I'm Embarrassed to be a Steelers Fan, Part 37

Seriously?

Come on.

Somebody shoot me now.

Linked from KSK.

The Next Rickey?

On August 1st I was sitting in Oakland coliseum watching the pre-game ceremonies to celebrate Rickey Henderson's induction into the Hall of Fame. I watched all of Rickey's teammates ride out on limos. I watched Rickey walk out in the middle of fireworks and then I listened to Rickey's speech. After that the game got pretty boring, the 2009 A's just couldn't hold my attention after watching clips of those teams from the 80's and early 90's.

Then the texts started coming in... "McCutchen just hit his second homer of the game". Then a little later, "He just did it again". That day I remembered thinking, could the same day that Rickey Henderson's number was retired be the same day the Andrew McCutchen made it clear he was the next great lead-off man with power?

I didn't think much about it until last night's heroics. So today I took a look at the numbers from McCutchen this season and Henderson's in his rookie year 1979. These all come from Baseball Reference.com

Henderson 1979

Games-89, AB-351, R-49, H-96, 2B-13, 3B-3, HR-1, RBI-26, SB-33, BB-34, SO-39, BA-.274, OPS-.675

McCutchen as of 8/26/09

Games-70, AB-282, R-50, H-81, 2B-18, 3B-6, HR-9, RBI-38, SB-15, BB-31, SO-50, BA-.287, OPS-.837

Those pretty much speak for themselves don't they? McCutchen betters Rickey, in runs, doubles, triples, home runs, RBI's, Average and OPS in fewer games right now.

McCutchen does strike out a lot more, and of course Rickey crushes him when it comes to stolen bases.

I know it's early in the kid's career, but maybe it's time McCutchen starts referring to himself in the third person.

Cutch

Wow, nuff said about last night's Pirates' game.

Now, of course, Cutch will rightfully so steal the headlines from the game, but Dejan is correct to point out some other highlights here:

> Joel Hanrahan pitched very well in a tough situation and, truth be told, the first of several versions of my story focused just on his work in the seventh. He has given up three runs in his past 19 appearances now, and I am guilty of not stressing more how well he has done.

> Brian Bixler did not do as the Pirates' baserunners are taught in rounding third passively -- go hard until you are told to stop -- but he still had the aggressiveness after his pause to make it home with a good slide.

> Easily forgotten, but Ross Ohlendorf also pitched quite well against a very good lineup. Jimmy Rollins is going to hit home runs. He never let it get to him.

> John Russell, for all the criticism he has taken here for his handling of the bullpen, made all the right moves leading up to Matt Capps. Took out Ohlendorf at just the right time. Read correctly that Hanrahan's stuff was right to get his two batters. Boldly went with Phil Dumatrait in just his second appearance since missing a year, specifically to go after all of the Phillies' lefties. Went to Jesse Chavez at just the right time, too. In fact, if Capps does what he is supposed to, it looks like a tremendous night for the manager.

> My personal favorite: One player told me afterward that there was no sense of deflation in the dugout after the top of the ninth. Capps was understandably down, but that was about it. "We really thought we were going to go out there and win," the player said. "We didn't think it would come that fast, but we'll take it. It's a great feeling. Good things are starting to happen here."

Now Cutch did misplay that liner in the top of the ninth.

I mean, they teach you in Little League that your first step as an outfielder should be back, because it's always easier to run in than back with your head turned, but that ball was smoked (Capps' fault, again) and I don't think Cutch would've gotten it anyway even with a good jump.

So hopefully he learned from that.

But last night was the first time in a while I've jumped off the couch in excitement and clapped hard and loud (after Cutch's homer) while watching a Pirate game.

So what does it all mean? It means the Pirates may have their centerpiece to build around in McCutchen. It means these Pirates are still playing hard and having fun. It means that they may be gelling as a young team. It means that players received in trades this year and last year are showing their value and worth.

Now I'm not saying that we'll compete for a playoff spot next year, but again, the future is much brighter than it's been in a long time in these parts.

Polls Are Up

Well, certainly not a poll (pole) like in 'Erotic City'. Get it? Get it?

Giggity, giggity.

But the official preseason football ranking are up.

They can be seen here.

AP Top 25

1. Florida (58) 0-0 1,498

2. Texas (2) 0-0 1,424

3. Oklahoma 0-0 1,370

4. USC 0-0 1,313

5. Alabama 0-0 1,156

6. Ohio State 0-0 1,113

7. Virginia Tech 0-0 1,054

8. Mississippi 0-0 1,047

9. Oklahoma State 0-0 989

9. Penn State 0-0 989

11. LSU 0-0 914

12. California 0-0 746

13. Georgia 0-0 714

14. Boise State 0-0 659

15. Georgia Tech 0-0 593

16. Oregon 0-0 587

17. TCU 0-0 521

18. Florida State 0-0 307

19. Utah 0-0 289

20. Brigham Young 0-0 267

21. North Carolina 0-0 261

22. Iowa 0-0 229

23. Notre Dame 0-0 225

24. Nebraska 0-0 207

25. Kansas 0-0 134

USA Today Poll

1. Florida (53) 0-0 1,466

2. Texas (4) 0-0 1,386

3. Oklahoma (1) 0-0 1,358

4. USC (1) 0-0 1,321

5. Alabama 0-0 1,134

6. Ohio State 0-0 1,126

7. Virginia Tech 0-0 1,020

8. Penn State 0-0 988

9. LSU 0-0 917

10. Mississippi 0-0 889

11. Oklahoma State 0-0 861

12. California 0-0 711

13. Georgia 0-0 707

14. Oregon 0-0 694

15. Georgia Tech 0-0 559

16. Boise State 0-0 542

17. TCU 0-0 461

18. Utah 0-0 404

19. Florida State 0-0 371

20. North Carolina 0-0 293

21. Iowa 0-0 257

22. Nebraska 0-0 236

23. Notre Dame 0-0 194

24. Brigham Young 0-0 178

25. Oregon State 0-0 165

Penn State is right where they should be, in the 8-12 range that I predicted. I'm not sure how Ohio State is so high with all they lost in the offseason, but hey, that's why these are just preseason polls.

I'll give anyone that $1 million in Penn State bucks if the polls end up like this at the end. Just think about some of the great things you could buy with that, like this for example.

Anyway, lastly about the poll, Florida is the consensus and easy #1. I hate Florida (who doesn't even play Ole Miss and Bama during the season). I hate Tebow. There I said it. I hate Tebow, and guess what, I didn't get struck by lightning after saying it. That whole Tebowgate thing from last month was pathetic. I mean, how dare somebody slight God on Earth himself, Tim Tebow. Hey Tebow, live it up now, because being a 4th round pick in the NFL won't cut it. Oh that's right, you don't. Which, when you had a girlfriend that looks like this, I'm gonna call bs on anyway. This guy here has it right, 15 pertinent questions for Mr. Tebow.

That's What I've Been Saying

I spent some time going through Smizik's blog tonight and found a post from Friday. And in it Bob makes the same point I've mentioned to a few people. So if I see it, and that fine looking man sees it, why doesn't Pirates management see it? Move Andy LaRoche to Second Base. Now they may be thinking it for all we know, what with Pedro Alvarez showing that he'll probably be on the big club by 2011, if not late 2010. Moving LaRoche to second would make a lot of sense. He hasn't shown that much power but he is a decent, not great, bat. But I can tell you when he was here with the Las Vegas 51s, (which at the time was the Dodgers Triple A squad, before they moved to Albuquerque and became the Isotopes), the Dodgers loved him. And the Dodgers have been known to be able to spot good young players. James Loney and Russell Martin were just two guys that were in Las Vegas the same time as LaRoche. Now clearly all of the answers to the Pirates becoming a good baseball are not with the club right now, heck they aren't even in the Pirates farm system right now. But moving LaRoche to that spot could help him become a rock-solid ballplayer. The last guy the Pirates moved a marginal third baseman to second it was Freddy Sanchez. And Huntington traded him for a future top of the rotation guy after some solid seasons from Sanchez. But you know, that whole trading thing is over according to Huntington. But to that I have to quote a woman from a film called "Erotic City". A man tells that woman he's never slept with a woman he didn't like. And the woman replies "yeeeaaah riiight."

Do a Little Dance, Make a Little Love, Get Down Tonight

Five in a row. Fifth game in a row in which the Pirates homered and they've won them all. And I can't say it enough these '79 throwbacks are outstanding. Maybe they should have been wearing them all year. Or maybe the Pirates should have been playing teams that have hit the skids big time like the Brewers and Reds all year. But you can't deny that they're hitting the hell out of the ball, something the Bucs haven't done all year. It's been fun watching these guys this weekend. Here's hoping for a second straight sweep today. Let's go Bucs.

Looking Good

Just had to get this picture up here. Four in a row and number four happens in those duds. I think they should keep wearing them until the streak ends. Why haven't the pirates made the gold jersey their alternative? The black is nice and all, but man that yellow would look good.

Turn Off the Scoreboard

So we've written ad nauseum on here about the Pirates and our support for their, finally, breaking it all down and rebuilding the right way. In fact, it's been proven again in this draft that since Bob Nutting took over principal operations, that this Pirates' organization under him and Neal Huntington is different than those before:

"The Pirates spent $8,919,000 for their 23 signed players out of 51 draft picks, sixth-highest payout in Major League Baseball, general manager Neal Huntington said. Last year, the Pirates spent a franchise-record $9,780,500 in signing 32 of 50 picks"

Sure, you may not like the fact that the ML payroll is ridiculously low, but the fact is that we are outspending nearly every ML team where we, a small market club, need to, and that's in drafting good players. This is a winning plan and this should put to rest those garbage "Bob Nutting doesn't care about winning" and "Bob Nutting won't spend money" arguments. Period.

Now, if these guys should develop into good players, contributing to a winning team, in a few years, and trades of these sorts continue because he won't give big contracts, then we'll revisit this line of thought. For now though, it's over.

Ok, now that we have that rant over with, I read a very good point on a message board that made a lot of sense and wanted to expand on it.

A poster named steelreign said here:

"For the rest of the season I am watching Pirate games like I watch Steeler pre-season games. I am not concerned with wins and losses, I am looking for and at performance from the new roster.

I am looking to see how they grow as a team and as individuals through the rest of the season. I like the fact that the guys still have a good attitude and want to get better. This group is getting a unique experience, and growth through adversity can produce amazing results.

I believe, come spring training, this 45 game tryout is gonna produce positive results come next spring. These players will learn what they need to do to become major leaguers."

I think that's a brilliant way to think of the rest of the Pirates' season. See this as an extended, or even a "pre", Spring Training. We need to just see improvement in playing ability. We need to see consistency from a lot of players now just getting their first chance. We need to see mental mistakes not being made. We need to see just plain good baseball playing.

This could be saved for September 1, when callups are made, but take a look at the current 25 man roster, you can even go so far as the 40 man roster that includes some prized minor league prospects. Those are the players we need to be watching.

Who's safe? Who needs to show more? Who's barely making it? Who's out?

Those are the questions to answer, not "who won last night?"

Towards the end of the year, I'll try and tackle those questions, but for now, just hang on and watch the show, no matter how much it may make you cringe at times.

Making the Smart Pick

Every team has at least one preseason game under their belt, Favre is coming back, Vick is back, so it's the time of the year for all of the experts to start making their preseason picks. Now I understand that these are just guesses and everything changes as soon as that ball gets kicked off on week one, but you still have to laugh. ESPN's Chris Mortensen's pick to win the AFC North this year drum roll please... The Baltimore Ravens. Well, at least it looks a little better than when everyone picked the Browns last year. And even Mortensen seems to think he's way off.

"The Ravens are going to win the AFC North. Then I put them in the pool of four or five teams that can win the Super Bowl. But every time I pick the Super Bowl, I get it wrong. I know this much – two months ago when anybody asked me, I said the Patriots and the Eagles, instinctively. I think the Ravens will be right there with the Patriots, I really do."

But still what was the thought process? Did Mort like the team that has a new defensive coordinator, and lost one of its stars in Bart Scott, and one of its rising stars in Brian Leonard over the team that won the Super Bowl last year and has almost everyone returning this year. All the Steelers lost were Nate Washington (Who everyone seems to be remembering that he was a lot better than he really was now that he's gone.) , and Bryant McFadden. The only big impact play I ever remember him making was swatting away a ball in the endzone late in that Colts playoff game during the Super Bowl run in '05. But I'm sure he did more than that.

Since the NFL moved the Steelers from the old AFC Central into the newly created AFC North in 2002 (Which blows my mind actually, was it only in 2002? Seems so much longer ago.) The Steelers have won the division four times. The Ravens did it twice and the Bengals once. You know the year when they turned the division from Black and White to Color according to Chad Johnson. And we all remember what happened in that first playoff game.

If you lump the AFC Central and AFC North titles together you get 25 for the Steelers, seven for the Bengals, and six when you combine the old Browns with the new Browns.

So I'll make my expert pick and go with the Steelers as the AFC North champ this year. Not because they're my favorite team, but because they are the favorites.

'Cause It Feels So Empty Without Me

"Two trailer park girls go round the outside, round the outside, round the outside."

Well, not really, but I had to roll with the lyrics to complete the theme. I bet now you can't get that song out of your head the rest of the day.

So like the Vegas Jesus said, not much has been going on, of significance, in Pittsburgh sports over the last couple weeks. Add to that a vacation for myself, and we're left with little blogging.

Now though that we're close to both the NFL and College Football seasons, and the winding down of another stellar (yet exciting in it's own way) Pirates' season and we'll pick it up again.

So to start, of course the big news is that last night the Steelers played a "game".

A few things:

1. I haven't really been following preseason and training camp too much. Let's be honest, this is essentially the same team as last year. We have to replace a third WR and a guy or two in the secondary. Sepulveda and Mendenhall are back.

That's it. Those are your football story lines.

2. Everything else is fluff pieces. As long as they knock the rust off a bit during preseason games and nobody gets hurt, that's all August is about, and that's about all I care about training camp.

3. That being said, I watched a little of the game last night. I also found time to flip back and forth between The A-Team and Magnum P.I. on the Retro channel.

4. I said it last year, and I'll repeat it here, Sweed will be fine. He's our future #2 receiver, opposite Holmes, and Ward will be put to the slot 3rd WR (which he'll be perfect for) to play out his final days as a Steeler.

5. I want Mendenhall to do well, for fantasy football selfish reasons too, because I think he's the back of the future for the team. He did ok, but that leads me to the next point...

6. The O-Line still looked like the garbage that it was last year when we won in spite of them.

Overall though, last night was what it was, an over-hyped scrimmage, that they make season ticket holders (like me) pay full price for, but that's another gripe for another time.

One game down, 3 to go. Play like last night, stay healthy, and look forward to September 10 against the Flaming Tacks.

Turning the Lights Back On in Here

No new posts on here since July 30th. And why not when there's hasn't been a lot to talk about?
Pirates season is in the tank, but at least there's hope that help is on the way. The ESPN and everyone else is trying to hype tonight's Preseason game as a Super Bowl Rematch, when it's really just a practice.

So things have been pretty slow. But things should be picking up in a few weeks. College Football and Steelers start up pretty soon, so hang in there everybody. You'll be able to climb out of your Steely McBeam sleeping bag soon.