The Masters

With hushed and reverent tones, I offer my prediction for the 2011 Masters, a Tradition Like No Other.

Perhaps one of the hardest single thing to do in sports is win a golf tournament, which makes predicting winners almost impossible, a true shot in the dark. So my prediction will be somewhat generic. I predict that The Masters (A Tradition Like No Other) will, for the first time since 1999, be won by a European golfer. It's a deep field of Euros - Luke Donald, Martin Kaymer, Rory McIlroy, Ian Poulter to name a few.

You heard it here first - the Green Jacket goes across the pond to the EU in 2011.

Enjoy The Masters, A Tradition Like No Other, and remember, no running and no unseemly yelling and shouting while watching. Bob Jones would not approve.

To Absent Friends - Larry Shepard

Thanks to Loyal Reader and NPL Buddy Harv for tipping me off to the fact that former Pirates Skipper Larry Shepard passed away yesterday at the age of 92.

Shepard had a rather undistinguished tenure as Pirates manager in 1968-69, although, in terms of winning percentage, it was a lot more distinguished that the administrations of recent Bucs' pilots. My one memory of Shepard was that at one point he seriously lobbied Joe L. Brown to trade Roberto Clemente to the Washington Senators for, I believe, short stop Ed Brinkman. (That would have made Aramis Ramirez for Bobby Hill look good by comparison!)

I also remember asking Bill Mazeroski at a golf outing a number of years back what he thought of Larry Shepard as a manager (can't remember why that even came up at the time). Maz' response was that Shepard "was okay for an a******." (If you can't figure it out, that's a body part that everyone has!)

Fairly or not, something tells me that the passing of Larry Shepard will not be met with the rush of sadness and great memories as did the recent passing of Chuck Tanner.

RIP Larry Shepard.

A Quiet Bucco Personnel Move

In the justified euphoria of the Buccos hot start, and God knows I don't want to rain on that parade, the team quietly announced that they have released pitcher Craig Hansen today. Hansen was one of the boatload of players obtained by the Bucs in the 2008 trade of Jason Bay.

If I am not mistaken, I believe that this leaves Bryan Morris as the last man standing to try to salvage something, anything, from GM Neal's biggest trade involving the best player that he inherited when he became GM. Morris will be a part of the Indianapolis starting rotation this season, and I am sure that Neal will be rolling his rosary beads every time Morris takes the bump in Indy. If Morris washes out, the Bay deal becomes a complete and total 100% bust.

Early Pirates Thoughts

It is early, very early, but how about a few thoughts on your 2011 Pittsburgh Pirates.

• Neil Walker, with 7 hits, 7 RBI, and an OPS over 1.000, has been the Pirates best player, and his scoring the winning run on Sunday from second base on an infield single has been the Pirates' best play of the four game season.


• Not bad for a guy who the Pirates last year were grooming to be a utility infielder.


• While Walker has been the best player so far, Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata have not been far behind.


• The biggest surprise has been the fairly strong performances of the four starting pitchers. Correia, Maholm, Ohlendorf, and Morton, especially Charlie Morton, all have done good work in their starts, each of them lasting six innings.


• How about Clint Hurdle coming out of the dugout on Sunday in Chicago to vociferously argue an umpire's call? After the three years of sleep-walking John Russell, I didn't think that Bucco skippers were allowed to do that.


• And kudos again to Hurdle for yanking his ineffective Eighth Inning Set-Up reliever, and bringing in his Closer with two outs in the eighth inning to put out the fire last night. Used to be that your best relievers were often called upon to pitch two or even three innings at a crack.


• On the minus side of the ledger has been Even Meek and Ronny Cedeno. You have to think that Meek will turn things around and be an effective reliever. You have no such hope that Cedeno will be an effective short stop. He has butchered two seemingly sure fire double play balls two games in a row, and the team is extremely fortunate that those two blunders didn't cost them the last two victories.


• GM Neil can be criticized for many things, and the fact that Ronny Cedeno is the best SS the Pirates have to offer four years into the Huntington Regime ranks very high on the list.

Switching from the diamond to the hardwood, congratulations to the Connecticut Huskies for winning the NCAA Championship last night. The game was, shall we say, far from an artistic masterpiece. I was glad that I had a baseball game to switch too for most of that hoops game. However, that takes nothing away from the well-earned Championship for UConn.

Incidentally, Loyal Reader Bill had pointed out to me over the weekend that the two teams that played for the Championship last night, UConn and Butler, were the same teams that handed Pitt it's two post-season losses in the Big East and the NCAA, respectively. Those victories over Pitt came by a combined score of a whopping three - count 'em - THREE POINTS. Kind of adds a bit of perspective to the Panthers' season.

"Branch Rickey" by Jimmy Breslin

I have just finished reading the book you see pictured here, "Branch Rickey" by Jimmy Breslin. It is not a lengthy book - you will finish it in one or two sittings - but it is another book that fans of baseball history should read.

There is probably no front office executive in all of baseball history more important or influential that Branch Rickey. He died almost fifty years ago, and casual followers of the game may not know of Rickey's place in the game's history. For that reason alone, it is good that this book was written. People with a sense of baseball history may not learn anything new here, but, if for no other reason, the book is worth reading just to appreciate the way Jimmy Breslin writes.

The main focus of the book centers around Rickey's greatest accomplishment: signing Jackie Robinson for the Brooklyn Dodgers and forcing the integration of major league baseball. One thing I did learn was of a meeting among and a resolution passed by MLB owners after Robinson's 1946 season in Montreal that was aimed to prevent Robinson, or any other "negro player" from ever playing in the major leagues. Also, the shameful silence from white sportswriters, many of whom were in the ball clubs' pockets, regarding the segregation that existed in major league baseball.

But the highlight of the book was the way Breslin wrote of his subjects and the comments that he made. Some samples:

• On Rickey's ability as a spellbinder: When he spoke "the cigar in his right hand provided the smoke and his waving left hand was the mirror."


• On Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey: "(Yawkee) would spend the next twenty years keeping blacks off his teams, and he got what he deserved, which was nothing."


• On Rickey and politics: "Rickey took the sport of baseball into politics, of which nobody in baseball today knows anything beyond giving city council members free box seats."


• On Satchel Paige: "Did he need the money? Whatever Paige had made lasted as long as a puddle in the sun."

I could go on and on with a bunch of great quotes like that about Walter O'Malley, Leo Durocher and many others (for Pirates fans, there are even a few about Bob Prince, Roy Face, and Bill Mazeroski), but you'll enjoy them a lot more by reading the book.

The Big Train for 2011

There he is - Albert Pujols, Major League Baseball's best player and the man who will lead The Big Train to fantasy baseball glory in the North Park League in 2011. Realizing that nothing turns people off more than hearing about other people's fantasy sports teams, be assured that I will not be beating you over the head with Fantasy Baseball stuff for the next six months. Unless, of course, my team, The Big Train, happens to kick ass in the League. Then, you will get regular updates.

I will brief in saying that I did use the first overall pick to select Pujols, despite his 0-for-5 day in the Cards' opener. Somehow, I think he will overcome that start. I also drafted two Pirates - Pedro Alvarez and Lyle Overbay. Overbay was picked as a replacement to the DL'd Kendry Morales.

Regardless of how well or poorly your fantasy team may fair, Draft Night is always one of the more fun nights of the year, and last night was no exception. Good luck to all in the NPL this season.

And speaking of baseball, a very nice Opening Day win for the Buccos yesterday. You can't win 'em all if you don't win the Opener. As Bob Prince used to say, "we may never lose another game."

Opening Day and Other Thoughts

Cleaning out the Mental In-Box on Opening Day while listening to the great Bob Dylan on the iPod:

• Opening Day for the Pittsburgh Baseball Club. Today, all things are possible. Not probable, but most certainly possible.


• Perhaps the most memorable quote from Spring Training came from Bob Nutting when he told that team that starting in 2011 "incremental progress will not be acceptable." Personally, and maybe I've just been totally beaten down by this bunch, I would be thrilled to see even "incremental progress" by the Pirates in 2011. Lord knows we haven't seen any such progress during the PNC Park era.


• I am guessing that that "incremental progress" quote will be thrown back at Nutting more than once as the season progresses.


• Setting a moderate goal, I said back in December that if Clint Hurdle could coax 70 wins out of this team, he should be Manager of the Year. That would be a 13 game improvement over 2010, so what the hell.... 70 Wins or Bust in 2011!!!


• When I am looking for a specific game score or result, the crawl at the bottom of the screen on ESPN is terrific. When I am not looking for a specific score or result, the crawl is extremely annoying.


• Just finished reading "True Grit" by Charles Portis. Had I read this novel when it first came out in 1968, I'm not sure that I would have thought "Wow, this would book make a great movie."


• Next on my reading list: "Branch Rickey" by Jimmy Breslin, and "Rawhide Down" (about the assassination attempt on President Reagan) by Del Quentin Wilber.


• Speaking Bob Dylan, my issue of the AARP Magazine (insert appropriate smartass comment here) arrived yesterday, and it includes a feature story commemorating Dylan's 70th birthday on May 24. Yes, Bob Dylan will be 70 years old next month!!


• Tonight is Fantasy Baseball Draft Night. I have the first pick in the North Park League draft, which I earned by finishing last in 2010. Just like in real baseball, all things are possible on Draft Night. I can tell you that Albert Pujols will be my first round selection tonight. After that, who knows?


• Readers of this blog know my abysmal track record making sports predictions, but last October 26, I predicted that the NBA Finals would be contested by the Los Angeles Lakers and the Chicago Bulls (you can look it up). As of this morning, the Lakers are #2 in the West and the #1 team in the East is none other than the Chicago Bulls. Still a lot of grass to mow until the Finals, but How 'Bout Them Bulls?


• Purchased the DVD set of Mad Men Season 4 yesterday. Looking forward to settling in with that.


• Bad news is that Mad Men Season 5 won't start until 2012. Will jumping an entire season mean jumping the shark for this great series?


• Welcome news for North Hills residents in the PG today. Cinemark will be building and opening a new, modern 12 screen movie theater complex in McCandless. Finally, modern comforts and amenities for movie goers in the North Hills, and good-bye to the dumpy Rave (formerly Showcase) Cinemas on McKnight Road. The bad news is that this complex won't be open until Fall, 2012.


• I am looking out my window as I type this and watching it snow. Wish I could say "April Fool's" to that one, but it is all too true.


• Enjoy the Bucco Opener today. Eighteen - and counting - seasons of ineptitude can't stop you from being a fan. Let's Go Bucs!!!