All I can say is that this weekend purely dominated if you’re a Pittsburgh sports fan. The Pirates are a game out of the division LEAD. You read that right. Sure, it may only be April, but they’re close to the top. Even if it’s only for a little bit, it’s great news. Also, this weekend most of us saw the Pittsburgh Penguins take a 2-1 lead over the Ottawa Senators in the NHL opening round play-off series.
Also, I must add, this weekend was void of “Ben’s Genitalia News.” Which is just perfect. Quite frankly I’m tired of hearing about it, so as of this moment, I won’t be discussing anything with him until actual news takes place. Hopefully, he does what I do and just stops being relevant for the time being.
So moving back on to the Pirates success against the Cincinnati Reds this weekend. By success I mean, total sweep of the series against a team that has some decent pitching, and not so decent hitting. Hopefully at least 20 people outside of the game saw the two walk-off winning singles provided over the weekend. They were pretty awesome, and it’s good for the ball club’s confidence to see that happen.
If there’s anything more glaring right now about the Pirates, is that it’s going to be hard to keep Ryan Church and hell even Delwyn Young off the field. Both Church and Young have shown that they can hit the ball well and prosper in situations with men on the bases. Not to mention, the more I see Jeff Clement and his staggering .151 batting average, the more I see him back in Triple A working on whatever the hell he needs to work on. Put Jones at first and then rotate the corner outfield spot until Jose Tabata is ready.
Secondly, the relief Pitching is starting to come around. The first few games were sketchy at best, especially as they played the Daimondbacks last week, it was evident that there could be the repeated problem of no relief help for the starters. Now that’s not to say that the Pirates had starting trouble as Ross Ohelendorf was retro-acted to the DL due to back spasms. However if the Pirates are going to see any success on the field, it’s more than necessary to get productive relief in the later innings.
Octavio Dotel of the Pittsburgh Pirates
Finally, in keeping with the relief pitching, I’m so happy to see Octavio Dotel pitching/closing for the Pirates. His curveball/slider is just ridiculous. Sure, he’s going to blow a game or two, but he’s no “Cardiac Capps” either. It’s just nice to see a team that’s technically “well-rouded” on paper at least. Hopefully they can keep in it, and stay competitive this year. It’s all subject to change once they enter their first long skid of the season, we’ll see how they really respond.
—————
Now moving on to the Penguins, which we saw them take 2 from the Senators, an over-time thriller on Friday, and then a pure beating on Sunday.
It’s just wonderful to see the Penguins start to look like the form they had last year going into the play-offs. Friday night, after Jordon Leopold was wasted by Andy Sutton(video), the Penguins then stacked on the hits. Not only did they hit, but the amount of hits(52), was staggering.
Friday night’s game was a tight, physical battle that went into overtime, which ended in exciting fashion. At the end, Crosby cycled the puck by himself behind the net and then made a pass basically laying down to Letang, who put it home with a corralled wrist shot. Good stuff and it certainly took some fans back to the Washington series last year when Letang converted a game winner in almost the same fashion.
Game 3 last night felt a bit more open as the game went on. Not that the score(4-2) reflected how close the game could of been, it really looked like the Pens took it to the Sens save the first 5-8 minutes of the game in period 1. Even though last night looked like the Pens were in control and displaying dominant traits, don’t get too excited. Both of these teams hate each other, and anything can happen. Finally, while discussing the Pens, I have to forward you to ThePensBlog.com. Those guys write quality stuff, and I’m a fan of everything they do. So check it out!
So now we have to wait until Tuesday to see Game 4. I personally think it’s going to be another close game, and tight defensively. However we’ll see. That’s the absolute best thing about hockey, literally anything can change a game.
April 19th, 2010 at 11:20 PM
Why is no one talking about Big 10 expansion and what it will do for Pitt – Penn State?