We Need Replay! Ew, I Can't Believe I Said That

Well, no secret what this is about. Last night, and into the wee hours of the morning, our Buccos and the Braves played 19 innings and nearly seven grueling hours of baseball. And just like back in '92 the fate of both teams came down to a play at the plate. Only this time, the scapegoat is a man named Jerry, not Barry. Umpire Jerry Meals made what was perhaps the worst call in Major League Baseball history, literally. That's not an exaggeration. I don't have to provide the setting or tell you the story. By now, everyone in the country either watched in person, like me, or has seen it on ESPN today.

For those of us who stayed up until about 2:30 am, it was utterly infuriating. For about the last two hours of the game, I just wanted it to end so I could go to bed. When it finally did, I was so irate I couldn't sleep. I realize I'm just a fan watching on TV, but even I felt cheated. Bucs manager Clint Hurdle said it best, "The game deserved better." He's absolutely right. That particular game, as well as the game of baseball in general deserves better.

First I want to discuss the umpire's decision. I don't care if Meals was 100% certain that Mike McKenry missed the swipe tag on Julio Lugo, in professional baseball when the ball beats the runner by 15 feet, he is called out. I have never, on any level, seen a runner thrown out by that much and be called safe. Unless Lugo made some miraculous slide to avoid the tag, which he didn't considering the tag was applied at least five feet from home plate, the runner is out strictly on principle. I'm sure Meals made what he thought was the right call. I believe him that he thought the Fort missed the tag, but for God's sake let common sense prevail. Especially in that situation. We are down to the bare bones on the bench and in the pen. It's down to who is tougher, who is going to budge first... Neither team did, yet we were cheated out of the ending that game deserved. All Meals ended up doing was making the most embarrassing call in MLB history and disgracing the game and both teams who busted their asses all night long. I'm not saying Meals cheated, but every Pirate player and fan, as well as baseball fans in general, were cheated. And the Braves will take it, but you know they didn't want to win that way either. Everyone deserved better than the effort Jerry Meals gave at the end of that game.

I have always been a believer that, over the course of 162 games, the bad calls even out. For every time you get screwed, at some point in the season a bad call goes your way. I always felt baseball had a way of working itself out like that. But then this happens, and I have to change my tune a little. This kind of thing can be totally demoralizing to a team, especially a young one. I honestly feel that this singular idiotic call has the magnitude to change the whole season for the Buccos. It depends on how they react. They can let it kill them or they can rally behind it and get that "us against the world" mentality.

So obviously I have to talk about instant replay, which I have always been against with every fiber of my baseball purist being. I have heard a bunch of ideas of how to handle it and most of them are terrible. Obviously they will never replay balls and strikes, and you cant review every close play in a baseball game because they are all close. Giving the coaches the ability to challenge plays like the NFL is a decent idea but I still think it will slow the game down too much. My solution is kind of a mixture of the NHL and NCAA football. First, the umpiring crews are changed from four men to five, one of whom stays up in the replay booth. No one on the field, coach or umpire, decides what will be reviewed. There is enough down-time between plays in baseball for each play to be reviewed by the umpire in the booth, and play is stopped only when he feels a call needs to be overturned. This way the flow of the game is not interrupted unless a call is undoubtedly being changed. This eliminates wasting five minutes at a time for one of those "ruling on the field stands" situations. With the five man crew, the the game is only stopped when the wrong call is made. Baseball is slow and boring enough for most people and stopping play for every bang-bang call would only make it worse. I hate that I had to change my stance on this, but damn Jerry Meals screwed that one up so bad that I have to. Thanks alot you blind bastard.

Is There Really No Substitute For Experience?

So the NFL lockout is over and that's a huge deal to me right now... Ok, just kidding. The Buccos are still in first place, do you really think I'm going to write about football? Sheesh. My topic of the day is a bit along the same lines of the last post. But instead of pondering whether of not Pittsburgh should go after a big time position player, I am going to question the importance of the ever popular "role player". Does a player with September and October baseball experience automatically improve a young team like the Bucs. Obviously the Pirates are a team of little major league experience at all, let alone experience in the playoff stretch. So that makes me wonder, does a guy like Jason Giambi, for example, have any value; anything to offer the Bucs? Does his gray hair and beer gut get washed away because he played for the Yanks in 2004? The answer is, maybe. I have never been a big believer that experience is all that it's cracked up to be. It seems like a cop-out that experts use as a way to make their picks, in a series between teams that match up too closely for them to make a real prediction.

One way to look at it is that these guys have been to the puppet show and they have seen all the strings. They can be a calming figure in the clubhouse to a bunch of kids who could easily get overwhelmed when things get real. Right now there are 62 games left and they are still the fun-loving Buccos. But what if they are still in the hunt with ten games to go? These guys don't know that pressure, but a guy like Giambi or Cuddyer do know what it's like. They have been on playoff teams and can be someone for these young guys to look to, and talk to, when they hit the media whirlwind associated with playoff baseball. For this reason, there are those who find experience to be invaluable.

On the other hand, is Jason Giambi going to come up to Pedro Alvarez one day and say "Hey kid, this is how I did it in 2004, now you do it too." Of course not. Skill is what gets you to the playoffs, not the fact that you played on a good team eight years ago. These guys might be young but they are professionals, and so far they have the skills to win baseball games. Some say they haven't played under any pressure yet, but believe me, when they lost over 100 games last year, there was pressure coming into this season for these kids. Guys like McCutchen, Walker, Alvarez, and Tababta have been force-fed to Pirate fans as our future saviors since they hit the farm. They know there is pressure on them. They are the guys who are expected stop the runaway losing train and turn it back around. And even worse, for the first time in nearly two decades, Pirate fans are forming expectations. And that makes in even harder. But they seem to be handling it so far, don't ya think? Forget those old guys, let the young bucks play their asses off for 162 games and see where they stand when the dust settles. Either way this year has been a success.

In my opinion, the latter is the way to go. Sure the Giambis of the world can tell the youngsters all the old Jeter stories they want, but honestly, who cares? If the organization is going to add anything, I say add skilled position players over grizzled pinch hitters, all while not giving up too much of the future to do it. Experience might matter a little, but with or without it, the team that is playing the hottest baseball come playoff time is always a team to be reckoned with. If the starters continue pitching well and the entire lineup is healthy, I say we sit back and see what these inexperienced kids can do.

Decisions, Decisions

Is this really happening? Did we really just eek 2 out of 3 from the Reds and win yet another series? Are we seriously in first place on July 20th? The short, and correct answer is yes. Yes it is, yes we did, yes we are. And thus we start the most important month of Pirate baseball in the last 20 years. The Cards, Braves, and Phillies looming large in the next couple weeks and if they can even manage to go .500 through that stretch it's looking like we have a legit shot.

So the big question arises in the Yinzer fan's mind... What do we do before the trade deadline? As I have mentioned before, we 'Burgh fans tend to have knee-jerk reactions to things, and for the most part this seems to be no different. People seem to want to go after a rental player almost as bad as they wanted to trade Fleury for a winger ten games into hockey season. And although it is tempting, I think it's a bad idea. Believe me, even I get a little excited thinking about names like Beltran or Willingham on the back of a Bucco Jersey, but I don't think we can afford to give up the prospects we would have to lose.

There are two ways of thinking about this, and I am definitely on the fence at times. You have to ask yourself; are we overachieving? Could this be our only shot? Maybe it's time to go big or go home. What if we try to stay the course and turn back into a 50 win team next year? It will seem like we blew our only shot to go after a big name. My goodness, for once we should be buyers at the deadline!!!

But then there's that other side. The side that says stay the course. Keep our prospects and watch them grow. You can't give away your future for a 3-month player. We are getting some guys back off the DL that should bolster what is right now a pretty shaky offense. Solidify th bullpen, hope the starters keep pitching the way they have all year, and ride the horses that got us here. The Walkers and McCutchens that we are loving so much this year could be the same prospects we could trade in the next ten days. In my opinion this season has already been a huge success and we should stay the course.

They told us for years that building the farm system was the way to go, and we waited, usually impatiently as we put a bad baseball team on thefield year after year. Now it turns out they might not have been bullshitting us as much as we thought. So I hope they decide to pass on the big fancy name and keep the young talent. It's gotten us this far and it should only get better. And I now that I personally would rather see a solid future than one big push. Ask yourself this; Would you trade one good playoff run for 18 more losing seasons? I know I wouldn't.

Everyone's Undefeated

Now as we all know, I'm a bit of an old-school, romantic when it comes to the great game of baseball. So my love and adoration of opening day should come as absolutely no surprise. You wait through a cold March, and finally the boys come back home and the games count. And no matter how poor the previous season went, this is a clean slate. Everyone is undefeated, everyone is tied for first place. This includes our beloved Battlin' Bucs. Now I will be the first to admit that I can be a bit of a downer when it comes to the Pirates, but let's be honest, I'm usually right. But I have hope for the 2011 campaign. Don't get me wrong, It's not "book my October tickets" kind of hope, but it's hope none the less. It's not playoff hope, it's not even .500 hope. I am considering it "step in the right direction" kind of hope. This hope mainly is born out of the fact that the Bucs can't possibly be worse than they were last year... can they? I'm going with no, if for no other reason that there has been addition by subtraction. Even if there were no other improvements, Pittsburgh is better simply because they don't have Aki Iwamua and the Laroche brothers in the opening day lineup, and not to mention Mr. Personality, John Russell was given his walking papers.

These vacancies alone allow for improvement, but the replacements at these positions are what makes this season exciting. Since Neil Walker was called up to plug the leak that was Iwamura, he has become the every-day second baseman and was one of the best rookies in baseball last season. This will be his first chance to play in the Bigs full time, and starting on opening day. Same goes for slugging Pedro Alvarez who got a lot of MLB experience under his belt last season and should come out swinging in '11. He might not have to greatest glove at the hot corner but his bat will more than atone for it. Throw in the best centerfielder in the league in Andrew McCutchen, young leadoff man Jose Tabata, and new manager Clint Hurdle, who stresses the fundamentals, and the Buccos should be exciting, if nothing else.

Although the pitching staff as a whole should be a little better, most of the improvement was made in the bullpen. The starting rotation will still be the glaring weakness for the Pirates this year. The good thing about the staff is that they are young, and young pitchers always have the potential to get hot and surprise us. New acquisition Kevin Correia will provide some needed veteran leadership in the rotation. We know what to expect from Paul Maholm and hopefully he can provide some consistency. Those are the two guys that we have a general idea of what we will get out of them. The other three guys are the wild cards, and a huge chunk of Pittsburgh's season will fall on their young arms. James McDonald is not an ace, but has good stuff and is as close to an ace that the Bucs have to offer. Ross Ohlendorf is coming off a 1-11 season but has the stuff to bounce back. His teammates did not give him much run support last season and his record does not reflect his pitching. And then comes you know who. It is widely said that Charlie Morton has the best stuff on the team, but for some reason he just can't put it together. He had a pretty nice spring and word is he was really putting in the extra reps. Let's hope that all translates to the real deal when he hits the bump at PNC Park. Pitching will make or break the Buccos this year. Their offense should be able to keep them in most ballgames.

So it's that simple. Pittsburgh finally has the talent in the field and at the plate. The pitching is still a little rough, but this team looks like they may be ready to start making some serious strides toward relevance. The pieces are starting to fall into place for a bright future. You hear alot of people say that Pirate fans should be hoping for more than just a .500 season and that the playoffs should be our goal. I was one of these people. But you have to look at the big picture. When a team hasn't had a winning season in 18 years, a .500 record has to be your first goal. I mean of course they want to win the division and make the playoffs, but that's not realistic. When you have been so bad for so long, you just need that one season to break the streak. I have to believe that when it happens, and it WILL happen, that it will be a huge step toward legitimate hope. Will this be the season we hit the 81 win mark, and lift an 18 year old gorilla off the city of Pittsburgh? Only time will tell. But trust me, we're on the right track.

March Madness: Round 2

So as we remember, the wife wiped the floor with me in the first round by seven, count 'em, SEVEN games. Lucky for me she had lost some teams that she carried into the later rounds. These rounds are, of course, worth more points so I was still in the game, despite being down 24-17. We both had a fairly dreadful second round as well, but as you will see, I have managed to get myself within striking distance. After the round of 32, I have only seven of my sweet 16 teams remaining, which, for you math majors, is less than 50 percent. That's not good at all. However, Kori only took five teams into the sweet 16. Thus, I gained 14 points in the second round and Kori added 10, leaving her with a much slimmer lead of 34-31. Here is how round three is looking, where every correct pick is worth four points.

Ohio State vs. Kentucky: Kori has neither team in this game, bummer. I had Ohio State playing Princeton, but I do have the Buckeyes advancing to the elite 8. This game can give me the lead.

Marquette vs. North Carolina: Kori had UNC playing Xavier, and I had UNC playing Syracuse. Neither of us had UNC advancing so I guess no ground will be gained in this game.

Duke vs. Arizona: I had Duke playing Memphis, Kori had Duke playing Texas. But we both have Duke advancing to the next round.

UCONN vs. San Diego State: Good Lord, I actually have both of these teams picked correctly. Kor has SDSU playing Cincy, and has Cincy winning. Bad news for her. I like UCONN to take the Aztecs down. I just really hope they don't show Kemba Walker's mom and brother so much. Man, they're annoying.

Kansas vs. Richmond: We both had the Jayhawks playing Vandy, I picked KU to advance, but Kori liked Vandy in the upset. Smells like victory for me.

VCU vs. Florida State: Neither one of us, nor anyone else in the world, has this matchup, so let's ignore it.

Butler vs. Wisconsin: We both had Pitt playing Kansas State. We were wrong. No points to gain here either.

BYU vs. Florida: We both had BYU playiing someone else, but also both have Jimmer and the other four guys advancing to the next round.

So there it is. This has gone from who has a better bracket, to whose bracket is less awful. There really is no winner in this battle of futility. I'm embarrassed I even have to share this ridiculousness. Seriously, if you don't read anymore of these updates, I can't blame you.

March Madness: First Round Recap

Wow. Is this really happening again? I mean I swear, I DO know what I'm talking about. Yet, somehow, I barely break .500 in the first round. That's right, I'm 17-15. And of those 15 losses, I had 4 of them going to the sweet 16. Ugh, I'm pissed. That's borderline embarrassing. Kori, on the other hand, went 24-8. How ridiculous. I mean it's not anything spectacular but it's enough to give her a 7 point lead after round one. But let's not call it over yet folks. Since the points by round are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 for the national champ, I'm still in this thing. My saving grace may be that Kori has lost three of her Elite 8 teams, and one Final 4 team. I made the most mistakes, but she made the bigger ones, so as putrid as my performance was, I'm still in this fight! So here is what it looks like for round two, where each win is worth two points:

Ohio State vs. George Mason: We both has OSU playing against Nova. I had the Buckeyes winning in this round, but Kori picked Villanova. Smells like a two point swing in my favor! Told you I'm still in it.

WVU vs. Kentucky: Well... I had Clemson playing Princeton this round so I don't even have a dog in this fight. Kori has this matchup right, but picked WVU to advance. I guess for my own sake, I must say, GO WILDCATS!

Marquette vs. Syracuse: We both had Xavier playing Syracuse. Kori picked Xavier to win this round, but I picked the Cuse. See... If a couple of these go my way I can really turn this thing around.

Washington vs. UNC: I had UNC playing Georgia, but either way we both like the Tar Heels to advance this round.

Duke vs. Michigan: We both have Duke vs. Tennessee here, but both have Duke advancing.

Arizona vs. Texas: Kori has this matchup correct and likes Texas to advance. I had Memphis playing Texas and picked Memphis in the upset. Ouch

Cincy vs. UCONN: Kori, once again, has this one right. Noticing a trend here? She likes Cincy to beat UCONN. Although I have UCONN playing Missouri here, I like UCONN to advance.

Temple vs. San Diego State: My goodness, is this seriously the first game on this entire side of the bracket where I correctly picked both teams? Yes, it is. Kori has SDSU vs. Penn State here, but either way, we both are taking the Aztecs.

Kansas vs. Illinois: Of course, Kori has this one right, and likes Kansas. I have the Jayhawks playing UNLV here, but do have them winning either way.

Richmond vs. Morehead St.: We both had Vandy playing against Louisville and Vandy winning. Guess we'll just call this one irrelevant.

Purdue vs. VCU: We both had the Boilers playing Georgetown here, but both took Purdue to advance.

Florida State vs. Notre Dame: Geez, another game where we only picked one of the winners. Both of us had ND playing TAMU here, but we both like the Irish to go to the Sweet 16.

Now for the Pitt bracket (in which Kori picked every game correctly, what a jerk)

Pitt vs. Butler: We both have this matchup and are taking the Panthers.

Kansas St. vs. Wiconsin: Again, we picked these ones correctly, and we both like K-State to roll the Badgers.

Gonzaga vs. BYU: I had St. Johns playing BYU, but Kori corrrectly picked the Zags. But this round, we both like the Fighting Jimmers to move on.

UCLA vs. Florida: What a great way to end the first round. I picked Michigan State to beat UCLA... and Florida. There goes one of my sweet 16 teams. DAMMIT! Kori has this one right, but likes UCLA to upset the boys from UF. GO GATORS! Don't judge me. Since I can't win it on my own, I have to cheer for her to lose.

So there it is. Kori throttled me in the first round, and as it stands right now, holds a 24-17 lead. Lucky for me those games aren't worth too much, and if a couple go my wayin the next round or two, I have a puncher's chance to make it a game. Of course I won't get my hopes up, because none of them seem to go my way. I didn't think it was possible for every two-point game that comes down to the buzzer to not go my way, but that's what happened. But even if the points do come out in my favor, it would seem that her basketball I.Q. is greater than mine. I mean she got 75% of her picks correct to my slightly greater than 50%. I feel stupid. See ya after next round, hopefully in a better mood.

NCAA Tourney Time: Let The Madness Begin

As a dozen or so of you, who actually read this, may remember, my wife and I decided to document our run through the March Madness 2010 bracket. The purpose of our little experiment was to see how two people from opposite ends of the sports spectrum would fare. Could one with no knowledge of college hoops, who had not watched a second of a game all season really pick 'em better than myself? In a word, yes. By the end of the whole thing, she had wiped the proverbial hardwood with me. So this year, I have to try to redeem, not only myself, but all of those who are certain that we know a whole hell of a lot more than those clowns that somehow always have a better bracket than we do. 2011 is my year!

Now those of you who know my wife will not find her means of picking her winners strange at all. It is a concoction of where the team is from, what colors they wear, what their mascot is, and the occasional tidbit she hears from clients at the Salon where she works. Oh and the fact that the team with the better ranking should win. Nothing wrong with keeping it simple.

This time I am developing a points system, 1 point for a correct first round pick, 2 for the second round, and so on. So here are our round one picks:

To start it off, we both picked all of the #1 seeds (Pitt, Ohio State, Duke, Kansas), even though Kori's bracket says "Ohio" I can only assume this means Ohio State. You see she is still having trouble grasping that Ohio/Ohio State, Florida/Florida State, and so on, are in fact two completely different schools. And when I explain this, I often get a response to the likes of "That's stupid." Be that as it may, we also both picked all of the #2 (North Carolina, Florida, San Diego State, Notre Dame) and #3 (Syracuse, UCONN, BYU, Purdue) seeds to advance, so to save time I will skip those.

8 Villanova vs. 9 George Mason: We both like Nova in this one. Kori, though, has dubbed them her "favorite team" strictly because "I like their name."

5 WVU vs. 12 UAB/Clemson: Kori is going with the 'Eers but I am taking Clemson to win the play-in game and then upset our hillbilly neighbors to the west.

4 Kentucky vs. 13 Princeton: Kori picked every team call the Wildcats so this one is no different. I have been saying watch out for Princeton, and I had to stick to my guns. Didn't know they would be playing a good Kentucky team, but I can't jump off the Ivy League band wagon now. Tigers in the upset.

6 Xavier vs. 11 Marquette: Love the Big East but we are both taking Xavier. Kori undoubtedly picked this team because it starts with "X".

7 Washington vs. 10 Georgia: Kori likes Washington in this one, but I am going with the Bulldogs. Face it, the Pac 10 was pretty weak this year.

8 Michigan vs. 9 Tennessee: With Bruce Pearl the Vols are a different team, and coaching matters in the tourney. Even though I am certain that none of that actually entered the wife's mind, we both like the Vols.

5 Arizona vs. 12 Memphis: Typical underrated vs. overrated game. I'm taking Memphis to surprise some people. Kori went with Zona.

4 Texas vs. 13 Oakland: We're both taking the favorites in this one.

6 Cincinnati vs. 11 Missouri: Cinci has a good record but lost to most of the strong Big East Teams, and Missouri got knocked around in a tough Big 12 conference. I think Mizzou is better than their record and like them to upset the Bearcats. Kori picked Cinci because they are "closer to home".

7 Temple vs. 10 Penn State: Classic "follow your head not your heart" game. I followed this rule, Kori did not. She likes PSU but I'm taking the Owls.

8 UNLV vs. 9 Illinois: Another split decision as Kori is taking the Illini and I'm going with the Rebels

5 Vanderbilt vs. 12 Richmond: I thought long and hard about taking the Spiders to upset here, but after deliberation I settled on Vandy, as did Kori, because if you remember from last year she hates spiders.

4 Louisville vs. 13 Morehead St.: We are both taking the Cardinals to avoid the upset.

6 Georgetown vs. 11 USC/VCU: We are both taking Georgetown to take down the play-in winner.

7 Texas A&M vs. 10 Florida State: This is another game that I really thought about, but in the end I like the Aggies, as does the wife.

8 Butler vs. 9 Old Dominion: Two bracket busters from last year, but I think Butler has the edge. Kori likes Butler as well because, "They have that coach that looks like he's 12". Hey, she's right.

5 Kansas State vs. 12 Utah State: K-State seems to be a big time tournament team and I see them being a tough out this year. And as I stated before, Kori picked every team named the Wildcats.

4 Wisconsin vs. 13 Belmont: Although Wisco is usually a poor tourney team, we don't see them blowing this first rounder. Badgers for both of us.

6 St. John's vs. 11 Gonzaga: I like the Big East Squad in this one so I'm taking the Johnnie's. This is another fun name, so you know Kori picked Gonzaga.

7 UCLA vs. 10 Michigan State: Kori likes the Bruins but I think the Spartans are getting hot at the right time. Plus they have Izzo who is a great tourney coach.

So there are your picks for round one. I will get back to you with how we fared when the first round commences. Will I bring the pride back to those of us who know what we are talking about? Or will Kori once again prove that sometimes oblivious is better than educated? It all depends on how the ball bounces.