(Editor's Note: When I got home from work, I was bound and determined to write a positive post about the Pirates and I'm gonna do it. Even though they're currently losing to the Rockies by 4 after 1 inning.)
I've been doing everything I normally do throughout the course of a Pirates season: Going to games, watching a few here and there on TV, keeping track of stats and trends to see if they're playing over their heads, under their heads, or about where they should be. This season, I did all these things wincing, with one eye closed. That's because I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, for them to blow it all by collapsing.
Well, they're 114 games in, they have the best record in baseball, and they already have 70 wins. They could go 12-36 for the remainder of the season and still finish above .500. If they continue at their current pace, then close out the season 9-23 like they did last season when they were in full Collapse Mode, they'll still win 89 games.
I've stopped wincing and I have both eyes open. That actually happened a while ago, but I assumed that the reason they hadn't started their collapse yet was because I was keeping my big mouth shut.
OK... at this point I am going to guarantee that the Pirates win 82 games this year. There, I said it.
Here's the thing: This team isn't thinking about 82 wins, they're thinking playoffs. They're trying to win the division and will settle for the Wild Card. Sure, there was a lot of lip service paid to this idea -- most notably by Clint Hurdle -- but now I get the sense that they actually believe it. I think this is a team that's confident and expects to win. That's a huge change between now and the past 20 years or so.
They're playing better defense. Russell Martin alone has thrown out more base stealers already this season than Rod Barajas and Mike McKenry combined did all of last season (27-19). Pedro Alvarez has shown more range and his glove work has improved dramatically; he just needs to work out the kinks on his throw to first. Starling Marte has settled in at left field, Cutch is playing his usual stellar defense in center, and Neil Walker isn't letting his struggles at the plate affect his fielding.
The bullpen isn't as over-worked as they were last season. Provided he comes back healthy, Jason Grilli will be well-rested for the posteason and they'll have a great back-up closer and eighth inning set-up man in Mark Melacon. There really isn't a weak link and, even though the Pirates are 22nd in Quality Starts, you get the feeling that the bullpen is being used correctly, not that Hurdle is going to the well too early too often.
The starting pitching has been very efficient and AJ Burnett hasn't had to carry the staff. James McDonald wasted no time imploding and they've been able to get along very well without him. Guys like Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton, Brandon Cumpton, and Jeanmar Gomez have filled in admirably and I can see one of them becoming a long reliever when the roster expands in September.
(Well, crap. The Rockies are now winning 7-1 in the bottom of the second. I'm still going through with this.)
On offense... well, the offense has been pretty dreadful. They're 21st in runs, 22nd in batting average, 19th in on-base percentage, and 20th in slugging percentage. Those numbers have actually improved in the last month or so. However, the big issue last season was that they were hot and cold and relied too much on timely hitting. Their numbers have stabilized this season and even Pedro has been more consistent. With runners in scoring position, Cutch and Walker have taken a big step down and everyone else has had to pick up the slack. That means that they don't have that one guy you need to be afraid of, but it also means that someone different can (and has) step up every night.
They still have a major hole in right field, where they're dead last in OPS at that position. Travis Snider probably did us all a favor when his .219 average and .609 OPS went on the DL, but Jose Tabata and Alex Presley haven't been much better. Presley has one freakin' walk in 66 plate appearances and the two have combined for only 18 extra base hits. After they stood pat at the trade deadline and with Alex Rios getting traded from the White Sox to the Rangers, it looks like there aren't any options on the open market. I think they'll need to give the Tabata/Presley platoon a couple more weeks, then call in Andrew Lambo. They have nowhere to go but up, OPS-wise.
Right field OPS will either stay at its current horrid state or improve. If Neil Walker can get back up in the .280 or .290 range, that would be a huge boost. Cutch is really starting to catch fire and Pedro's due for another hot streak. They've already overcome some pretty significant injuries to their starting pitching and bullpen and might be able to overcome more (though I really hope no one else gets hurt, please). Their prospects -- either guys they drafted or guys they traded for -- have paid off and they're finally starting to hit on bargain free agents and low risk trades (Martin and Francisco Liriano this year, AJ Burnett last season).
I think that success is sustainable for the next 48 games and I think it's sustainable beyond this season. They've quietly "crept up" to 19th in payroll and they're spending almost four times what the 30th-ranked team (Astros) is spending.
These aren't your father's Pirates. Well, maybe your father's Pirates won the World Series, I'm not sure how old you are. I mean, my father's Pirates won the World Series. They're not your older sibling's Pirates when you were a "change of life" baby.
They're your Pittsburgh Pirates and it's time to catch Bucco Fever.
(FOR THE LOVE OF- now it's 10-1.)
Showing posts with label Pirates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pirates. Show all posts
Friday, August 09, 2013
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Buccos Update: Memories of the Implosion
On February 11th, 2001, the City of Pittsburgh imploded Three Rivers Stadium. Here's a video of what that looked like.
I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty awesome. I watched that old, concrete shitheap crumble to pieces from high atop Mount Washington and cheered like crazy. On the way home, I remember thinking that, with a new stadium and a young team that they could build around recently-signed Jason Kendall, the Pirates might not suck forever.
I was young, I have difficulty thinking logically when it comes to the Pirates, and my brain was pretty well frozen after waiting a couple hours in sub-freezing weather for the detonators to fire. That's also part of the Pirate Mystique, that they can give us hope when logic is trying desperately to pimp slap us back into reality. Baseball fans, in general, are optimistic by nature. Maybe it's the fact that every new season starts in the spring, which makes us think about rebirth and new life. Maybe it's the fact that the season is so long that anything can happen. Maybe it's the fact that we're all suckers. That's probably it, because I'm fully intending on wearing a Pirates shirt to work tomorrow. I actually started this post two weeks ago, because I knew that the implosion was coming, but I waited until they officially clinched their 20th consecutive losing season to finish posting it, because I still believed that they'd somehow come through in spite of all the evidence to the contrary.
So, I'm going to pile on and hit everyone with some cold, hard logic and reality. I think it will be good for all of us, especially me.
Andrew McCutchen isn't going to have another season like this one, though he may come close. They wasted a perfectly good season from Cutch in the midst of finding different and interesting ways to lose and disappoint us. I understand that Cutch's average has dropped about 50 points since July and that his home run stroke has essentially disappeared, but I don't see him doing much better than .330/.400/.560/.960 for the rest of his career. They took his season and they crapped all over it.
AJ Burnett isn't going to have another season like this one. Joel Hanrahan -- today's collapse notwithstanding -- and Jason Grilli, his second half issues notwithstanding, are not going to have another season like this one.
Starling Marte and Alex Presley and Brock Holt and Jody Mercer are the future. But, they're flawed like the rest of the roster: They don't walk enough and they strike out too much, even Cutch. Pedro Alvarez is basically Joaquin Phoenix's character from Signs. Garrett Jones had a fine season, but he's also 31.
There are a number of promising pitching prospects, led by Gerrit Cole, but who's to say they won't fade in August and September like James McDonald? The line-up can't help but improve without Rod Barajas and Clint Barmes dragging down the bottom of the order, but who's to say that they'll find two guys that are better for next season? As it turns out, Ryan Ludwick and Adam LaRoche aren't bad players, they were just playing for a bad team.
That brings us to the recent statement from the Pirates that announced they will be retaining key members of the front office, like Neal Huntington, Kyle Stark, and Greg Smith, as well as manager Clint Hurdle. An implosion of this magnitude would tend to dictate that heads should roll. But, if I'm Bob Nutting, I have to ask myself a very important question. Who's out there -- that would take the job, which is a very important question -- that's better? I've always been of the opinion that you shouldn't fire a guy unless you have a better option in mind and that better option should bloody well be willing to take the job.
They could try to improve themselves with free agent additions -- even if Barmes, Barajas, LaRoche, Ludwick, and Derrick Lee show that those acquisitions don't usually work out -- but, as Slate pointed out in 2010, spending money only buys you so much. It doesn't buy enough wins to make it worth it just for the sake of spending money.
The other option is to go the route of the Indians, Rays, and A's and build from the farm system. But, the system is toxic and develops players that don't walk enough and strike out too much, with the possible exception of Neil Walker. They could blow up the entire system on down to the receptionist that answers the phone for the single A affiliate West Virginia Power and replace them all with people say, "Thank you for calling the Pirates, what's your on-base percentage?" But, that would require time and effort and they're entirely too busy cashing checks.
Everything stacks up to years of disappointment for fans and years of profitability for the Nuttings. I'm still going to 6-10 games next season because I'm an idiot. I enjoy watching Major League Baseball live and the city I live in doesn't offer any other options. I love baseball and I can't let the Pirates go. I wish I could teach them a lesson by boycotting them, but I can't.
The best, most realistic option is to give them my money, but not my heart. I guess that'll have to do.
I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty awesome. I watched that old, concrete shitheap crumble to pieces from high atop Mount Washington and cheered like crazy. On the way home, I remember thinking that, with a new stadium and a young team that they could build around recently-signed Jason Kendall, the Pirates might not suck forever.
I was young, I have difficulty thinking logically when it comes to the Pirates, and my brain was pretty well frozen after waiting a couple hours in sub-freezing weather for the detonators to fire. That's also part of the Pirate Mystique, that they can give us hope when logic is trying desperately to pimp slap us back into reality. Baseball fans, in general, are optimistic by nature. Maybe it's the fact that every new season starts in the spring, which makes us think about rebirth and new life. Maybe it's the fact that the season is so long that anything can happen. Maybe it's the fact that we're all suckers. That's probably it, because I'm fully intending on wearing a Pirates shirt to work tomorrow. I actually started this post two weeks ago, because I knew that the implosion was coming, but I waited until they officially clinched their 20th consecutive losing season to finish posting it, because I still believed that they'd somehow come through in spite of all the evidence to the contrary.
So, I'm going to pile on and hit everyone with some cold, hard logic and reality. I think it will be good for all of us, especially me.
Andrew McCutchen isn't going to have another season like this one, though he may come close. They wasted a perfectly good season from Cutch in the midst of finding different and interesting ways to lose and disappoint us. I understand that Cutch's average has dropped about 50 points since July and that his home run stroke has essentially disappeared, but I don't see him doing much better than .330/.400/.560/.960 for the rest of his career. They took his season and they crapped all over it.
AJ Burnett isn't going to have another season like this one. Joel Hanrahan -- today's collapse notwithstanding -- and Jason Grilli, his second half issues notwithstanding, are not going to have another season like this one.
Starling Marte and Alex Presley and Brock Holt and Jody Mercer are the future. But, they're flawed like the rest of the roster: They don't walk enough and they strike out too much, even Cutch. Pedro Alvarez is basically Joaquin Phoenix's character from Signs. Garrett Jones had a fine season, but he's also 31.
There are a number of promising pitching prospects, led by Gerrit Cole, but who's to say they won't fade in August and September like James McDonald? The line-up can't help but improve without Rod Barajas and Clint Barmes dragging down the bottom of the order, but who's to say that they'll find two guys that are better for next season? As it turns out, Ryan Ludwick and Adam LaRoche aren't bad players, they were just playing for a bad team.
That brings us to the recent statement from the Pirates that announced they will be retaining key members of the front office, like Neal Huntington, Kyle Stark, and Greg Smith, as well as manager Clint Hurdle. An implosion of this magnitude would tend to dictate that heads should roll. But, if I'm Bob Nutting, I have to ask myself a very important question. Who's out there -- that would take the job, which is a very important question -- that's better? I've always been of the opinion that you shouldn't fire a guy unless you have a better option in mind and that better option should bloody well be willing to take the job.
They could try to improve themselves with free agent additions -- even if Barmes, Barajas, LaRoche, Ludwick, and Derrick Lee show that those acquisitions don't usually work out -- but, as Slate pointed out in 2010, spending money only buys you so much. It doesn't buy enough wins to make it worth it just for the sake of spending money.
The other option is to go the route of the Indians, Rays, and A's and build from the farm system. But, the system is toxic and develops players that don't walk enough and strike out too much, with the possible exception of Neil Walker. They could blow up the entire system on down to the receptionist that answers the phone for the single A affiliate West Virginia Power and replace them all with people say, "Thank you for calling the Pirates, what's your on-base percentage?" But, that would require time and effort and they're entirely too busy cashing checks.
Everything stacks up to years of disappointment for fans and years of profitability for the Nuttings. I'm still going to 6-10 games next season because I'm an idiot. I enjoy watching Major League Baseball live and the city I live in doesn't offer any other options. I love baseball and I can't let the Pirates go. I wish I could teach them a lesson by boycotting them, but I can't.
The best, most realistic option is to give them my money, but not my heart. I guess that'll have to do.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Five Random Thoughts
Here are five items that weren't long enough to be a full post...
- I think the Terrell Pryor suspension is bogus and it's not just because he's from here. I understand if the NCAA wants to do something to him or if Ohio State wants to negate his college credits that he accrued while attending the university. I don't understand why the NFL has any jurisdiction. Pryor is an adult now and he has moved on from whatever happened in college. If any employer judged me on what I did in college right after I graduated, I would not have gotten my first job. Or, maybe, I would've gotten the job, it's just that I would be suspended for about a year.
- Thinking about the Pryor thing, it seems to me that we've just witnessed a very corrupt era in college football that dates back at least to Reggie Bush. Everyone has been punished. There has, essentially, been another SMU Death Penalty handed out. Hopefully, that will keep everything clean for a little while. It seems like, for the past decade or so, if you ain't cheatin' you ain't playin'. That's bad for the NCAA, so I think they will take swift and extreme measures to fix the problem (and they already have in a lot of ways).
- From the Captain Obvious Desk, ESPN posted an article today suggesting that the Indianapolis Colts waited too long to think about life without Peyton Manning. Manning makes that whole team go. For years -- basically since they started deluding themselves into believing that Jim Sorgi was a suitable back-up -- they have been one torn ACL or other severe injury away from destroying the team's season. The time to address this issue wasn't six months ago, it was several years ago. They needed to have a Charlie Batch on the roster since about 2007 and they didn't get it done. Now, they face the consequences.
- I think the new kickoff rule favors the Steelers significantly. Not only does it even field position since they haven't had a solid kick returner in several years, but it makes it so that teams will need to drive 80 yards on the Steeler defense in order to score. That's huge, since one of the things that wore the defense out/led to more points being scored last season, was the fact that the coverage team was not great and usually set up the opposing team at about the 35 or 40 yard line. If Steeler kickers can register touchbacks, that sets the defense up for success. As an aside, Peter King Tweeted last week that 79.5 percent of kickoffs were returned in 2010 and that, if that number fell to 60 percent, it wouldn't be a big deal. That's kind of shocking, since that's taking away 20 percent of all kickoff returns. Remember, there's one at the beginning of each half and one after each score. Let's say, on average, there are eight kickoffs a game. With 16 teams playing 16 games a week, that's 256 games and 2048 kickoffs a year. Take 20 percent off that and you're taking away about 410 kickoffs a year. I would say that's a big deal.
- I think that Clint Hurdle has done a great job as a manager this year. Let me say that right off the bat. I think the team is languishing about 15-20 games under .500 at this point in the season without his energy and motivation. Having said that, he's either reading a book called "Managing a Baseball Team for Dummies" or he's playing it safe. Since he seems like a sharp dude, the smart money is on the second one. But, he always goes for lefty-lefty match-ups when making pitching decisions, always stacks the line-up with right handed batters when a lefty is pitching, and always bunts when there are runners on first and second with less than two outs. All these decisions are made regardless of the situation. They're all smart decisions percentage-wise, but decisions can't be made in a vacuum. I've seen him bring in Joe Beimel when the starter was still going strong. I've seen him call for a bunt with Andrew McCutchen -- the team's best hitter -- at the plate with two men on and less than two outs. He did the same thing with Alex Presley when Presley had an OPS over 1.000. The thing Hurdle needs to realize is that he's playing with house money. He kept the Pirates relevant well into July and, in the eyes of the fans, can do no wrong. He can't win the division or the wild card at this point, so he needs to focus on building the confidence of the players. If he's confident in them, they'll be confident in themselves. Let a pitcher work his way out of a jam. Leave a hot hitter in the line-up even if he bats on the left side and the pitcher you're facing happens to be left handed. Let Cutch and Presley hit. Let your starter work his way out of a jam. If you lose, you lose the game. Losing games is not a new thing for the Pirates; confident players are a new thing. Hurdle is playing it too safe and should let his guys win or lose the game based on their efforts, not what the book says.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Buccos on the Brink
It's July 21st and the Pittsburgh Pirates are still relevant. If NFL players and owners weren't still arguing over a new CBA, Steeler training camp would be opening soon, which has generally signaled the end of the Pirates season.
The Buccos are currently six games over .500 and only half a game back of the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers. People are starting to pay attention to the Pittsburgh Pirates. People are starting to write articles about them. Not just schmucks like me, but actual people that work for actual big websites and get paid and everything. On Monday night, when the Pirates visit the Atlanta Braves, the game is going to be broadcast on ESPN. That will mark only the third time since the turn of the century that the Pirates have appeared on the World Wide Leader.
The only trouble is that they're also currently shin deep in a 13 game set that could turn into a pool of awesome or a quagmire of suck. These 13 games pit the Pirates against teams with a combined winning percentage of .558. They've gotten this far with solid pitching and defense, timely hitting, and beating up on the crappy teams in the NL Central, posting a 24-14 record against teams in their division. Take out their 0-5 record against the Brewers out of that and the Buccos are 24-9 against teams in the Central that aren't from Wisconsin.
They've already escaped the "easiest" part of this stretch with two wins against the Reds. That series was a microcosm of the season thus far. The Pirates won the first two games 2-0 and 1-0 on solid pitching, excellent work by their middle relievers, and timely hitting. They lost the third game 3-1 because the offense fizzled out and Jeff Karstens allowed two unearned runs. They trusted in the defense and the defense let them down.
Over the course of the next ten games, we'll get a chance to see if the Pirates can play with the big boys. After three games at home against the Cardinals, they hit the road with a four game set in Atlanta and three games at Philadelphia. The Phillies currently hold the best record in the majors, though the Pirates did take two out of three from them earlier this year at PNC Park. The Braves aren't far behind the Phillies in the NL East and would be leading the NL Central by five games if the divisions got realigned tomorrow.
To this point, all the experts that are paying attention have stated that the Pirates have either overachieved or gotten lucky thus far. They claim that they're not full-on believers yet and that defense, pitching, and timely hitting is not sustainable. They think that a collapse is probable, if not imminent. Colin Cowherd mentioned on his radio show last week that the current 13 game string-of-death was the make-or-break point of the season for the Buccos, with a firm declaration that they would end up on the "break" side of that scenario.
But, the fact remains that they're three games in and they're 2-1. If they can at least split these next ten games -- with a preference towards winning the three division games against St. Louis -- then the experts will have to admit that they're just achieving, not overachieving.
I think that they're straight-up achieving right now. We're 96 games into the season -- almost 60 percent of the way there -- and, though the lug nuts have been loose at times, the wheels don't seem to be coming off. After the make-or-break segment of the schedule, the Pirates have it fairly easy. They will face teams with a collective winning percentage of .484 in the second half, which is one of the easier schedules in the major leagues. That .484 percentage includes these 13 games against .558 teams, so the balance of the remaining games is below that mark.
This is not to say that the Pirates are a perfect team and will easily win the division. The rotation could unravel. The defense could implode. The offense, strange as it may sound, could actually get worse. Some guys are coming back from the disabled list, but that will only help so much. Getting Pedro Alvarez and Jose Tabata and Chris Snyder back will only add blush and eyeliner to the pig, it won't make it pretty. Ultimately, the Pirates need to trade for a bat before the trade deadline, but the make-or-break segment will end around 10 p.m. Eastern time on July 31st, which is past the 3 p.m. deadline for trades.
The other issue is that, right now, the Pirates are playing with house money. If they don't win the division -- and, given the fact that Atlanta is five games up in the wild card race, the Buccos will need to win the division to make it to the playoffs -- then they were never expected to win the division and isn't it nice that they played hard and got close after all these years? If they do nothing and somehow win the division, then Nutting and Huntington will look like geniuses for not sacrificing the future to win now.
It's a dicey situation, so it will be interesting to see how the next ten days play out.
The Buccos are currently six games over .500 and only half a game back of the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers. People are starting to pay attention to the Pittsburgh Pirates. People are starting to write articles about them. Not just schmucks like me, but actual people that work for actual big websites and get paid and everything. On Monday night, when the Pirates visit the Atlanta Braves, the game is going to be broadcast on ESPN. That will mark only the third time since the turn of the century that the Pirates have appeared on the World Wide Leader.
The only trouble is that they're also currently shin deep in a 13 game set that could turn into a pool of awesome or a quagmire of suck. These 13 games pit the Pirates against teams with a combined winning percentage of .558. They've gotten this far with solid pitching and defense, timely hitting, and beating up on the crappy teams in the NL Central, posting a 24-14 record against teams in their division. Take out their 0-5 record against the Brewers out of that and the Buccos are 24-9 against teams in the Central that aren't from Wisconsin.
They've already escaped the "easiest" part of this stretch with two wins against the Reds. That series was a microcosm of the season thus far. The Pirates won the first two games 2-0 and 1-0 on solid pitching, excellent work by their middle relievers, and timely hitting. They lost the third game 3-1 because the offense fizzled out and Jeff Karstens allowed two unearned runs. They trusted in the defense and the defense let them down.
Over the course of the next ten games, we'll get a chance to see if the Pirates can play with the big boys. After three games at home against the Cardinals, they hit the road with a four game set in Atlanta and three games at Philadelphia. The Phillies currently hold the best record in the majors, though the Pirates did take two out of three from them earlier this year at PNC Park. The Braves aren't far behind the Phillies in the NL East and would be leading the NL Central by five games if the divisions got realigned tomorrow.
To this point, all the experts that are paying attention have stated that the Pirates have either overachieved or gotten lucky thus far. They claim that they're not full-on believers yet and that defense, pitching, and timely hitting is not sustainable. They think that a collapse is probable, if not imminent. Colin Cowherd mentioned on his radio show last week that the current 13 game string-of-death was the make-or-break point of the season for the Buccos, with a firm declaration that they would end up on the "break" side of that scenario.
But, the fact remains that they're three games in and they're 2-1. If they can at least split these next ten games -- with a preference towards winning the three division games against St. Louis -- then the experts will have to admit that they're just achieving, not overachieving.
I think that they're straight-up achieving right now. We're 96 games into the season -- almost 60 percent of the way there -- and, though the lug nuts have been loose at times, the wheels don't seem to be coming off. After the make-or-break segment of the schedule, the Pirates have it fairly easy. They will face teams with a collective winning percentage of .484 in the second half, which is one of the easier schedules in the major leagues. That .484 percentage includes these 13 games against .558 teams, so the balance of the remaining games is below that mark.
This is not to say that the Pirates are a perfect team and will easily win the division. The rotation could unravel. The defense could implode. The offense, strange as it may sound, could actually get worse. Some guys are coming back from the disabled list, but that will only help so much. Getting Pedro Alvarez and Jose Tabata and Chris Snyder back will only add blush and eyeliner to the pig, it won't make it pretty. Ultimately, the Pirates need to trade for a bat before the trade deadline, but the make-or-break segment will end around 10 p.m. Eastern time on July 31st, which is past the 3 p.m. deadline for trades.
The other issue is that, right now, the Pirates are playing with house money. If they don't win the division -- and, given the fact that Atlanta is five games up in the wild card race, the Buccos will need to win the division to make it to the playoffs -- then they were never expected to win the division and isn't it nice that they played hard and got close after all these years? If they do nothing and somehow win the division, then Nutting and Huntington will look like geniuses for not sacrificing the future to win now.
It's a dicey situation, so it will be interesting to see how the next ten days play out.
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Upon Further Review, the Pirates Do Not Suck
Right off the bat, let me just throw out this disclaimer: I am not claiming that the Pirates are a good team. I am simply stating that the Pirates no longer suck. As a matter of fact, when I originally thought about writing this post, they had just swept the Astros on the road. Now, the Astros suck, but the Pirates also used to suck. My thinking was that one of the marks of a non-sucky team was that they could sweep sucky teams on the road.
Then they got swept by the Indians on the road and I was starting to re-consider my position. Then I left the country and was expecting them to implode while I was gone. Then they took two out of three from the Phillies, Red Sox, and Blue Jays. Now, they're two games over .500 and they've almost reached the halfway point of the season.
For fans of good teams, this would probably be cause for panic. For fans of a team mired in a losing streak that's old enough to vote, it's cause for celebration. Or, at the very least, cause for guarded optimism.
How did this happen?
I was a little taken aback myself, so I investigated further. I've been to three games thus far this season and watched a handful of games on TV. I found a common thread in most of the victories and a common concern in all the losses.
Solid Pitching:
The Buccos have, for a number of years, always had a rotation stocked with veteran re-treads and young guys with potential. This season, their oldest pitcher is Kevin Correia, who's 30. Correia was a thrifty free agent signing in the offseason. Usually, those kinds of signings blow up in the Pirates' face, but this one has paid off thus far. Correia leads the National League in wins and has a respectable 3.79 ERA. Having watched a couple of starts, I keep thinking that he's doing this mostly with smoke, mirrors, and run support, but ten wins is significant, especially considering that Paul Maholm led the team in wins in 2010, with nine for the entire season.
Maholm has the stats, but not the wins, since he's not getting any kind of run support. He allowed only two runs against Toronto in seven innings on Wednesday, but still got stuck with the loss, as the Pirates managed only one run. Jeff Karstens has been the star of the staff in the first half of the season, with a 2.65 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched).
James McDonald -- no relation to former Orioles pitcher Ben McDonald -- is starting to improve on his control and has eight quality starts. Charlie Morton -- infamous for having great stuff but poor command and control -- has improved his command and is now putting the ball where he wants it to go. His stuff is good enough that, as long as the ball goes where it should, he will be very successful.
They're also 12th in Quality Starts (starts where a pitcher goes at least six innings and allows fewer than three earned runs), with 49. Last season, they had 71 Quality starts total, so that is another step in the right direction.
The middle relievers, per usual, have done well. The difference is that they're now being used to protect a lead -- or keep a game tied -- instead of being thrown in to stop the bleeding. Closer Joel Hanrahan hasn't blown a save opportunity yet and he's 25-for-25 in save situations.
The Pirates actually rank eighth in the league in ERA and are middle-of-the-pack in Quality Starts and WHIP. They're still not striking guys out or overpowering anyone, but strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they're facist.
Timely Hitting:
The past few seasons, I could feel pretty safe getting up and grabbing something at the refreshment stand once the Pirates had two outs. It seemed as though they'd always choke away opportunities in critical situations, which is one of the factors that led to them losing 100 games a year for most of this decade.
This season, Neil Walker's batting average is 80 points higher with two outs and runners in scoring position. He's hitting .550 with the bases loaded for his career and already has a grand slam this season. Most of the guys on the team -- Jose Tabata and Andrew McCutcheon have both been clutch -- have better situational averages than season averages.
Clint Hurdle:
I've been critical of Hurdle in the past, particularly concerning his comments that 500 is just a number and that it doesn't matter. I agree with him in a Big Picture sense, but this is a team that has been mired in the longest run of futility in sports history. In the Little Picture, our little corner of the world and our aspiration to, just once, to see what it feels like, be average, 500 is more than just a number. In the context of actually just getting there, I disagree with Hurdle.
But, you can't argue with the results. He has kept the team focused on winning, on competing for the division title, and has brought some much-needed discipline to the clubhouse. I won't say that he's change the face of the franchise, but he has improved the attitudes of his players and the fans. I no longer feel like the Pirates are automatically lose any game that they play. I was actually convinced that they were going to sweep Boston after they took the first two games of the series. This gives the players something that they've needed for a long, long time. I'm not talking about hope, I'm talking about some form of confidence. Some expectation, however small, that the Pirates are going to win this one.
The difference between hoping you'll win -- or, really, hoping you won't lose -- and expecting to win is huge. That's what Hurdle has brought to the team, which should help them in the coming months, because it's going to get rough.
Looking Ahead:
As of this writing, they're only three games over .500, but that's good enough for third place in the NL Central. More importantly, they're only 1.5 games out of first place, which is something that hasn't happened for the Buccos this late in the season since 2002.
The good news is that the rest of the first half -- and a good chunk of the second half -- is divisional games, and the NL Central is a pretty crappy division. They have eight games left against the Astros and ten games left against the Cubs. Houston is the worst team in the league right now and the Pirates have, historically, done well against Chicago, even when they were good and the Buccos sucked.
The bad news is that they still have ten games left against the Cardinals and ten games against the Brewers. St. Louis hasn't been too tough of a match-up for the Pirates in recent years, but Milwaukee has been crushing them for the past six seasons or so. The Brewers have won every game versus the Pirates thus far this season. If they can at least split in each of those ten game sets, then they can stay alive.
The rest of the schedule is not great, but it's not terrible. They have three road games in the second half at Philly and a four-game road series at Atlanta. They also have to play the Padres, Diamondbacks, and Giants, but get five games against the Dodgers (who are taking on a lot of water recently).
Since they're in spitting distance of the division lead and since, for the first time in about a decade, they're not already 15-20 games under .500, they'll actually be buyers as we head towards the trade deadline at the end of July. They desperately need some help on offense (more on that in a minute), but they also don't have a lot of ammunition in terms of trade bait. Their farm system isn't barren, but it's also not fully stocked. Since they're currently at some point in some five year plan -- I've lost track, but I think they're towards the end of the fourth five year plan -- they can't afford to sell off too many prospects in an effort to win now.
They have five solid starters, but every one of those guys is more like a Toyota Camry and less like a Corvette. They'll give you six good innings, but they're not flashy and they don't strike guys out. Plus which, the quality of the starting pitching is what's currently keeping the team alive, so it wouldn't be a good idea to trade Maholm or Karstens for 60 cents on the dollar just to get another bat. Add to that the fact that this is the first time in a decade that July isn't a fire sale and they can afford to be selective and it doesn't make sense to trade a guy just to trade him.
One ace that they do have in the hole is Hanrahan. He's putting up great numbers -- the save can definitely be a dubious and misleading stat, but he's backing up his perfect save record with a 1.37 ERA and a .97 WHIP. Most good teams are already set at closer, but Hanrahan would make a great set-up guy and could draw some serious interest as the trade deadline draws closer. The Pirates have the luxury of not needing to dump Hanrahan and will be able to get top value for him. At that point, they won't have a closer, but the one thing the Buccos have always been able to do -- even throughout these last two decades of failure -- is take any idiot off the scrap heat and turn him into a serviceable closer. I'm not sure who that "scrap heap guy" is -- possibly Evan Meek or Chris Resop -- but I think he's out there if they can get top dollar for Hanrahan.
The next three weeks are critical. They have two games left in the Houston series, then three games at home against the Cubs. After the All-Star break, they play nine division games -- three on the road against the Astros, then a pair of three game series against the Cardinals and Reds at home -- then they head out to play a tough seven game stretch, the aforementioned three- and four-game series against the Phillies and Braves.
They usually implode right around the All-Star break, stringing together a losing streak that starts right before and continues directly after. It looks like a different scenario this season, which is why the next three weeks are so important.
Don't Start Planning the Parade Just Yet:
The pitching could very well come back down to Earth. Earlier this season, I was watching a game and they showed a stat that said the Pirates were in the top five in a few defensive categories. I took that to mean that they were playing some pretty solid defense, which would help to explain why their record had improved considerably over 2010. Well, when I actually looked at the defensive stats, they weren't great. The Pirates are currently ranked 26th in the league in errors and 25th in fielding percentage. The defensive stats where they ranked high -- and still do -- were Assists and Put-outs. This means that the pitchers are striking a lot of guys out and that the ball is getting put into play a high percentage of the time. When it goes into play, the results have not been good.
This is a team that came into the season with a ton of questions and a dearth of talent on offense. Lyle Overbay was listed as the clean-up hitter on the Opening Day roster. In case you're asking yourself, "Who's Lyle Overbay?" you're not alone. His career highs in OPS and home runs are .880 and 22, respectively. An OPS of .880 isn't bad, but 22 home runs are not going to get the job done in the fourth slot in the line-up. This season, he's been mired in a slump and has batted as low as sixth.
There isn't a guy on this roster that can hit 30 home runs. They're currently ranked 20th in batting average, 21st in OBP (on-base percentage), and 26th in slugging. They're still scoring runs and winning games, but most of that is due to the timely hitting I mentioned previously. The thing with timely hitting is that it's, well... timely. It's extremely difficult to get timely hitting throughout the course of an entire season. They've done well thus far, but the season is barely half over.
(Quick Moneyball lesson for those of you that haven't read the book and aren't going to see the movie. The best kind of pitcher is one that doesn't let the ball go into play. When the ball goes into play, bad things can happen. Not only can the defense commit errors, but more significantly bad things like singles, doubles, triples, and home runs can happen. You're looking for pitchers are are efficient at recording outs and batters that don't produce outs. Batters can avoid outs by getting hits, but they can also avoid them by drawing walks. The facts that Pirate pitchers are inefficient at recording outs and the batters don't draw walks are two troubling leading indicators.)
The silver lining here is that they've been able to win games and stay in the hunt with an offense that started out handicapped and was then crippled by injuries. They're currently working with their fourth-string third baseman and their third-string catcher (or maybe it's the other way around) and Jose Tabata was recently placed on the disabled list. Once Pedro Alvarez and some combination of Chris Snyder and Ryan Doumit return, then things will get better but I can't say that they'll be good. Even if they're able to trade for another bat, this is not an offense that is "one bat away" from being a quality line-up.
And Now for a Little Perspective:
The big news is that the Pirates have gone from being a sucky team to being a decent team. My original thought was that they had gone simply from suck to bad, but I think they have officially made the leap to decent. Now, that's not cause to throw a parade or anything, but it's a breath of fresh air for long-suffering fans like myself.
It's entirely possible that the bottom could fall out of the season and the Pirates could fall below .500 for the 19th straight year. It's possible that they trade Hanrahan, the bat they get for him fizzles out, and the "scrap heap guy" implodes.
Regardless of the outcome, I'm just happy that it's early July and baseball is still relevant in the city of Pittsburgh.
Consider:
If nothing else, they no longer suck.
Then they got swept by the Indians on the road and I was starting to re-consider my position. Then I left the country and was expecting them to implode while I was gone. Then they took two out of three from the Phillies, Red Sox, and Blue Jays. Now, they're two games over .500 and they've almost reached the halfway point of the season.
For fans of good teams, this would probably be cause for panic. For fans of a team mired in a losing streak that's old enough to vote, it's cause for celebration. Or, at the very least, cause for guarded optimism.
How did this happen?
I was a little taken aback myself, so I investigated further. I've been to three games thus far this season and watched a handful of games on TV. I found a common thread in most of the victories and a common concern in all the losses.
Solid Pitching:
The Buccos have, for a number of years, always had a rotation stocked with veteran re-treads and young guys with potential. This season, their oldest pitcher is Kevin Correia, who's 30. Correia was a thrifty free agent signing in the offseason. Usually, those kinds of signings blow up in the Pirates' face, but this one has paid off thus far. Correia leads the National League in wins and has a respectable 3.79 ERA. Having watched a couple of starts, I keep thinking that he's doing this mostly with smoke, mirrors, and run support, but ten wins is significant, especially considering that Paul Maholm led the team in wins in 2010, with nine for the entire season.
Maholm has the stats, but not the wins, since he's not getting any kind of run support. He allowed only two runs against Toronto in seven innings on Wednesday, but still got stuck with the loss, as the Pirates managed only one run. Jeff Karstens has been the star of the staff in the first half of the season, with a 2.65 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched).
James McDonald -- no relation to former Orioles pitcher Ben McDonald -- is starting to improve on his control and has eight quality starts. Charlie Morton -- infamous for having great stuff but poor command and control -- has improved his command and is now putting the ball where he wants it to go. His stuff is good enough that, as long as the ball goes where it should, he will be very successful.
They're also 12th in Quality Starts (starts where a pitcher goes at least six innings and allows fewer than three earned runs), with 49. Last season, they had 71 Quality starts total, so that is another step in the right direction.
The middle relievers, per usual, have done well. The difference is that they're now being used to protect a lead -- or keep a game tied -- instead of being thrown in to stop the bleeding. Closer Joel Hanrahan hasn't blown a save opportunity yet and he's 25-for-25 in save situations.
The Pirates actually rank eighth in the league in ERA and are middle-of-the-pack in Quality Starts and WHIP. They're still not striking guys out or overpowering anyone, but strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they're facist.
Timely Hitting:
The past few seasons, I could feel pretty safe getting up and grabbing something at the refreshment stand once the Pirates had two outs. It seemed as though they'd always choke away opportunities in critical situations, which is one of the factors that led to them losing 100 games a year for most of this decade.
This season, Neil Walker's batting average is 80 points higher with two outs and runners in scoring position. He's hitting .550 with the bases loaded for his career and already has a grand slam this season. Most of the guys on the team -- Jose Tabata and Andrew McCutcheon have both been clutch -- have better situational averages than season averages.
Clint Hurdle:
I've been critical of Hurdle in the past, particularly concerning his comments that 500 is just a number and that it doesn't matter. I agree with him in a Big Picture sense, but this is a team that has been mired in the longest run of futility in sports history. In the Little Picture, our little corner of the world and our aspiration to, just once, to see what it feels like, be average, 500 is more than just a number. In the context of actually just getting there, I disagree with Hurdle.
But, you can't argue with the results. He has kept the team focused on winning, on competing for the division title, and has brought some much-needed discipline to the clubhouse. I won't say that he's change the face of the franchise, but he has improved the attitudes of his players and the fans. I no longer feel like the Pirates are automatically lose any game that they play. I was actually convinced that they were going to sweep Boston after they took the first two games of the series. This gives the players something that they've needed for a long, long time. I'm not talking about hope, I'm talking about some form of confidence. Some expectation, however small, that the Pirates are going to win this one.
The difference between hoping you'll win -- or, really, hoping you won't lose -- and expecting to win is huge. That's what Hurdle has brought to the team, which should help them in the coming months, because it's going to get rough.
Looking Ahead:
As of this writing, they're only three games over .500, but that's good enough for third place in the NL Central. More importantly, they're only 1.5 games out of first place, which is something that hasn't happened for the Buccos this late in the season since 2002.
The good news is that the rest of the first half -- and a good chunk of the second half -- is divisional games, and the NL Central is a pretty crappy division. They have eight games left against the Astros and ten games left against the Cubs. Houston is the worst team in the league right now and the Pirates have, historically, done well against Chicago, even when they were good and the Buccos sucked.
The bad news is that they still have ten games left against the Cardinals and ten games against the Brewers. St. Louis hasn't been too tough of a match-up for the Pirates in recent years, but Milwaukee has been crushing them for the past six seasons or so. The Brewers have won every game versus the Pirates thus far this season. If they can at least split in each of those ten game sets, then they can stay alive.
The rest of the schedule is not great, but it's not terrible. They have three road games in the second half at Philly and a four-game road series at Atlanta. They also have to play the Padres, Diamondbacks, and Giants, but get five games against the Dodgers (who are taking on a lot of water recently).
Since they're in spitting distance of the division lead and since, for the first time in about a decade, they're not already 15-20 games under .500, they'll actually be buyers as we head towards the trade deadline at the end of July. They desperately need some help on offense (more on that in a minute), but they also don't have a lot of ammunition in terms of trade bait. Their farm system isn't barren, but it's also not fully stocked. Since they're currently at some point in some five year plan -- I've lost track, but I think they're towards the end of the fourth five year plan -- they can't afford to sell off too many prospects in an effort to win now.
They have five solid starters, but every one of those guys is more like a Toyota Camry and less like a Corvette. They'll give you six good innings, but they're not flashy and they don't strike guys out. Plus which, the quality of the starting pitching is what's currently keeping the team alive, so it wouldn't be a good idea to trade Maholm or Karstens for 60 cents on the dollar just to get another bat. Add to that the fact that this is the first time in a decade that July isn't a fire sale and they can afford to be selective and it doesn't make sense to trade a guy just to trade him.
One ace that they do have in the hole is Hanrahan. He's putting up great numbers -- the save can definitely be a dubious and misleading stat, but he's backing up his perfect save record with a 1.37 ERA and a .97 WHIP. Most good teams are already set at closer, but Hanrahan would make a great set-up guy and could draw some serious interest as the trade deadline draws closer. The Pirates have the luxury of not needing to dump Hanrahan and will be able to get top value for him. At that point, they won't have a closer, but the one thing the Buccos have always been able to do -- even throughout these last two decades of failure -- is take any idiot off the scrap heat and turn him into a serviceable closer. I'm not sure who that "scrap heap guy" is -- possibly Evan Meek or Chris Resop -- but I think he's out there if they can get top dollar for Hanrahan.
The next three weeks are critical. They have two games left in the Houston series, then three games at home against the Cubs. After the All-Star break, they play nine division games -- three on the road against the Astros, then a pair of three game series against the Cardinals and Reds at home -- then they head out to play a tough seven game stretch, the aforementioned three- and four-game series against the Phillies and Braves.
They usually implode right around the All-Star break, stringing together a losing streak that starts right before and continues directly after. It looks like a different scenario this season, which is why the next three weeks are so important.
Don't Start Planning the Parade Just Yet:
The pitching could very well come back down to Earth. Earlier this season, I was watching a game and they showed a stat that said the Pirates were in the top five in a few defensive categories. I took that to mean that they were playing some pretty solid defense, which would help to explain why their record had improved considerably over 2010. Well, when I actually looked at the defensive stats, they weren't great. The Pirates are currently ranked 26th in the league in errors and 25th in fielding percentage. The defensive stats where they ranked high -- and still do -- were Assists and Put-outs. This means that the pitchers are striking a lot of guys out and that the ball is getting put into play a high percentage of the time. When it goes into play, the results have not been good.
This is a team that came into the season with a ton of questions and a dearth of talent on offense. Lyle Overbay was listed as the clean-up hitter on the Opening Day roster. In case you're asking yourself, "Who's Lyle Overbay?" you're not alone. His career highs in OPS and home runs are .880 and 22, respectively. An OPS of .880 isn't bad, but 22 home runs are not going to get the job done in the fourth slot in the line-up. This season, he's been mired in a slump and has batted as low as sixth.
There isn't a guy on this roster that can hit 30 home runs. They're currently ranked 20th in batting average, 21st in OBP (on-base percentage), and 26th in slugging. They're still scoring runs and winning games, but most of that is due to the timely hitting I mentioned previously. The thing with timely hitting is that it's, well... timely. It's extremely difficult to get timely hitting throughout the course of an entire season. They've done well thus far, but the season is barely half over.
(Quick Moneyball lesson for those of you that haven't read the book and aren't going to see the movie. The best kind of pitcher is one that doesn't let the ball go into play. When the ball goes into play, bad things can happen. Not only can the defense commit errors, but more significantly bad things like singles, doubles, triples, and home runs can happen. You're looking for pitchers are are efficient at recording outs and batters that don't produce outs. Batters can avoid outs by getting hits, but they can also avoid them by drawing walks. The facts that Pirate pitchers are inefficient at recording outs and the batters don't draw walks are two troubling leading indicators.)
The silver lining here is that they've been able to win games and stay in the hunt with an offense that started out handicapped and was then crippled by injuries. They're currently working with their fourth-string third baseman and their third-string catcher (or maybe it's the other way around) and Jose Tabata was recently placed on the disabled list. Once Pedro Alvarez and some combination of Chris Snyder and Ryan Doumit return, then things will get better but I can't say that they'll be good. Even if they're able to trade for another bat, this is not an offense that is "one bat away" from being a quality line-up.
And Now for a Little Perspective:
The big news is that the Pirates have gone from being a sucky team to being a decent team. My original thought was that they had gone simply from suck to bad, but I think they have officially made the leap to decent. Now, that's not cause to throw a parade or anything, but it's a breath of fresh air for long-suffering fans like myself.
It's entirely possible that the bottom could fall out of the season and the Pirates could fall below .500 for the 19th straight year. It's possible that they trade Hanrahan, the bat they get for him fizzles out, and the "scrap heap guy" implodes.
Regardless of the outcome, I'm just happy that it's early July and baseball is still relevant in the city of Pittsburgh.
Consider:
- I've had more random conversations with people about the Pirates in the past three weeks than I think I have in the past three seasons.
- The games I've been to this year were all well-attended victories.
- My aunt called to try and get tickets for the July 4th game against the Astros and was told that there were no tickets available. Sure, it was a holiday and sure she was trying to buy Lexus Club tickets, but the fact remains that someone wanted to buy tickets to see the Buccos and was turned away because the seats had already been sold. Again, this happens all the time in cities where they have good baseball teams and a strong local following, but I have not heard of this happening in the PNC Park Era.
- I spent ten minutes looking at the upcoming schedule, comparing that with league standings, and trying to figure out which games were most critical for the Pirates. I don't think I've done that since 1997.
- I used part of this post to discuss which players on the roster the Pirates might be able to leverage in order to improve their team and make a run at the division title. I'm pretty sure that blogs did not exist the last time I thought about that.
- I know a number of people that are limbering up in anticipation of jumping on the bandwagon after the break.
If nothing else, they no longer suck.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
First Things First
I realize that it's the middle of July and I haven't posted anything since the beginning of June. I know this. Then again, it's the football offseason. What could possibly be happening? As it turns out, lots of shit.
Here's everything that doesn't have to do with the Steelers. If you absolutely must, please scroll down to see what I think about Training Camp (I can't wait either, but we're going to get through this - and the articles will certainly flow once I have something to talk about).
Here's everything that doesn't have to do with the Steelers. If you absolutely must, please scroll down to see what I think about Training Camp (I can't wait either, but we're going to get through this - and the articles will certainly flow once I have something to talk about).
- I hate Barry Bonds with a passion. I have been pissed at Barry Bonds for more than half my life. In the 1990 NLCS he laid a gigantic egg (went something like 1 for 39) and couldn't throw out Sid Bream in the '91 NLCS. And Bream was slow. My grandmother could get from second to home faster than him. No really. They had a race in 1993. That was before her hip surgery, though... My point is this: Even though I hate Barry Bonds as much as I do, I would like to whip out my cock and slap every sportswriter that's talking about A-Rod and steriods soundly across the face with it. Line up fellas. Won't be the first time. Let the man enjoy the history he is making! Fuck asterics and fuck eras. Would Ruth have dominated like he did if he had to play against superior athletes that were banned from the sport at the time? If he had to hit a slider? Would Aaron have lasted as long as he did and dealt with the media pressure that exists in today's game? Could he hit a split-fingered fastball and compete against the best Latinos and Asians the world has to offer? I have an answer to those questions: I don't give a shit. They played whenever they played and can't be held responsible for the era they lived through. And, while I'm not a fan of steroids and professional sports, I believe that when Bonds saw Brady Fucking Anderson hit 50 home runs, he said to himself, "I got to get me some of that!" Every home run hitter was juiced and no one else hit 73. And Sammy Sosa burned out before he could threaten Aaron. And McGuire's brittle, steroid addled bones gave way before he could. If Griffey Jr. didn't injure every part of his body from 2001-Present, we'd be talking about who was going to break the record first. Shit happens. People use "special creams" and their heads grow six sizes. Deal with it. When Bonds hits 756, I'll be happy for him. When A-Rod hits 757 (or whatever the record ends up being), I'll be happy for him. Someone making baseball history is not a time for bitterness. It's a time to look at a particular accomplishment and note it for the impressive feat that it is. Steroids or no, Bonds has been the best player in baseball year in and year out since 1986. It's time someone took notice.
- The Pirates suck balls. Weidman and I have taken to coming up with fun nicknames for their players. I call Freddie Sanchez "Dirty Sanchez." He calls Adam Laroche "Stinky Laroche." You figure it out. And John Van Benschoten's name sounds like something some hammered 20 year old would say if asked for a character witness at Oktoberfest. "No, man. You got it all wrong. I know someone here... Heinrich... Van... Benssschotennn." And that dude sucks balls, too. Great first overall pick, guys. I think we should be able to do to McClatchy and Littlefield and Bonifay what the Chinese did to their Health Minister.
- Michael Vick is facing federal charges. It'll be interesting to see what Kaiser Goodell has to say about that. It's all well and good to suspend cornerbacks and back-ups on a whim to exercise your authority in a new regime. What happens when you have to lay down the law on one of the most popular players in the league? Probably in all of sports?
- Transfomers is a BAD ASS movie. See it. Twice. Megan Fox made me fly at half mast when she was clothed and not being penetrated or making out with another chick. That's rare company. If you're looking for plot and Oscar nods, this is the wrong movie. If you're looking for a smokin' hot girl and lots of explosions, see it twice.
- Also see Live Free or Die Hard. If nothing else, so you can see John McClain on the big screen.
- There's something fishy about the "contract extension" the Michel Therrion signed. I think it's a no-confidence signing. Either the kids develop and anyone can coach them to a cup or they don't, fire Mikey, and get someone who can bring the best out of them. They're renting Therrion and that's not right. I'm not even convinced that he gets an actual extension (read: 4 or 5 years) if they make a deep playoff run. He seems like he's just keeping the seat warm until the Pens can sign a name guy. After all, Mike was coaching the Baby Penguins a couple years ago. Before that, who had heard of him outside Pittsburgh. Now everyone knows that the Pens have a young, talented roster. Someone's gunning for this job in 2009. Someone big. Then again, I don't know anything about hockey. The biggest name I can think of in coaching is Scotty Bowman. Isn't he dead?
- If you haven't started watching Rock of Love on VH1, start doing so. It's worth it to watch the breast implants bounce across the screen.
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