DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
Morning, Lunatics …
• The Saturday column will be written from the Steelers’ preseason opener tonight vs. the Giants in East Rutherford, N.J. This will be a travel day for me until then.
• Mark Melancon and Tony Watson — who else? — finished what Vance Worley started last night, as the Pirates’ pitching again took care of business by punching out the Padres, 2-1. And man, what a scene for those final three outs in front of the season’s 13th sellout at PNC Park.
Off the field, the Pirates had Pedro Alvarez begin taking grounders at first base. I offered my thoughts on his immediate future in the Friday Insider. He’ll hit, he’ll stay active, and they’ll try to get him back to being productive, but he won’t be a regular until that happens.
Also, Ernesto Frieri was designated for assignment, apparently at the request of the Pittsburgh Fire Department. I’m not going to lament this trade much, for the simple reason that Jason Grilli had run his course here, and most observers were surprised the Pirates got anything at all for Grilli at the time. Win some, lose some.
Here’s the latest on Dan Jennings from the Miami Herald.
• Say this for the Riverhounds: They started off horrible, especially defensively. But the 1-0 shutout of Orange County last night at Highmark put them, amazingly, into the eighth and final USL Pro playoff spot, and it came on the strength of stout defense. I was over there and was impressed from front to finish.
Extra kudos to interim coach Niko Katic for organizing this mess, and for defender Anthony Arena just rejecting everything that heads toward the Pittsburgh box.
Oh, and just to illustrate how incredibly close you can get to the action at Highmark, I snapped this picture below for you of a corner kick. Crazy.
• If you have tech issues, email us at [email protected]
• Thanks for reading, as always!
JAL’s Jet Airliner Morning Links
1—Pirates Prospects
Which Pirates Prospects Need to be Protected From the 2014 Rule 5 Draft?
http://www.piratesprospects.com/2014/08/which-pirates-prospects-need-to-be-protected-from-the-2014-rule-5-draft.html
2 San Diego Union Tribune
Padres let chances slip through fingers
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/aug/08/padres-pirates-vance-worley-ian-kennedy/
3 CBS Sports
Padres vs Pirates Game Preview
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/gametracker/preview/MLB_20140809_SD@PIT/padres-pirates-preview
Thanks, Joe. Appreciated this one a lot.
thanks for posting these JAL…much appreciated….
Really good stuff on the links today, JAL. Thanks, as always.
Thanks, Joe. Well done as always. I appreciate the Rule 5 link.
Regarding the Grilli-Frieri trade, I’m a little surprised that I haven’t heard one second-guesser complain since Frieri was DFA’d, that they shouldn’t have made the trade. Grilli had worn out his welcome to the point that nobody cares. It was a trade of nothing for nothing.
I read that It’s not a matter of pain management with Cutch, he could further injure rib by playing. Why take the chance?
Err on the side of caution. I am always wary of injuries you can’t see. The pain might go away long before it heals.
The Dan Jennings story continues to amaze me. He is such a strong individual and an inspiration. And, to continue to hear from various circles the reaction of the fans…make me all the prouder of fellow Pittsburghers and Pirates fans. Nice!
Dan Jennings appears to have his life’s priorities straight (faith, family), and I couldn’t be more thrilled that God was surely watching over him the other night. I pray He continues to do so. EASY guy to root for.
Seems to me that if a god was meddling in an MLB game and watching over the poor kid, he’d (I mean “He’d”…yeesh) have made the ball miss his head completely. Seems like poor divine management to me.
So, if one believes in God, he/she is never sick and never in jeopardy and always knows the answer to anything in life and certainly must be rich.
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You’re not talking about believing in God or a personal Jesus Christ . . . . . God to you is Santa Claus!
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Ho! Ho! Ho!
No, just made me laugh that a guy can take a line drive to the head and somehow god gets credit for the guy not being hurt worse. (Response to Groat)
Crosby and his Cougars
http://ericbowser.wordpress.com/2014/08/09/crosby-and-his-cougars/
Eric how can you get Crosby to change his ways in regards to his line mates? And why he is so reluctant to the change?
Sid is a loyal person, so any change needs to be initiated by the organization. This is why I wasn’t a big fan of the Ehrhoff signing,
Good read Eric. Been wondering same thing. I think Sid is just that superstitious but could be wrong. And geno could use a familiar winger which is why i would like to see kuni on his LW. Duper-sid-HQ and kuni-geno-BB makes sense to me but it’s a long season. Lines can change.
I agree, Malkin pretty much gets some question marks on his line as I don’t see Hornqvist as a guy who creates through the neutral zone and I’m not banking on anything from Bennett.
That’s why Kapanen earning a job needs to happen.
I agree Karen. After seeing Dan Jennings tweets and the reaction of the Pgh fans I am so glad to be a Pittsburgher.
Couldn’t agree more Barb. It’s been a very rough week here in my little neck of the woods & the kindness & generosity of the people in Western PA never ceases to amaze me.
Everything ok Milo?
Curious, something I haven’t seen mentioned much when I read Twitter or this place. What does everyone think about the work of Pirates hitting coach Jeff Branson?
My guess is, if we are not talking about the hitting coach (except maybe when the bases are loaded), things are just fine.
I don’t like change for change sake….i.e. one JB for another JB, however… the current JB must be showing the guys something different because they are definitely hitting the ball much better than last year. I think he is more involved than Jay Bell ever was.
Good question. Probably working better for some guys than others which is always the case. But, runs & OBP are up. We seem to be working opposing pitchers more, which is good. I’d say, overall, things are better than last yr.
Jim, I am reminded of what pitching coach Ray Miller said about the staff he was working with, “I helped three, I hurt three and the other six didn’t listen to me anyway.”
I think that’s true, Tom. Some guys won’t listen, and probably shouldn’t. But, as metrically-focused as this org. is, I assume he was asked to improve the team in key areas, and it seems to be working. Martin might be the best example.
Pirate hitters have improved significantly this season in strikeouts and walks. They are 16th in strikeouts in MLB and 4th in walks. Last season they were 6th in strikeouts (that is most strikeouts) and 16th in walks
We like to focus on the negative and he’s a positive.
The offense has clearly picked up this year and Branson deserves a lot of credit. I guess a hitting coach is like football’s offensive line. The less you hear about them the better things are going.
Vanimal is now 3-0 with a 0.96 ERA since the break. Although this is a great problem to have, what happens when Cole returns? Does Locke go down? Does Eddie V go to the pen? Eddie was so nasty the other night, I think he as to stay. Maybe Locke to a long relief and dump Gomez?
I’m not at all confident that we’ll see Cole again this yr. And, if we do, will he be anything like 2013 Cole? I’m an optimist, generally. But, the signs don’t look very good to me w Cole right now. I hope I’m wrong.
I agree that Cole will have to show that he is really really OK and pitching well to sniff the ‘Burgh and odds are not great on that right now… IF he were to come back, in MY opinion, Volquez’ stuff is best suited to relief work but I wouldn’t count out Locke doing that.
I think Pedro will see live game action at 1B for the Bucs before Cole starts another MLB game. Cole’s situation really co earns me.
The way Worley, Volquez and even Locke are pitching, I see absolutely no reason why it shouldn’t be Cole himself who goes to the pen when he returns.
Interested to see what’s up with Brandon Cumpton. He was shut down in Indy last night while he was warming up to start the game. Very unusual. My guess is that he’s on his way here to help out in the bullpen.
That’s my guess. Frieri was replaced by Pedro, but we’ll need another pitcher. I assume Nix or Martinez will go and a guy like Cumpton will come up. I suppose Cumpton is also a trade candidate, Milo.
I find it somewhat odd if Cumpton is recalled to pitch in the bullpen when Mazarro is sitting right there. But what do I know?
Mszarro not on the 40 man. I was pretty sure that was the case but had to look it up to confirm. He obviously coild be added and i see plenty of candidated to drop but currently not there.
I wouldn’t worry about Cole coming back so soon, when the Mudhens hang 5 runs on you in AAA what do you think is going to happen when you’re facing MLB batters? Locke’s situation needs to be wait and see, he’s been so inconsistent he’s the 5th starter.
I’m puzzled by all the negativity towards Grilli. I was away from PGH all of May-June-July, but my impression was that the guy’s intensity was much welcomed. What is there here that I don’t know?
He blew a bunch of saves and was spiraling down, after he was traded there was some press on the Trib saying he was pretty much a jerk…guess that’s about it
Point blank – NO ONE wanted to see Grilli pitch in a game (he was so bad) and his book revealed some personality traits that are less than desirable. But if he were pitching well he’d still be welcomed here. He wasn’t.
47 Games to go – Fangraphs [23-24] and Baseball Prospectus [24-23] are both projecting ~ .500 finish for the Bucs. Seems very conservative and then you look and you see 6 games each against Cards, Reds, and Brewers. Got to figure out a way to go 10 and 8 in those.
Crowd last night was electric – from Pedro’s welcome back to the final out. Fans know what it means being in a pennant race – SO glad to have been a part of that one
YES, it brings goose bumps when the crowd is into it as much as they were last night.
Anybody going to the movies this weekend ? For summer popcorn movie fare, I certainly recommend ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’ Arguably, the best comic inspired movie of all time. For serious stuff, go see ‘Boyhood.’ Brilliant, creative film by the best director of his generation. I dare say a film for the cinematic Canon.
I really want to see ‘Boyhhood’ Osh.
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What an ambitious concept to film it over 12 years.
Boyhood is an amazing piece of filmmaking.
Enthusiastic thumbs up from me on Guardians. I’m ‘hit and miss’ on comic-movies but this one is very entertaining and well worth it. Also highly encourage (opposite side of spectrum) “The Hundred Foot Journey”, very nice film.
So, what does one look for in the first NFL exhibition game, besides hoping no one get hurt ?
Their grasp of schemes and their compete level, and whether they hold up in competition at this level.
Hope that the first teams look like they are on same page.
Look for guys trying to make the team, do they hustle?
It stinks that the Steeler game is not on tv out here in central Pa. I really wanted to see Sean Spence get his chance after all that rehab – rooting for him big time.
Wild,
The Preseason package is available on NFL.com – a bit pricey at $19.95 – but if it is worth it to you, a possible alternative.
Untamed William,
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If you have NFL Network, they replay it at midnight (and probably again Sun or during the week).
If you DVR it you can FF through commercials and any series that doesn’t have guys your interested in.
Thanks to both of you for the ideas. The dvr one is the one I’ll likely go with.
I’m in Virginia Beach so I’ll watch the midnight replay on NFL Network. I’d listen to the stream but I’ll be listening to the Bucs instead on the MLB At Bat app on my phone.
I am seeing it shown on WTAJ tonight. Can you get them?
Sorry Ralph, was out a while. No, I get mostly Scranton and Harrisburg stuff.
Bill not sure where central pa is for you and wsy too late at this point but the game was on cbs in harrisburg with the typical pittsburgh local schmucks on the call.