Lee, Seven Days, Old Steelers, Pitt Announcers, Northside 777, and an Absent Friend

The Google Blog Dashboard tells me that this will be my 500th post on The Grandstander, so what better time to Clean Out the Mental In-Box, but before I do that.....

This was going to be a Pirates-free post today, but I have to comment on the trade Neal Huntington made last night to bring Derrek Lee to the Pirates. First, I will concede that Lee, like many Pirates acquisitions in the past 18 years, is a once very good, if not great, player who is now deep into the back nine of his career. The fact that his numbers in 2011 have been "trending up" (as you have no doubt heard/read already today) bodes well for the Bucs. Also, in giving up a Class A prospect who might - might - be in Pittsburgh in 2014, the team hasn't sacrificed much. And after watching Lyle Overbay this past week, and especially that pathetic pinch hitting effort last night, well, I am ready to throw a parade to welcome Derrek Lee to town.

This deal may or may not work out for the Pirates, but I give GM Neal credit for making it.

Now, if he can only find an outfielder by 4:00 PM today. How much more of Mike Diaz and Garrett Jones can we take?


OK, now we'll get to the Mental In-Box....

• Watched the 1964 movie "Seven Days in May" this weekend. This is a political thriller about an attempted military coup to take over the US government, and it starred Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, and Frederic March. This is a very good movie. Lancaster, as always, was great in the role of the megalomaniac general who wants to overthrow the President. Douglas is his aide who tips the President to the plot and saves the day, and March is the President who faces down plotters. Also, neat performances by character actors Edmond O'Brien and Martin Balsam. The script, incidentally, was written by Rod Serling of "Twilight Zone" fame.
  

• Lots of talk this week about the wooing of Plaxico Burress by the Steelers (which now appear to be moot, since it now appears that Plax will be teaming up with Santonio Holmes in RexRyanland). Were you surprised by this development? I didn't think the Steelers were interested in players with that kind of a background. Not the "Steelers Way."



• Speaking of the Steelers, what do these guys have in common: Bret Keisel, Casey Hampton, Troy Polamalu, James Farrier, James Harrison, Aaron Smith, Larry Foote, and Ryan Clark?



• Answer: They are all key members of the Steelers defense who are being relied upon to get the Steelers back to the Super Bowl this year, AND they are all over 30 years old, some of them well over 30. I hope I'm wrong, but that seems to me to be an ominous red flag waiving over Heinz Field.



• In case you missed it, there has been news on the Pitt Football Broadcast Team front of late. A few weeks ago, it was announced that Bill "Mr. Monotone" Fralic was leaving the booth after many years. No loss there except for those who used his commentary as a cure for insomnia. He will be replaced by Pat Bostic, who I believe still may have eligibility as a player left. Also, Pitt and 93.7 The Fan announced that Jon Burton will replace John Siebel as the sideline reporter. Pitt, is was said, was very unhappy with what they deemed to be Siebel's too critical comments about the Pitt football program on his daily talk show. That shouldn't be a problem with Burton, who should be the cheerleader that Pitt wants on their broadcasts.



• There was no mention of why a sideline reporter is needed on a radio broadcast in the first place.



• And speaking of cheerleaders, Billy Hilgrove will return as play-by-play man for the 100th year in a row. This will make bartenders in all Big East cities happy.



• Getting back to movies, I picked up an interesting DVD set at Target the other day. It was packaged as a 20th Century Fox "Studio Classics" set, and included four "noir classics." Two of the movies are "Black Widow" and "Dangerous Crossing" which I have never heard of. One was "Laura" which I have heard of and is a very good movie, and the other is "Call Northside 777" which stars James Stewart and Richard Conte and was considered a true classic in the Sproule household at Saline Street. The whole set cost $9.99. A steal!

*****

Allow me to close on a somber note, please. This past Wednesday evening, one of my former co-workers and good friends at Highmark, Alvin Rue, passed away after a battle with illness. I met Alvin on my very first day of work at Blue Cross in 1988, and he remained a good friend, and a regular lunch partner, throughout my entire time there. He was a truly good and decent man, and he will be missed . He is, indeed, an Absent Friend.

RIP, Alvin.

Georgia On My Mind

That was quite a four game scrum just concluded between the Pirates and Braves in Atlanta. Some thoughts and comments....

• Tim Neverett and Bob Walk concluded on the post-game last night that that series was as close to playoff baseball as you'll ever see in mid-season. A bit hyperbolic, perhaps, but looking back over the four games, I have to agree. If those were the first four games of the NLCS instead of a four game mid-week series in July, the sports world would be in a frenzy awaiting games five, six, and seven.


• Walk also made the observation that with one or two plays here and there, either team could have swept this series.


• While we in Pittsburgh bemoan the Pirates inability to score runs, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the Braves weren't scoring many either.


• That said, there is not scoring runs because the other team's pitchers are better than you on a given day, and there is not scoring runs because your hitters are completely over matched by the other team's pitching. That seemed to be the problem with the Pirates in these four games. Garrett Jones, Pedro Alvarez, Lyle Overbay and others looked like they didn't have the faintest idea what to do in most of their AB's against the Braves (Jones' solo HR on Wednesday notwithstanding).


• And when you saw what the Braves bullpen did to the Pirates hitters, you wonder how the Braves have managed to lose 45 games this season.


• Again, that said, the bullpen efforts of the Pirates were, I am sure, equally frustrating to the Braves and their fans.


• As for what will forever be known as the "Jerry Meals Game", don't count me among the multitudes demanding instant replay in baseball games. At the risk of sounding like an old coot, I have no desire to see red flags coming out of dugouts, and excessive time wasted and added on to games that are already too long while the umpires go under the hood.


• Besides, it is a hoary cliche but true that breaks like that seem to even out over 162 games. While it is a shame to lose a game in that manner, the players seemed to recover from it reasonably well, certainly a lot easier than the announcers did.


• Plus, all of the anguish could have been avoided it the Pirates could have, you know, scratched out one lousy run over the course of the final 17 innings of that game.


• Speaking of Alvarez, while it has only been four games since his recall from Indy, he really is struggling. Totally over matched against the Braves pitchers in this series. That said, the Pirates simply have to stick with him, I believe. He's young, you know what he is capable of, and you've invested just about everything in him. You really have to HOPE that he somehow finds "it" and starts hitting like he did over the last six weeks of last season.


• After watching the Braves for four straight games, I really came away impressed with the play of their first baseman, Freddie Freeman. That is one nice looking young ball player. Wish the Pirates could find someone like that in their farm system. It would sure be an upgrade over Lyle Overbay!


• The team is now approaching the final segment of a 13 game stretch against the Reds, Cardinals, Braves, and Phillies. When the stretch began, the morning crew on The Fan posed the question, Would you be happy if they went 6-7 during that stretch? I think most callers felt that, yes, that would be pretty good. They now sit at 5-5 on this stretch. A mere one of three in Philly would give them the 6-7 mark. Halladay and Lee go in the first two games. We'll see, but wouldn't you positively kill for 2-of-3 against the Phils?

OK, this leads us to Today, and the question of Where Do The Pirates Go From Here? or What Will Neal Huntington Do Before The Trade Deadline? My own thought is that he simply HAS to make some kind of a deal to make an upgrade in the offense. It was one thing to take an attitude of "who cares?" when the team was on the way to 95+ and 100+ loss seasons. I mean did it really matter if they ditched Andy LaRoche or Lastings Millegde at that point? But when you are a mere 1.5 games out of first with a chance of winning the division, standing pat is not really an option. It's not fair to the players who have hung in so valiantly up to this point, to the Manager, and, not incidentally, to the paying customers who are coming out in a manner not seen in 18 years to pay to watch the team play.

Having said that, I don't want to see the farm system gutted of the talent we are told is there (Taillon, Marte, Heredia) to land a guy like Hunter Pence, as much as I'd love to see him play here. This will be a big test for GM Neal, a much bigger one than trading Xavier Nady, which turned out great, or Jason Bay, which was not so great.

The Nutting/Coonelly/Huntington troika have insisted for four years now that they would step up to the plate, spend money, add payroll when it made sense for the team and when the time was right. That time appears to be 2011 in the NL Central. Now, we will see if they really meant it.

We can revisit this topic come Sunday evening.

State College Visit

I did talk about this on Facebook, but I have not yet commented in this space about our visit last week to State College wherein we visited George and Ann at their lovely home in Centre Hall and got to see their visiting grandchildren - and our great-nieces - Mara and Sophie Lowry, ages 13 and 9.

One of the highlights of the visit was me teaching Mara and Sophie to play blackjack. No doubt their parents will really appreciate this.

We also went to see the State College Spikes, the short season affiliate of the Pirates play the Mahoning Valley Scrappers. That is Pirates big-money draftee from last year Stetson Allie, #48, seventh from left, lined up for the national anthem. We didn't get to see Allie pitch that night. I also can tell you that in the Spikes 17-4 loss to the Scrappers, we didn't get to see anyone who looks to be of immediate help to the Bucs, either.

Finally, the heat that has been dogging us all in recent days was also smothering Centre County as well, so the mandatory visit to the Penn State Creamery (now called the Berkey Creamery after some fat-cat donor) was especially welcome this time around. Man, is the ice cream there good! They will pack it for you in dry ice so that it can survive a long road trip out of Penn State. Our only mistake was buying only one half-gallon of ice cream to bring home with us.

I recalled the story of the year that the Blue Cross Men's Golf League Outing was held at Toftrees Resort in State College. While most guys took an afternoon to hit the bars along College Avenue, I took a trip to The Creamery for ice cream! A wise choice indeed.

The NFL Is Back, but Did It Ever Really Go Away?

Well, the federal government is on the brink of shutting down, but all is right with the world because the NFL Owners and Players have come to an agreement and the lockout is now over. Joy exists throughout the land! Are you ready for some football?????

When this whole nonsense began, I vowed to pay no attention to it, not read about it, not write about, and I am happy to say that I pretty much stuck to that vow. I also said, although I am not sure if I wrote it here, and I am not sufficiently motivated to look it up, that not a single regular season game would be lost as a result of this labor nonsense.

So, not only has this been settled with no regular season games being lost, no exhibition games (at regular season prices) will be lost either. Wow, what a surprise! (Yes, I know that the Hall of Fame game in Canton has been canceled, but this is not a "home" game for either of the two teams involved. The only people who get hurt by the loss of that game are the people and businesses of Canton, Ohio, and I am sure that the 32 lodge brothers who comprise the NFL will not shed any tears for them.)

So, what we missed out on were mini-camps and "voluntary" OTA's, or, as Michael Wilbon put it, "things that didn't exist 20 years ago."

I did read Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback this morning, and I was struck by another predictable outcome of the new agreement: whining of the coaches over the fact that mini-camps, OTA's, training camps, two-a-days, padded practices, etc. will be reduced and/or eliminated under the new agreement. The game as we know it will cease to exist because the coaches won't be able to work these guys out 52 weeks a year. Or, so they say. My guess is that the good coaches will not miss a beat, nor will the viewers who devour the games every Sunday afternoon...and night...and Monday night...and Thursday nights.

OK, now that this is over, who do you think will be the Stillers long-snapper this coming season??????

Reality Bites

It sure was fun with that steady diet of the Cubs and Astros before and after the All-Star break, but the Reds and the Cardinals have now doused the Pirates with a huge bucket of cold water reality over the last five games, and that hasn't been nearly as much fun. That the Pirates managed to win two of those games with the Reds is a tribute to what has been a remarkable pitching staff, but even those pitchers have been over matched against the Cardinals line-up, and the Cardinals' Pujols-Holliday-Berkman-Molina (Yadier Molina????) Murderers Row has only shown the stark contrast of the anemic Pirates offense. Seriously, do you any confidence in any Pirates hitter other that Presley, Walker, and McCutchen at this point? It's tough going when you send up six almost-automatic outs to the plate every game.

With that in mind, I will join the chorus of sportswriters, bloggers, and commentators asking why Pedro Alvarez is not up here in Pittsburgh. He is the only big power threat in the entire organization, and, the awful start in 2011 aside, he has shown that he can hit home runs in the major leagues. If Neal Huntington and the Marine drill instructors that run the Pirates minor leagues are trying to make a point about Alvarez' conditioning and/or work ethic, that would be fine if the Pirates were bobbing along near .500 way back in the middle of the standings, but the fact is, thanks to an apparently mediocre NL Central, the team is, for now, in the mix for winning the division. Alvarez can come up here now, and he could very possibly hit 15-20 home runs between now and the end of the season. We also know that any combination of Steve Pearce/Brandon Wood/Chase d'Arnaud will not come close to that kind of production. Of course, if they wait too much longer, the Pirates will be that team bobbing along near .500 way back in the middle of the standings.

After the Cardinals leave town today, the Pirates embark on a seven game stretch against the Phillies and Braves. The Cardinals? Well, now it's their turn to feast on the Cubs and Astros.

Having said all of this, let me put on my rose colored glasses and take a sip of Bucco Kool-Aid and remind all that this team won only 57 games last year. The most optimistic among us said that they might - MIGHT - win 70 games in 2011. Flirting with a pennant in July but failing to win it should not give a false negative on what still could turn out to be a remarkable turnaround from that awful team we all watched last year.

On Buccos and Bookstores

Was at PNC Park today to see the Pirates fail to sweep the Reds. Hey, that's OK, you can't win 'em all, and as someone (I think it might have been Beano Cook) once said, "the other guys get paid, too," and it was still a series sweep, and you'll take those every time, right?

Still, this three game series with the Reds showcased the best and the worst of the 2011 Pirates. On the plus side, the pitching staff gives up one earned run in 27 innings. On the minus side, the Pirates offense manages to score four runs in three games. Not easy to win 2 of 3 when that's all your bats are doing.

Without looking at the MLB standings as I write this, were the Pirates in any other division, we would be talking about their 51-46 record as a sort of gee-isn't-it-nice-that-they-are-over-.500. However, in the NL Central, they are in first place and have a real shot at winning this division. So, GM Neal has some decisions to make between now and July 31.

My own thoughts:

• Pedro Alvarez is hitting the cover off the ball in Indy. Get him up here and put him at third. He was the guy you drafted to be "the man" so let him have at it.


• The pending return of Steve Pearce does not excite me. Pearce has proven to be the proverbial "Quad-A" player over the years. He might be a better bat off the bench than Brandon Wood or Mike Diaz, but he is not the guy who will carry the team down the stretch.


• Ditto Ryan Doumit.


• Bloggin' Bob Smizik made a strong case today for acquiring Carlos Pena to play first base.


• The bullpen needs someone other than Jose "walk the first batter" Veras to get to Joel Hanrahan. Maybe Jason Grilli is that guy, but maybe that guy is Daniel McCutchen or Chris Resop.


• All the talk about Hunter Pence strikes me as nuts. Would I like to have Pence in the Pirates picket line? Damn right I would, but the cost would be way too steep, and I can't see Houston parting with him. He's the guy Houston needs to rebuild their team around. Of course, we Pirates fans said the same about Nate McLouth.


• Speaking of Daniel McCutchen, do you think the Yankees would like a do-over on that Xavier Nady trade?

*****

On the subject of bookstores, I note with sadness that Borders Bookstores will be going out of business within the next 60-90 days. That means that I will now have to leave the North Hills and drive to either Cranberry, Homestead, or Robinson the shop in a major bookstore, Barnes and Noble, and independently owned bookstores are rarer than hen's teeth.

Now I realize that as the owner of a Kindle, I am part of the problem that has contributed to the demise of Borders, but have you noted the irony that it was the jumbo chains such as Borders that killed the smaller independents? Hoisted on their own petard, as The Bard would have put it.

For Those of Us Who Never Left.....

As people run over each other jumping on the Bucco Bandwagon these days, Dejan Kovacevic has something for those of us who never left. As DK says, we know who we are.

Read on:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/pirates/s_747210.html