Four Days in Atlanta We Won't Forget

As I begin to write this post, the Pirates are in Philadelphia down by 7 after the Phillies went up 8-0 in the first two innings, lighting up starting pitcher Charlie Morton like the liberty bell in the outfield at Citizens Bank Park. While the Phillies series is a different story, let's return to the four days in Atlanta. If the Pirates wanted to leave any town any sooner, it had to be Atlanta.

A week that started with a two hour rain delay during a national television broadcast on ESPN Monday Night Baseball, and resulted in a win before the clock struck midnight. The next day, the weather was better, but dark clouds soon formed as the game went into extra innings. A late night affair that became the longest game in the history of both teams, and ended in the ugliest way possible. It was already enough the Pirates has no runs in the last 18 innings of that game, but umpire Jerry Meals, who became a top trend on Twitter and also received a special tagged trend #jerrymealssaysitssafe, which I and many had fun with, made one of the worst calls in the history of baseball, making Jim Joyce's safe call to ruin a no-hitter in Detroit look bleak to Meals' blunder in the 19 inning marathon.

While I and the rest of the baseball loving world blasted Jerry Meals on television, radio and social media sites, the Pirates went back to work to stay close with Milwaukee and St. Louis in the NL Central. Much to our dismay, the game went into extra innings once again. Upon this, I tweeted Pittsburgh sports columnist and 93.7 The Fan's Joe Starkey jokingly asking him the name of the home plate umpire that night, which he retweeted. Of course, the game didn't go any longer as the Braves made the bottom of the 10th batting practice working with Leroux on the mound and Joel Hanrahan for the second straight night not being used in key situations. I guess you could say that Sid Bream was laughing wherever he is now.

Although the Bucs couldn't win the rubber match the night before, the Pirates got help from Andrew McCutchen and saw Kevin Correia beat Derek Lowe in the pitching match-up, while picking up an RBI early in the game.

After that recap, we can now look at what we learned from our long visit in the deep South.

1) Lyle Overbay is Useless: For all the free passes Overbay has received by many in the media, his performance finally made people realize that he flat out sucks. 1 for 8 in the 19 inning game on Tuesday night, Wednesday morning made you react to him stepping up to the plate like you would a pitcher (NL fans only feel this, sorry AL fans).

2) Pedro was Average: Wasn't expecting the world from Alvarez, but he did OK. Good defense, despite the routine ground-out that ended in a ground-rule double. He came up big in different situations. The Bucs need more from him if they wanna stay toward the top of the Central.

3) Is Steve Pierce Even There? Pierce has been as productive as Lyle Overbay. Not much of a comment, but many would take him over Overbay at first in a heart beat.

4) Daniel McCutchen: The 6th starter?: OK, I know he won't be the 6th pitcher in the rotation the Pirates would add, but his 5+ innings in extra's on Tuesday was impressive. It took Jerry Meals to spoil the effort. May I add that he lasted as long as James McDonald and Charlie Morton have in their past few starts.



5) THE PIRATES NEED A BAT!: This road trip is a challenge for this team. What seems to be a bigger challenge is the Pirates front office having to actually make a move and pick up a hitter to spark a Pirates offense that is more cold than warm. The only thing standing between GM Neil Huntington and a trade to keep the Pirates relevant through September is the black sheep of Pittsburgh sports, Bob Nutting. This would be a great moment for the C. Montgomery Burns of Pittsburgh to share his wealth with the fan base by picking up a bat in exchange for some measly prospects. God forbid, we give away a prospect. If the Pirates do, they only risk having a more productive offense. Then again, that's my opinion, and I don't work the books for the Pirates. If the Pirates make a move by Sunday, get a player like Derek Lee and make a run at the division title but come up a game or two short, I think Pirates fans would be content with that. But I think everyone would like that division title to go along with a winning season, which is what we've really wanted for 18 years.

Pittsburgh is Experiencing a Baseball Revival.

July 20, 2010. I think the city of Pittsburgh was counting down the days until the Pittsburgh Steelers hit training camp at St. Vincent College. One year later, the city sees its long-time lowly baseball team, the Pirates in first place with a game on Milwaukee in the NL Central. That’s right! The Pirates are in first place and Pittsburgh sports fans, regardless of the Pirates record, are not counting the days down to Steelers camp. Instead they are being drawn to the Bucco bandwagon that is filling up faster than the Titanic filled up with water and sank. Of course the NFL is still in a lockout that may come to an end within days, but the Pirates could have fans watching games through September and possibly into October.

OK, some are thinking that most Pirates fans and I are looking too far into the future, like we are running the Steelers and Penguins championship parade route in our heads already. Yes, we may be in over our heads with the Pirates right now. But come on, can you blame us? Especially fans like myself who were not old enough or alive to see the 1992 season. Then again, maybe we didn’t want to be there to see Sid Bream send the Braves to the World Series that year. Think about all the things that have happened since then. We’ve had three different Presidents, gas was a lot cheaper, and Bill Cowher was just starting out as the new Steelers head coach. So the steel city has suffered with America’s pastime for more than a while. A team that used to be the dominate sport of Pittsburgh, long before the Steelers turned the corner in the 1970’s and the Penguins drafted a young French-Canadian named Mario.

While critics may see this as a phase in the Pirates season that could soon disappear as quickly as it began, it has made those who believed that the Pirates would someday turn the corner feeling like prophets and reeling those fans who were getting away back to PNC Park this summer. In mid-June, the Pirates began to show signs of a .500 team, even after being swept by Cleveland. Pittsburgher’s believed that this team may have something going for them. It’s almost like in the film Major League when an Indian’s fan thinks, “Maybe they aren’t so f*#king bad.” Pirate merchandise has been flying off the shelves. McCutchen jerseys, “hammer time” shirts for Joel Hanrahan and Neil “the Pittsburgh Kid” Walker shirts are seen all over town along with caps and other t-shirts. Then there is attendance. The Pirates have shattered attendance records (with a little help from Phillies and Red Sox fans) in June and July. 26,000 + fans came to PNC Park tonight against the Cincinnati Reds on a hot, humid Tuesday night, and there were no bobblehead or t-shirt giveaways. There were no fireworks or .38 Special after the game. People came to see and support a young group of players who are making this town remember why they love baseball. The close division race, the scoreboard watching, the tight late-inning games, and the feeling that every game matters. Pittsburgh can only hope that the Pirates continue their success as the hot days of summer soon become the early days of fall. For now, baseball is back in the steel city and it has those old enough to remember a good Pirate team thinking back to those gold old days. For those who have never seen a winning Pirate team, this may be the year, and hopefully, a new chapter in a 125 year-old story.

Jagr's Choice Shows the True Colors Pittsburgh Forgot

For Pittsburgh Penguin fans, they have to be slapping themselves for not realizing that Jarimor Jagr was capable of making the move he did on Friday afternoon. Earlier in the week, the Steel City was abuzz about the idea that Jagr was very interested in signing with the Pens in his return to the NHL. On Wednesday, Pittsburgh expected Jagr to make a flight into New York City, hop on a plane to Pittsburgh, and agree to a one year, $2 Million deal. To top it all off, all the Pittsburgh affiliates would have had coverage of the live broadcast of Jarimor receiving his "68" jersey on a jersey different from the one he wore a decade ago with the team, and shaking Mario Lemieux's hand and possibly a "bro-hug."

For all of us, our alarm clocks awoke us from that wonderful dream while Jagr's whereabouts remained unknown from Wednesday night into Friday afternoon. The Penguins and Red Wings both patiently waiting to hear on his decision, finally pulled their deals an hour before free agency began. Pens fans showed some disappointment, which turned into anger once the afternoon rolled around. The news that Jagr not only turned Pittsburgh down, but then the news that he took $1.3 million more to play for the Philadelphia Flyers.

For those of you who have never watched hockey or followed it, the Penguins and Flyers hate each other. There was more love between Biggie and 2Pac than there is between these two teams. So you can see why your friend the Penguin fan may have had steam coming out of their ears yesterday.

Well, unless Jagr doesn't know the Flyers schedule, he will have to face the crowd that once loved him long ago three times, and maybe even in a playoff series in the spring. So it is going to be interesting to see the fans reaction to Jagr when he takes the ice on December 29 at CONSOL Energy Center. Hopefully for him, the fans are still in the Christmas spirit, and the Pens are at the top of the Atlantic and East. While it won't be like Lebron James' return to Cleveland, it will be a hostile environment, especially since Pittsburgh is still pulling the knife out of their back which Jagr dug deeper this time.

So what did we learn from all of this? Jarimor Jagr is in it for the money. OK,  lesson learned, but to go to an arch rival that the Penguins despise with a passion leaves fans feeling that this was the nail in the coffin for any reconciliation of Jagr and the Penguins. This may not bother Ray Shero as much, but what about a guy like Mario? A man who reached out to him when he could have said "sorry, but we're not interested in your services anymore." So put your Jagr jersey back in the closet or into your bonfire this 4th of July weekend, it'll be a collectors item down the road or good firewood.