Monday planner: On the road again

by • Site stuff

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

A look at the week ahead on DKonPittsburghSports.com:

• Monday: There’s a Pedro Alvarez column up on the site this morning, and I’ll also produce a ‘News with views’ feature tonight from PNC Park and the game with the Braves.

• Tuesday: Tuesday Twelve Qs from Steelers HQ, minutes after the Mike Tomlin press conference on the South Side. And yes, that number is 12, not 20. I found that the 20 format was taking an awfully long time and, if possible, covering too much ground. Wasn’t comfortable with it. By going to 12, I can feel better about giving more detailed answers to good questions. And for other Qs, hey, I’m here in comments all week long!

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Steelers PATs: Go ahead, lay it on the line

by • News/views •

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

One last look at the Steelers’ last game …

• The fast guys stole the show in the 19-16 preseason victory over Buffalo on Saturday, but the slowest guys set the stage: Ben Roethlisberger went almost untouched in his quarter-plus of action, and that was almost entirely due to a rejuvenated, all-pistons-firing offensive line.

As Roethlisberger put it, “I think they did a heck of a job. They kept me clean. I don’t have any stains on my pants, so that’s good.”

He didn’t have any in East Rutherford the previous week, either, though that was different. By design, it turns out.

Kelvin Beachum was telling me after this game that the offensive plan was to run one week, with hardly any no-huddle, then throw this week, exclusively out of the no-huddle. And the biggest adjustment, of course, had to be made by the beef up front.

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Column: Steelers’ speed thrills, kills

by • Columns •

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

It’s hilarious now, but the Steelers have spent most of their offseason downplaying — no, outright dissing — the relevance of all the speed that’s suddenly up and down their roster.

Remember Troy Polamalu’s tone-setting one-liner this summer about how “we could put Usain Bolt and the whole track team out there,” and it wouldn’t matter if they couldn’t play football?

Or Dick LeBeau declaring upon arrival in Latrobe, “Speed’s fine, but it’s got to be going in the right direction” as well as his own “this isn’t track” comparison?

Or Mike Tomlin critiquing we media types at camp that “too much gets made” of speed?

Well, good luck with that now, gentlemen.

Because, with the sizzling work of some of the Steelers’ newer personnel in the 19-16 preseason victory over the Bills on Saturday night at Heinz Field, that cat’s not only out of the bag, it’s sprinting full-steam toward six more points.

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Friday Insider: Simon says, get ready to play

by • Friday Insider • , ,

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

A weekly feature aimed at rounding up a whole lot of odds and ends from a whole lot of time spent around our local teams …

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Despres

• No player will see a more elevated role in the Penguins’ training camp than Simon Despres. And, truth be told, no matter what’s asked of Beau Bennett, it won’t even be close.

Mario Lemieux’s words in my interview with him this summer, in which he openly lamented that neither Ray Shero nor Dan Bylsma gave Despres a chance to stick in the lineup, apparently have resonated powerfully through the organization. As they should have. Eddie Johnston recently told me that some inside the team believed Despres was “absolutely our best defenseman at times,” and he’s right. Despres took control of the game for long stretches at both ends. And, counter to what the coaches advised, he actually did his best when he didn’t keep it simple. He did his best when he felt he was needed to step up and stand out, just as he has been throughout his career pre-NHL.

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Interview: Chad Voytik, Pitt football

by • Videos •

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Chad Voytik, Pitt’s sophomore quarterback, is entering his first season as a starter after a year of being redshirted behind Tino Sunseri and a year of backing up Tom Savage. He appeared in four games last season, including a winning relief role in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl vs. Bowling Green.

I interviewed Voytik after the Panthers’ practice today on the South Side.

Column: The truth on Russell Martin

by • Columns •

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

LATROBE, Pa. — Sign Russell Martin!

Hang on, let’s try that again with the appropriate gusto: SIGN RUSSELL MARTIN!

Much better.

Honestly, I couldn’t type that sentence with any more conviction if I pounded the keys through my Macbook with a mallet. And if there’s anyone following Pittsburgh sports, intensely or informally, who doesn’t share that sentiment with the same pulse, I’m unaware of them. The retaining of the Pirates’ catcher has become the cause celebre of the summer, from social media to talk shows to that one bigmouth the other night screaming from PNC Park’s upper deck, “Sign Russ now, Buccos! Do it!”

Again, consider that seconded.

At the same time, though, let’s consider whether that’s wishful thinking or holds any basis in reality.

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News with views: Latrobe, where Buffalo roam

by • News/views •

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

LATROBE, Pa. — News with views related to your Pittsburgh Steelers …

So I went to a football practice, and a baseball column broke out. Or will break out. I’ll be working on that later tonight, and I trust you’ll see why I switched up.

In lieu of the promised Steelers column, though, here’s a mish-mash of thoughts, pics and a video from today’s really neat Steelers-Bills joint practice at Saint Vincent College:

• First off, it was a weird sight. I know there are joint practices around the NFL, but seeing the Bills on Chuck Noll Field, making that same winding walk through the fans down from the locker room … jarring, to say the least.

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ALL PHOTOS: DEJAN KOVACEVIC

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Column: A cool autumn breeze this way blows

by • Columns •

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All the flags beyond PNC Park’s outfield fences flap in the same direction. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

A smooth, autumnal breeze drifted down the Ohio Valley, up the Allegheny and right through PNC Park on this Tuesday night. The marquee showed Pirates vs. Tigers in a duel of contenders, the place was pretty much packed again, and the evening as a whole was about as pristine as one could hope for baseball in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The pennants stayed up.

That’s what got me, if you want to know.

Not sure how many fans ever notice those nine black and gold pennants, commemorating the franchise’s World Series and/or National League championships, lining the upper riverwalk beyond center field. They’re easily missed, even though each is individually lit, each so vital in importance. But on this night, they stood tall. And they stood the whole time. The breeze kept them perked up from Edinson Volquez’s first pitch to his fantastic stab to the final out of a 4-2 deflating of Detroit that both engaged and enthralled the crowd of 34,919 and, more important, pushed the Pirates within 1 1/2 games of the Brewers.

It’s a pennant race, Pittsburgh. We’ve got ourselves a pennant race, and I’ll be damned if the pennants themselves haven’t taken notice.

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Tuesday 12 Qs: Russell, Pascal, Honus, Ben

by • Five Qs at 5 • , ,

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Welcome to Tuesday Twenty Qs, our chat that takes place each week at 1 p.m.

The format is simple: Use the comment section below to submit an entry, no more than one per person. Submit it anytime you want. I’ll pick from those to get the thing rolling. I’ll then monitor new entries as the session is going to cover follow-ups or updates.

As always, all topics are on the table. Really, anything at all.

UPDATE 1 p.m.: Here we go …

Brenna: What odds do you have on the Pirates resigning Russell Martin?

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Column: Hey, anyone notice all this offense?

by • Columns •

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Jeff Branson instructs Gaby Sanchez during batting practice Monday. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

I, for one, blame Kate Upton.

I really don’t, of course, but play along.

See, for all her otherworldly gifts, the solar system’s most celebrated supermodel didn’t even bother showing Monday night at PNC Park to watch her boyfriend, the Tigers’ Justin Verlander, get flogged for five runs in one inning as the opening salvo of the Pirates’ 11-6 smackdown. Hence, the fair maiden provided no tangible distraction, no Yoko Ono effect on the pitcher who used to give up fewer runs in a month than he did in these 16 minutes.

No, the apparent culprit was Verlander’s “sore right shoulder,” as announced by the Detroit media relations a full hour and 11 minutes after he exited the game without any visible sign of, you know, a sore right shoulder. The Tigers added after the game that he’ll have an MRI on the shoulder, so the veracity remains to be seen.

Not to be cynical, but hey, maybe it was something else.

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