Jack Suwinski 2023 | Kyle Schwarber 2023 | Schwarber 2017 | Schwarber 2018 | Suwinski 2022-23 | |
AB | 447 | 585 | 486 | 428 | 773 |
HR | 26 | 47 | 30 | 26 | 45 |
RBI | 74 | 104 | 59 | 61 | 112 |
K | 172 | 215 | 150 | 140 | 286 |
BB | 75 | 126 | 59 | 78 | 116 |
Batting Ave | 0.224 | 0.197 | 0.211 | 0.238 | 0.215 |
On Base % | 0.339 | 0.340 | 0.315 | 0.356 | 0.382 |
OPS | 0.793 | 0.831 | 0.782 | 0.823 | 0.758 |
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Jack Suwinski and Kyle Schwarber
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
To Absent Friends - Tom Walker
Monday, October 23, 2023
A Word From Special Guest Blogger Linda Sproule
In response to post of two days ago, Lessons in Human Nature, my wife Linda asked for the chance to respond. Don't worry, folks, this is the last time - I hope! - that I will feel the need to broach this subject on the Blog, but I thank you for listening/reading.
Take it away, Linda....
Dear Grandstander,
May I please have the “Stand” for a moment, to comment on your recent post titled, “Lessons in Human Nature.”
Oxford defines “Human Nature” as the “general psychological characteristics, feelings and behavioral traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans.”
Gossip, including sharing of judgmental opinions, non-truths and pure speculation - I believe fall into the category of “Human Nature.”
We are human and therefore, we are all guilty of “Human Nature.” We say and do things that sometimes we regret and wish we could take back. Perhaps the behavioral traits of humankind that supposedly we all share make us pause and offer apologies or prompt us for an opportunity to have a respectful discussion about our misunderstandings, hurts and angst.
“Human Nature” is a part of life. We all learn to deal.
May I please offer to your audience that a lot of the behavior I have experienced from others over the last 2 years does not fit the definition of “Human Nature” and the fact that after 2 years my husband still needs to defend me (which by the way, is one of the million reasons I am blessed to have him in my life), is beyond any understanding and are not experiences that one can simply “forgive and forget.”
Yes, I can forgive, and I have prayed for the strength to continue forgiving. I believe in the command of forgiveness.
But if someone hurts you repeatedly, you are not expected to continue to allow them to hurt you. This is no longer “Human Nature”, it is pure evil when someone continues to attack you directly to your face. The comments are extremely painful and quite unforgettable.
If anyone has a suggestion on how to “forgive AND forget” a neighbor who you have only met casually one time, feeling the need to shout out to you as you walk past your own home, “Move bitch, no one wants you here”, or “How do you sleep at night in Marilyn’s beautiful home”, please let me know. Or experiencing a neighbor feeling the need to tell you that your next-door neighbor refers to you as “The Whore next door.”
If anyone has a suggestion on how to address “friends” continued comments that “it was too soon”, “he can’t possibly love you after loving his wife for 47 years”, “how do you allow him to post memories and pictures of Marilyn?”, “how do you still allow pictures of her in the house?”, please let me know.
I forgive, but please don’t expect me to ever forget.
And for those of you who inevitably are thinking, well, you put this stuff on Facebook, what do you expect? Stop following us. Stop reading Bob’s posts. If you really care, (which I know 99 percent of you truly do and I thank God every day for your love and support, especially for Bob), then you would know that my husband finds the utmost comfort in his posts and blogs. It’s part of who he is and a large part of his grief journey. If you are not familiar with what is a grief journey, it’s a lifelong process that follows no rules, regulations, paths, and is an extremely unique journey for everyone who finds themselves unfortunately on one. I have wholeheartedly stood beside Bob in his grief journey and if someone feels the need to judge me in a human nature way or evil way because of my life/love decisions, go ahead and bring it. Marilyn will always be honored in this house, in our lives. The pictures and memories of her will always be alive in this home that Bob has graciously and lovingly opened to me. I will always hang 3 stockings on our fireplace. She loved Christmas and we will never forget her love for Christmas. We will always celebrate her birthday and go to mass on the anniversary of her death. I will always embrace the words “I still miss and love her.”
As our dear friend, Tim Baker put it best, “some people are incapable of processing emotional and intellectual situations that are more complex than a bumper sticker....people can’t deal with it, it’s over their heads.”
Mr. Grandstander, I suggest we take heed to these wise words. No one can possibly understand what we have, and I personally am okay with that.
So here’s my new bumper sticker - “I AM MARRIED TO THE GRANDSTANDER. LIFE IS GOOD!”
An Improbable Win for the Steelers
I was supposed to be at the the Steelers - Rams game at SoFi Stadium in LA yesterday. Booked a hotel, made airline reservations, and bought two tickets to the game from the Rams website back in September. I would be visiting and going to the game with my nephew Zach Stoner who lives in LaLaLand. We were going to visit the Motion Picture Academy Museum on Saturday and go to the game on Sunday, and on Sunday night, I was going to visit with grade school and high school buddy Bill Tarrant, also now residing in LA, in the hotel bar where we would drink and tell lies about the good old days until who knows what time. It was going to be one whale of a trip.
Then there was the medical incident that I had that required two nights in the hospital at the beginning of the month. I got home and rethought the whole thing about flying three thousand miles by myself, and came to the conclusion that discretion was the better part of valor, and Linda and I decided that I should not make the trip. So I canceled the hotel reservation, got credit for my flight tickets, and gave the tickets to Zach, who took a buddy and enjoyed what was essentially a home game for the Steelers. It was the correct decision, but I hated it.
Then there was the game itself.
Frankly, I didn't have high hopes for this one, as the Steelers' play, even with a 3-2 record, has been spotty at best and that is being kind, and being down 9-3 at the half with the Rams set to receive the second half kick-off, well, it wasn't looking good for the Black and Gold. Then this guy made his presence felt:
The Rams did everything that they could to take TJ Watt out of the game, double and triple teaming him, and in fact, Watt recorded only one tackle and no sacks or pressures in the entire game. However, on the Rams first play of the half, he intercepted Matt Stafford's pass and returned it to the Rams seven yard line, whereupon the Steelers scored and took a 10-9 lead. Even though the Rams would later score and take a 17-10 lead, Watt's interception completely changed the tenor and tone of the game in the Steelers favor.
A word about TJ Watt. He is a completely incredible and dominating player. He is a leading candidate, if not THE leading candidate, for Defensive Player of The Year once again, and on a team with a history of great defensive players like Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, Mel Blount, James Harrison, and Troy Polamalu, Watt stands in no one's shadow. Watt has been a significant factor in all of the Steelers victories this season. And try this stat on for size. In Steelers games in which Watt has played since joining the team, the Steelers are 63-28-2 (.683). When he hasn't played, the team is 1-10. He is an amazing and truly remarkable player.
Back to the game. Once again, Kenny Pickett turned on the jets in the fourth quarter, led the team on two long TD drives, and notched his fifth fourth quarter comeback in his 18 games as a Steeler. Why, oh why, can't he put together games for four quarters where he plays like he always seems to do in the fourth quarter? What the hell, let's blame that on Matt Canada!
Before I leave the Steelers, how about this from the Post-Gazette's Joe Starkey today about Rams coach John McVay:
Quick aside here: I’m still marveling at the explanation Rams coach Sean McVay gave for Watt’s interception. I’m not even sure Bill Belichick himself could translate the depths of football jargon to which McVay descended.
“Bottom line is, we had hitches on the outside, little option route from the three spot and seams at the two spot,” he said. “We obviously thought it was going to be a single high, Levi Wallace rolled up as a cloud, got Cooper working an option on the ‘mike,’ and you don’t feel that overlap from the hook player when Watt ended up dropping out of there. And that’s what led to the turnover.”
Thanks, coach.
I couldn't resist including that. Did you ever hear such bullshit coachspeak in your life?
Other football news in the region this weekend wasn't so good.
Ohio State 20 - Ohio State 12
Two undefeated teams, both ranked in the Top Ten in what was one of the more highly anticipated games of the season, and has been the case throughout most of his tenure, HC James Franklin and his Nittany Lions came up small when the lights were the brightest. Franklin is now 1-9 against Ohio State as the HC of Penn State. Not a small sample size.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I never root for Penn State to lose (with some exceptions), but I sure love seeing it when James Franklin spits the bit.
Wake Forest 21 - Pitt 17
Circumstances were such that I didn't see much this game, but rather listened to it on the radio while out driving. Pitt scored a TD to take a 17-14 lead with 1:30 left in the game. Announcer Pat Bostic then said that Wake still had all three time outs remaining, so this one "isn't over yet." At that point I said to Linda, "I'll bet you now that Pitt will lose this game." And they did. I'll spare you the gruesome details, but Pitt now stands 2-5. will probably not make bowl eligibility, and HC Pat Narduzzi is headed towards the worst season of his tenure.
Coming up this week: Notre Dame at South Bend. Good luck with that one.
I mentioned that I listened to the game on the radio. Eighty-five year old Billy "Ask Him Why He Doesn't Have a Driver's License" Hillgrove was in Los Angeles preparing to broadcast the Steelers game the next day, so play-by-play duties fell to Jeff Hathorn. What a pleasure to hear a coherent play-by-play announcer. No "he's tackled by a guy in the Wake backfield." Competency at the mic was so refreshing.
Sunday, October 22, 2023
Lessons in Human Nature
Saturday, October 21, 2023
Movie Review: "Killers of the Flower Moon"
- A pull away overhead scene at the beginning of the movie of the working oil fields on the Osage land as DiCaprio drives into town from the train station.
- Scenes of chaos and rowdiness on the streets of Fairfax, OK as oil workers and Osage natives intermingle along the dirt streets with both horses and automobiles.
- An Osage wedding ceremony.
- An amazing final scene that I just don't quite know how to describe.
- Best Picture
- Scorsese for both Directing and Screenplay (along with writing partner Eric Roth)
- Acting nominations for De Niro, DiCaprio, and Gladstone
- Rodrigo Prieto for Cinematography
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
The Baseball Post-Season
As I have alluded to in recent posts, recent events in my life have kept me away from The Grandstand. So, before another game gets played, allow me to share some thoughts and opinions on the.....
MLB Post-Season
The Post Season for Major League Baseball began two weeks ago, and it has mostly been with whimpers and not bangs. To review....
- All four Wild Card Rounds ended in 2-0 sweeps. A distinct lack of drama.
- Two of the four Divisional Rounds ended in 3-0 sweeps, and the other two series were 3-1 wins. The most exciting play of all eight rounds might well have been the 8-5-3 double play that ended Game 2 of the Phillies-Braves series and gave the Braves a win over Philly.
- Three of the four teams that received byes into the Divisional Round lost their series by 0-3, 0-3, and 1-3. All three of those losing teams won at least 100 games in the regular season.
- In the League Championship Series, both the Rangers and the Phillies hold 2-0 advantages. While I don't think it will happen, the possibility exists that these two series could also result in sweeps. The possibility also exists that we could see ten rounds of Playoffs without a single one of them reaching an ultimate Win-or-Go-Home game (3, 5, or 7).
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
To Absent Friends - Butkus, Wakefield, Christopher, and Garry
A week's vacation followed by a week's illness has resulted in a huge back-up in the Departure Lounge, so let's get to wishing some sad farewells to some noteworthy individuals.
Dick Butkus
Dick Butkus was 80 years old.
Tim Wakefield
In eighteen games, he went 8-1 with a 2.15 ERA, four complete games, and one shutout. More importantly, he went 2-0, both complete games, against the Braves in the NLCS. He was set to be named the MVP of that Series until the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 and Francisco Cabrera and Sid Bream and the game we don't ever want to talk about here in Pittsburgh.
In 1993, he backslid and went 6-11, 5.61. He was sent back to the minors, and was eventually released by the Pirates. Nobody was clamoring for him, and it was thought that he would be just another one hit wonder. Baseball history is full of them. However, in 1995 the Red Sox took a flyer on him and there he stayed for seventeen seasons. He won 186 games (a total of 200 for his career) for Boston and played on two World Series Championship teams.
Were you as surprised as I was when you heard after his death that in all of Red Sox history, only Cy Young and Roger Clemens won more games than Tim Wakefield? That is some list to be on.
Joe Christopher
John Garry Lindemulder
I can still remember many of the bits that these guys performed over the years. It is radio and television personalities like John Garry that become such a rich part of the communities in which they worked.
John Garry was 91 years old.
RIP Dick Butkus, Tim Wakefield, Joe Christopher, John Garry
Sunday, October 8, 2023
Where Have I Been?
The Grandstander has made exactly one (1!) post in the last twenty-seven (27!) days, and I am sure that you're all wondering, "Where in all heck fire you been?"
The answer to that question contains both Good and Bad News.
The Good News is that Linda and I took some time for a beach vacation to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. We had a wonderful relaxing time. Beautiful weather, some great food, and some quality beach time.
As you can see, Zelda also enjoyed her first ever trip to the ocean.
As I have done at various locations over the last two years, I also scattered some of Marilyn's cremains while there, and had some time with her sitting in the surf line, as we had so many times over the years.
Okay, now the Bad News.
While attending the Robert Morris football game last Saturday, I experienced a medical "incident" that resulted in a two night hospital stay. I won't go into details, HIPAA, you know, but I can tell you that I DIDN'T have a heart attack, and I DIDN'T have a stroke, so that's the good news. While in the hospital, though I started feeling some familiar symptoms, so I asked for a COVID test, and, sure enough, it was positive. I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week feeling like I had just gone ten rounds with Ali and Frazier combined. I turned the corner on Thursday, but I'm still feeling pretty fatigued.
A word to the wise....COVID is still out there, folks, and it's very real. As soon as I test negative and get the OK from my doc, I will be at the pharmacy getting the latest COVID vaccine shot.
So, what have I missed commenting upon?
Last week's Steelers loss to Houston
Nothing that I can add that would polish that particular road apple. The Steelers were awful from start to finish, and I couldn't find a single, not one, positive thing to take from it. Going to shotgun formation on fourth and one? We'll be talking about that call for a long, long time.
Today the Ravens visit Acrisure Stadium. As a rule, there is nothing better than Steelers-Ravens games, but today's match-up sure doesn't fill this Steelers fan with a lot of optimism.
Still, on any given Sunday.....
Pitt's 38-21 loss to Virginia Tech
Pitt falls to 1-4, and they have all the appearances of being one of the worst Pitt teams in many years, certainly the poorest in the Narduzzi Era. They had a bye this weekend to try and figure some things out, but this coming Saturday, they play a Louisville team that totally dominated tenth ranked Notre Dame last night. They may not win more that three games this season.
The Pirates finished their season with a 76-86 record
The Bucs are patting themselves on the back over a 14 game improvement over 2022, but do you really think that I can confine my thoughts on this to one small paragraph?
More on this one to follow.
Europe defeats (crushes?) the USA in the Ryder Cup competition
(A) This can only be classified and a horrendous choke job by the American players
(B) The controversy over who disrespected whom, who did or didn't wear a hat, and caddies fighting in parking lots? These are golfers, most of whom know nothing but silver spoons and county club upbringings. Spare me the drama.
(C) American golfers may or may not have a legit beef on getting paid for the Ryder Cup, but it's hard to sympathize with guys who make eight figure incomes by spending a year finishing T-11 on any given weekend.
A night at the opera theater
The first show in there 2023-24 Broadway Pittsburgh Series was "Moulin Rouge!", and it was fantastic. Fantastic staging, costumes, music, songs, and choreography. A total sensory overload and a wonderful theatrical experience.
Absent Friends
I have a backlog of four Absent Friends to report on - a Hall of Famer, a Pirates Playoff hero, a '60 Pirate, and a local radio personality. They deserve their own post, so watch for it in a day or two.
I'm back, baby!