up and again he doesn't disappoint. First it's the Top 10 owners list. The Rooneys were number 1, but still Dave isn't happy. The Top 100 list, which is only partially released, has four Steelers. Listen to Dave rant. Great stuff.

Thanks for listening!

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Some Answers & A Look Around the Web

Yesterday I posted a pop sports quiz. I've reposted the questions below with some commentary. The answers are at the bottom.

1.) Monday Tiger Woods dropped to #8 in the World Golf Rankings. When was the last time he was ranked so low?

The top of the world rankings is currently populated with players from the birthplace of golf. Scotland itself isn't represented until Martin Laird checks in at #21, but five of the top seven players are from the British Isles region, with England represented by Lee Westwood #1, Luke Donald #3 and Paul Casey #7 and Northern Ireland with Graeme McDowell #5 and Rory McIlroy #6. Phil Mickelson is the lone American in the top seven, currently #4. Here is the complete list.

2.) Animal Kingdom won the Kentucky Derby despite going off as a 20-1 long shot. Which other athlete won this past weekend despite facing much greater odds?

The Dallas Mavericks were only a 3.5-1 underdog to the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers although you would have gotten much better than 20-1 if you had predicted a sweep. Shane Mosley (see below) was an 8-1 dog. The surprise answer came in at 500-1.

3.) Manny Pacquaio defeated Shane Mosley this weekend in a PPV bout in Las Vegas. How many packages were sold?

Pacquiao is the biggest draw in the sport and Mosley still has some drawing power, but the pay-per-view package was raised from the typical $45-50 to $75 for this card. The pay-per-view record is 2.7 million for Oscar de la Hoya-Floyd Mayweather in 2007. This won't be remotely close. Juan Manuel Marquez appears to be next for Manny, but no guarantees. Floyd is the only guy out there who looks like a legitimate opponent and at the moment he is busy trying to keep himself out of jail.

4.) Justin Verlander of the Tigers threw the second no-hitter of the year and second of his career over the weekend. Who are the other two active pitchers with two career no-hitters?

A look around:

*I was recently asked what MLS salaries looked like. Here is a comprehensive list. Salaries rose 12% this year to an average of $154, 852. The average is heavily skewed by a few huge contracts. David Beckham, in the final year of a five-year deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy, is the league's highest paid player at $6.5 million. The New York Red Bulls Thierry Henry is second at $5.6 million, followed by teammate Rafael Marquez at $4.6 million. Landon Donovan, the highest-paid American, is fourth at $2.3 million.

One of my first blog posts ever was in response to the Galaxy's announced five-year, $250 million contract. Hyperbole anyone? Beckham probably made about $30 million over the life of the deal.

*This is a relatively new site that looks at all the calls that are missed in NBA games. This article provides an excellent recap of the issues.

*If you missed this, it's an excellent two-part article about an athlete having a huge turnaround. Worth the time.

*As we learn more about concussions, steps are being taken to protect athletes. If NFL players are too dumb to wear them, then mandate safer helmets.

Answers:
1.) Tiger turned pro in August 1996. By June 15, 1997, after only 42 weeks as a professional, he reached the world #1 ranking. He hasn't been as low as his current #8 ranking since that time.      

2.) Regan Smith, a 500-1 longshot, won the first NASCAR race of his career in his 105th start, taking the Southern 500 at Darlington.

3.) Will post when the numbers are released.            

4.) Mark Buehrle threw his first no-hitter April 18, 2007 against the Texas Rangers and his second July 29, 2009 against the Tampa Rays. That one happened to be the eighteenth perfect game in major league history. He was one walk to Sammy Sosa away from being the only pitcher in history to throw two perfect games.

Last year Roy Halladay threw two no-hitters. The first was another perfect game, the 20th in MLB history. He beat the Florida Marlins on May 29, 2010. Five months later on October 6, he beat the Cincinnati Reds in the first post-season start of his career. It was only the second no-hitter ever in the playoffs.

A Pop Sports Quiz and Some Picks

Some interesting things going on around the world of sports this week. Here are some questions to ponder from the "lesser" sports. Are horse racing and boxing on their way to oblivion and is Tiger going to join them?

1.) Tiger Woods dropped to #8 in the world golf rankings. Care to guess when he was last ranked that low?

2.) Animal Kingdom won the Kentucky Derby after going off at 20-1. Which athlete that won this week went off at much bigger odds? Thoughts on television ratings this year versus twenty years ago?

3.) Manny Pacquiao beat Sugar Shane Mosley rather handily, as expected. Guess how many pay-per-view packages were sold? The all-time record was how many? And who is Pacquiao going to fight next? It ain't going to be Mayweather and there really isn't anyone else out there. Too bad for boxing fans, Pacquiao is a boxing genius.

4.) The Lakers got swept by Dallas, but the other three series have been really good. I like Chicago, Miami and Memphis in a bit of an upset. And by the way, I had Dallas. Really.

5.) The Caps have to fire Bruce Boudreau after getting rolled by the Lightning 4-0, but I don't expect the Flyers to do the same to Peter Laviolette. But, you would think 30+ years of failure would cause them to consider addressing the goaltending position for a change. I like the Lightning against the Bruins and expect the San Jose Sharks to come out of the west.

6.) Justin Verlander of the Tigers threw the second no-hitter of the season and the second of his career over the weekend against the Toronto Blue Jays. How many current major league pitchers have more than one no-hitter to their credit?

7.) The Pirates are .500 this late in the season for the first time since June 11, 2005 when they were 30-30. That year they nosedived to 65-97. We'll see what happens now. Baby steps.

Answers tomorrow along with a bunch of links. A lot of new Pirates posts and audio up on my Extra Innings blog.

The Daily Numbers 5/6: Exceeding Last Year, Pirates Stadium Wins

Last year the Pirates had a winning record in exactly two major league stadiums. PNC Park was not one of them, but they were a respectable 40-41 at home. The Pirates had a winning record in Chicago's Wrigley Field where they were 5-4 and in Denver's Coors Field where they were 2-1. They had a losing record in the other 17 stadiums in which they played.

This year's dramatic turnaround on the road (11-8 vs. 17-64 last year) has already changed that. The Pirates won't return to Colorado or San Diego again this year, so their recent series wins means they have already posted winning records in two stadiums this year. They also have winning records in Wrigley (2-1, 6 games left), St Louis' Busch Stadium (2-1, 3 games left) and Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark (3-1, 2 games left). With one win in Cincinnati later this month the Pirates will have already surpassed another of last year's dubious numbers.

Tonight the Pirates look to improve upon their 4-8 home record as they open a three-game homestand against the Houston Astros who are tied for the worst record in the National League at 12-19.

(This was originally posted on the Pirates Extra Innings blog, you can follow all Pirates info here.)

The Terrible Podcast - Episode 55 (5/5) Mendengate, Social Media & Linebackers Episode

In the latest episode of The Terrible Podcast Dave and I get into the topics of the day. Unfortunately with the draft behind us and the lockout still in effect the biggest topic this week was the thoughts of Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall on the death of Osama bin Laden. We have a long discussion about Mendenhall's tweets and subsequent apology and whether they are newsworthy. No doubt the certainly generated a lot of media coverage. We talk about what the Steelers have done thus far and what they might do going forward. Is a trade a possibility? We also discuss Ryan Clark who jumped in and added his opinion that social media is ruining the world.

Later in the show we talk some football, focusing on the Steelers fifth round pick Chris Carter. Listen in and hear what we think of this soon-to-be-converted-to-linebacker with the same name as a soon-to-be Hall of Fame receiver. We discuss the Steelers linebacker position in depth and how things may break with the guys currently on the roster.

Dave and I generally agree on most things and almost all things concerning Steelers football. Not in this podcast. Let us know what you think.

We had some difficulty with the audio at times on this one. Sorry, we'll get it sorted out. Thanks for listening!

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The Terrible Podcast - Episode 53, A Recap of the NFL Draft

In Episode 53 Dave and I start by recapping Day 3 of the 2011 NFL Draft. We take a look at the Steeelrs' four picks and come to the conclusion that two are locks to make the team and two will have to be impressive in camp to secure a roster spot. You might be surprised where we put each player. Stepping back we look at the draft as a whole and discuss picking for need vs. taking the best athlete available. The Steelers definitely filled needs.

We take a look around the AFC North to see what the Steelers' main rivals did and come to the conclusion that the division as a whole hit a home run this year. Every team did well and should see an influx of talent that will have a long-term impact.

We conclude by looking back at the 2010 draft and analyzing each player's performance last year and what we expect this year. The second year is generally where players make the biggest leap and we tell you who has, who will and who better step up if they want to keep wearing the black and gold.

We enjoyed it, hope you do to. Thanks for listening!

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The Terrible Podcast - Episode 52, A Review of Day 2 of the NFL Draft

Just like the title says, Dave and I look at Day 2. The Steelers got an offensive lineman and a corner, finally. You can hear our thoughts on those players, what to look for in Day 3 and a lot more.

Thanks for listening.

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The Terrible Podcast - Episode 51, A Review of The Royal Wed,...Er...Round 1 of The NFL Draft

Dave and I discuss one of the more entertaining rounds in recent memory. We take a look at the Steelers' choice of Ohio State DE Cameron Heyward and how he he'll fit into the team's defensive scheme. We also look at the two other guys the Steelers passed over at 31.

We then go through the round which included one of the biggest trade steals I can remember, two QBs jumping up the board and Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey's brother getting family bragging rights. We conclude with our choice for Most Interesting Pick and make our predictions for the Steelers pick in Round 2.

I hope you have as much fun listening as we did talking about Round 1! We'll be back again tomorrow, Saturday, with a recap of Rounds 2 & 3.

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Clint Hurdle's Second Strike in Three Days

On Sunday manager Clint Hurdle defended Andrew McCutchen's decision to try to score a meaningless run from third with two out in the bottom of the ninth of a game the Pirates were losing 6-3. McCutchen was out and the Pirates lost. Hurdle was wrong in defending Cutch's decision to tag and you can read my take on it here.

Last night with the Pirates leading 2-1 Ryan Doumit led off the bottom of the seventh with a single. Hurdle decided to pinch-run with Ronny Cedeno as Pedro Alvarez came to the plate. Alvarez was batting in the seventh hole in the lineup. Following him would be Brandon Wood, Jose Tabata (batting ninth due to a double-switch in the top of the inning) and Andrew McCutchen.

Hurdle asked Alvarez to bunt Cedeno over.

Let's just start with the facts as to why this was a bad decision. The 27 outs a team has are its most valuable resource. By sacrificing, Hurdle was giving one away while at the same time taking the bat out of the hands of the team's biggest power threat. Throw in the fact that the decision actually lowers the team's run expectancy and it doesn't make sense. Add to that the fact that the lineup was essentially turning back to the top one batter later and it clearly was not the right move.

Now the clincher. Pedro Alvarez turned pro in 2009. He made 820 plate appearances in the minors before being called up to the majors in June of last season. Going into his seventh inning at bat last night he had made 468 plate appearances in the majors. That's 1288 total plate appearances. How many sacrifice hits in those 1288 appearances? You got it. Zero.

On Sunday Hurdle argued his team needs to be aggressive to succeed. Maybe, but they also have to be smart, not foolish.

On Tuesday he took a ridiculously conservative approach that didn't put his player in a position to be successful and decreased his team's chances of winning.

Neither worked out, but more importantly, neither was a good decision. I expected decisions and answers like this from John Russell, not Clint Hurdle. It's been a bad start to the week for Clint.

(See all my Pirates coverage, including audio with Clint Hurdle here.)

Wide World of Sports Turns 50 (Video)

A great seven minute video looking at the history of ABC's Wide World of Sports which started 50 years ago. Awesome film clips from all over the world along with some of the crazy sports they used to air back then. Great stuff, particularly if you grew up waiting to watch this every Saturday afternoon like I did.

Clint Hurdle's First Strike of 2011

In his first two months as the Pirates manager Clint Hurdle has brought credibility and accountability to a franchise sorely lacking in both. Hurdle is a strong personality and a vocal leader and his honest and accurate assessment of the Pirates performance, good or bad, through the early part of the season has been refreshingly different from that of his predecessor John Russell. Until yesterday.

With one out in the ninth inning of a 6-3 game, the Pirates had Jose Tabata batting and Andrew McCutchen on third. Tabata hit a fly ball to right field. Jayson Werth camped under it and made the catch. McCutchen tagged from third. That's all you need to know. Results-based analysis is bad analysis. It's more important to analyze whether the thought process was a good one. In this case it wasn't.

Of course, in this case, McCutchen was out on a bang-bang play and the game ended with the Pirates on the wrong side of a 6-3 scoreline. After the game Hurdle was asked about the decision by McCutchen to try to score a meaningless run when the team was down three.

We get one there who knows where it takes us? But we're going to send that guy....A little shallower, probably not. But where it was? Look what kind of throw it takes. There might be two guys in the league that can make that throw, he's one of them.

Hurdle went on to say that he wanted his players to be aggressive and that the only reason the media was talking about it is because he was out. Nope that's not why.  People are talking about the play because it was a bonehead move. The media wanted to hear what the manager had to say because up to this point he has been very forthright in assessing such moves. He wasn't yesterday.

McCutchen's run was meaningless. The Pirates needed three runs to tie. If they are getting those runs, McCutchen obviously will score easily. Instead he takes a needless risk and the game ends. By identifying Werth as one of maybe two guys who can make that throw, Hurdle actually acknowledges it was a bad decision, but he didn't say that publicly.

Last season manager John Russell repeatedly protected his players when they performed poorly, failing to acknowledge either mental or physical mistakes. Russell lost credibility with the fans as a result. This year Clint Hurdle has had a different approach and the fans have embraced it. Yesterday he defended his young star's poor decision. There were a lot of was to handle it. He could have said, "Aggressiveness is good, but we probably want to stay put in that situation," or something along those lines. He didn't.

Let's hope it isn't a sign of things to come.

Bobby Ryan Impersonating Mario Lemieux, circa 1992

This is a great one, but Anaheim couldn't get it done in the end. They gave up a goal in the last minute of regulation to tie and another less than to minutes into overtime. 4-3 win for the Predators.

Housekeeping & Some Disheveled Thoughts on the NHL & More

As host of the Pirates postgame show Extra Innings, I am posting many of my Pirates thoughts on the station's blog. The longer opinion pieces will be reposted here but the more granular statistical and newswire-type posts will only be there. Podcasts of the shows and interviews will also be available on that site which is finally up and running. You can access it all with this link. Bookmark it and check in daily if you're a Bucs fan.

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I'm about 20 posts behind on the things I would like to write about and because many are time-sensitive they probably aren't going to happen. So here are some disheveled thoughts in an unorganized fashion.

NHL

*Colin Campbell, the NHL's Mitigator of Discipline obviously has a thankless job, but the league has really butchered how they are dealing with headshots. GMs, coaches, fans and most-importantly players all seem to be uncertain about what exactly is and isn't legal.

Nobody liked how the NFL went about getting rid of headshots and unsafe hits during the season this year, but they got their message across and the game was and will be better for it. In the NHL the recently enacted Rule 48 only penalizes certain types of hits to the head, while having others remain leagal. There is a simple solution. Penalize all hits to the head when a player is standing upright and have a well-defined suspension system in place This isn't hard.

*Marc-Andre Fleury was not named one of the three finalists for the Vezina Trophy when they were announced today. Tim Thomas of Boston, Pekka Rinne of Nashville and Roberto Luongo of Vancouver made the list. They were the top three is goals against average and among the top four in save percentage. There will be outrage in Pittsburgh, but it is worth remembering how bad Fleury was to start the season. I'm actually more surprised that the Rangers Henrik Lundqvist isn't on the list. He posted a ridiculous 11 shutout (Fleury had three) and carried the Rangers to the post-season. Carey Price probably could have made it as well.

*Speaking of Luongo, he is again proving that he is not a big game goaltender. Vancouver won the first three games in their first round series with the defending Stanley Cup champion Black Hawks but then Luongo got shelled two games in a row. He gave up six and four goals and got pulled each time. He now has a career playoff record of 20-19. Marc-Andre Fleury? 41-25 in the playoffs. Give me the Flower every time.

Hoops

*There are going to be a lot of people eating crow if the Heat make the Finals. And even more if they win. I love it. Everybody wanted to jump to conclusions a month into the season. So many "experts" piled on and buried the Heat when James and Wade lost a bunch of games in the fall. Where are they now? The Heat are a flawed team for sure, but still are probably the best in the East.

*Here is a good article with the Heat's James Jones discussing what really makes a player a good defender in the NBA.

*The Spurs are going down. Memphis is very dangerous and they will be a tough out in the second round. Before this series the last playoff win by a Memphis team was against the Kentucky Colonels.

*If Pitt junior Ashton Gibbs stays in the NBA draft it will be the dumbest decision in a long time. He can't create his own shot. He isn't quick enough and doesn't have a good enough handle to play the one. He isn't big enough to play the two. If he stays in, I hope he enjoys his time in Europe.

*Here is a video of Blake Griffin's dunks. All 214 of them in a little over four minutes.

MLB


*Albert Pujols has finally gotten hot with five homers in his last seven games, Mike Leake is an idiot and the Pirates have claimed Brandon Wood.

The Terrible Podcast - Episode 47 (4/20)

In Episode 47 Dave & I discuss the recently released NFL schedule. As I pointed out here the Steelers strength of schedule may be misleading. We get into the Sports Business Journal report that a breakaway group of 70 players is seeking legal representation and may want a seat at the bargaining table. This is not a good sign for the players.

With the draft coming up in a week, we continued to review what draft-eligible players have visited the Steelers South Side facility and talk some more about who the Steelers might like in the first round. We close by talking about ESPN's rankings of the top 10 cornerbacks and Pete Prisco's list of the top 100 current players.

Thanks for listening.

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Marathon News: Running Fast & Dying, Mutai & Waitz

Monday was Patriots Day in Massachusetts. The locals take the day off and have at it, the Red Sox play at 11:00 am and, of course, they run the Boston Marathon. This past Monday Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya ran 26 miles, 365 yards faster than it's ever been run. He knocked it out in 2:03:02 and beat Haile Gebrselassie's sanctioned world record by an astounding 57 seconds. I say sanctioned because Mutai's record probably won't be recognized (though officials are applying to have it sanctioned). Boston, despite being generally acknowledged as a difficult course, drops over 450 feet in elevation from start to finish and does not begin and end near the same spot. In this case a starting wind of 21 mph certainly aided the runners. Big deal. This guy ripped off 26+ miles at a better than a 4:45/mile clip.

This got a few friends and I into a conversation about whether we will see a sub-two hour marathon in our lifetime. Sub-4:40s for 26 miles. As opposed to most other Olympic records, guys are taking chunks out of the marathon record. Since 1908 it's come down over 50 minutes and just since 2002 it's come down 1:39. More than a handful of guys are running half-marathons in under an hour. Barriers like the four-minute mile are artificial ones that are culturally created. The two-hour marathon is another. It will get broken. But if I had to bet, it won't happen before 2040.

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The day after the Boston marathon Grete Waitz died in her native Norway. She was 57-year old. If you lived in New York City in the '80s you remember her. She won nine New York City marathons, setting a world record in 1978 in her first-ever race at that distance. She captured the city, as Geroge Vecsey writes, like no female athlete ever. Calling her the greatest female distance runner ever would not be overstating it. Here is the Times obituary.