The Burgh is Loving This

2 Wins in 2 nights against the Red Sox. These young Buccos are making this a fun season. People are coming to the ballpark to see this team perform and these players are obliging.

Thanks to a couple of home runs, a 3 run shot from Lyle Overbay and a solo shot from Garrett Jones the Pirates defeated the Sox and are now 2 over .500, 3 games behind the Brewers. Stay tuned this is shaping up to be a great season.

Game 7

I know it's quite late to let you know this, but I just saw on the Pirates website that Root Sports will air game 7 of the 71 World Series tonight, Wednesday, at 7 o'clock.

Hopefully it won't be the last time in the near future that we see the Pirates in the World Series. Go Buccos. I hope the game has an exciting ending. When was the last time the Pirates came up with two wins in a day.

Back to a game below .500

The Pittsburgh Pirates made the 134 mile trip to Cleveland, OH for a 3 game interleague series that began on Friday. They had raised their record to two games above .500 for the first time in many many years and it looked like they may have a chance to put up a fight against the closest thing they have to an interleague rival.

The ruling attendant steams before the infinite disguise.

Neal Huntington and Frank Coonelly have tried to convince the league that just as the Browns are a rival to the Steelers, or at least were a rival before the Brownies moved, the Pirates are a rival to the Indians.

Well, the Pirates equipment manager should receive some severe discipline after this series because, unfortunately, he forgot to pack the offense when they made their 134 mile trip to Cleveland. The Pirates have not been the the greatest of offensive teams this year, but they have managed to score enough runs to outscore their opponent in many of their games. Thus, they were able to climb 2 games over .500.

Maybe it was too much to ask of these young guys to familiarize themselves with a new set of pitchers from the other league. They did manage to play even with the Indians today until the 11th inning.

It would have been nice to win the series or at least a game against their, "interleague rival" but hopefully they can regain the momentum that put them over .500 and continue those winning ways. After all, let's give Cleveland a little break. I'm happy seeing the Steelers repeatedly stomp the Browns until the Pirates gain some more momentum and dominate the Indians also.

The Best at What He Does

Sports

Sports are a great thing, even mixed up in all of the lockouts in the NFL and what is to come in the NBA. Hopefully there will not be any strike or lockout in the NBA and hopefully the NFL situation will end quickly. You know what though, there is always some place else to go if you are a true sports fan. If the NFL does not have a season, that's ok just tune into your favorite college team and watch the game on Saturday instead of Sunday or every other day of the week. This article isn't really about that it is about a man that is the best at what he does.

Who am I talking about you ask. Well, let's take a look inside ourselves. doesn't everyone want to be the best they can be at their dream job. A lot of us don't take the opportunities we need to take advantage of what talents we are given. We don't go for it. That's a big reason I like to write. I think I'm fairly good at it and I think I have a talent for it.

Love of the game
Most athletes play sports for a reason. I'm a throwback and I think that reason is that they love to play the sport that they choose. Professional athletes, yes they get a paycheck, but yes most of them love to play the game. They grew up playing it, and played at every opportunity once their parents introduced the sport to them and stopped pushing them to go to every practice and every game. At some point they started to really enjoy taking the field, smelling the grass, and all the other smells at the football field or baseball diamond.

Hard Work
Those guys got better and better and most worked extremely hard to do what they wanted to do. Neil Walker grew up around Pittsburgh and loved to watch the Pirates, and I'm sure he was a Steelers and Penguins fan too. I've never seen an article about him and who his favorite players were, but there were many to choose from even though the Pirates were in the midst of their losing streak while he was growing up.

All Star
Really, I'm not talking about Neil Walker. The story has something to do with Evan Meek. Do you remember how well he pitched last year. He was on the all-star team he pitched so well. Meek went through quite a bit and worked extremely hard to finally reach the point where he was pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Being an all star, despite the fact that the game has lost some credibility, is still a very exciting feat. I would say that to that point in his career Evan Meek was at the Pinnacle of his career. He had worked hard practiced hard and was sought out when the Pirates needed someone to set up a save.

Sought after
Can you imagine being the only person on your team that the coach looks to in a certain situation. You are sought after by your coach and depended on to do your job. This story isn't really about Evan Meek though. Evan has had a fairly rough year. He's had arm problems and been on the disabled list. Recently after a short time back from the disabled list Meek felt great for a while, but after pitching several games he realized his arm wasn't what it should be. The Pirates again shut him down and put him on the disabled list with a prescription of rehabilitation and treatment for the ailing shoulder.

Second Opinion
Meek was unsure and requested to have a second opinion. The Pirates consented and Meek sought out his second opinion. Who did he go to? That's the real point in this article, Meek sought out the opinion of the most highly regarded Orthopedic Surgeons in the world. If you are an prized athlete and your team values your talent they will take no chances with your care. Dr. James Andrews is the most well known orthopedic surgeon in all professional sports. Just like the top athletes in sports, ARod, Troy Polamalu, Sidney Crosby in their sports Dr. James Andrews has reached the top of his profession. I don't know how he has time to look after all of these injured athletes, but every time one of them tears a ligament or muscle he is the man.

The best in his field
He did not reach that expertise by sitting around and absorbing knowledge, he undoubtedly studied as much as athletes practiced and worked his tail off. That is the real story here. A tail of the best athletes and how they are not so different than professionals outside the world of sports. If you want to achieve your goals and be sought out as an expert or simply by friends needing an opinion you need to work at it and earn their trust. If you do that and have the knowledge to back it up you will achieve what you want. Maybe you'll be to your profession or the passion in your life what Dr. Andrews is to his. I know the Pittsburgh Pirates and Evan Meek trust Dr. Andrews with his arm.

Pelotas

Hello everyone,

I like to keep track of the traffic of people visiting the Pittsburgh Sports Buzz. I hope that people enjoy my sporadic writings as much as I enjoy my favorite recreational activity, writing. Well, it's not a very active recreational activity but it's recreational for my brain after looking at dollars and spreadsheets all day.

I was checking out the Traffic tonight and saw that I had a visit from someone in Pelotas, Brazil. I have 1 friend in Brazil, Marcos Macedo from Rio. He was an exchange student with our family for a year, but maybe now I have another friend or Marcos found out about my website and is checking it out.

If you are my Pelotas reader please drop me an email, jerrysteege@gmail.com, or anyone else is welcome to email me also. I'd love to hear any article ideas. I have been working on an article about the top 30 Steelers with the help of a friend and I hope to unveil that near the beginning of the next season, whenever that may be. Anyway keep reading Pelotas and everyone else.

It's happening to the Pittsburgh Pirates Part 2

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had 2 pitchers that have translated their quality outings into wins this season and those 2 pitchers are Charlie Morton and Kevin Correia. But there are other members of the staff that have suddenly turned in some outstanding efforts this season. The result is that the Pirates have 5 men in their rotation that are able to keep the opponent within striking distance of the offense.

James McDonald came to the Pirates near the end of last year in a trade with the Dodgers. Unexplicably the Dodgers couldn't seem to get enough out of McDonald. This just goes to show the sad shape the Dodgers are in right now. With not much of a chance given to him in the Major Leagues the Dodgers gave the Pirates McDonald and another prospect in Andrew Lambo. Lambo's story was a little different. He has a history of drug problems and was suspended for 50 games last year for what is believed to be marijuana usage. Nobody disputes his talent though and he was an integral part of the trade that sent Octavio Dotel to the Dodgers last year. McDonald has consistently kept the Pirates in games after some tinkering with the mechanics early in the season. His record is 4-4, but he has kept the Pirates in most of the games he's pitched.

Paul Maholm is the remaining cog from the last group of hopeful pitchers on the Pirates. He and Zach Duke and Tom Gorzelanny all were supposed to turn the Pirates fortunes around. Those other 2 were traded and Maholm remained. Why didn't the Pirates get rid of him? He's one of those guys that just has so much promise. He has always shown a lot of promise. This year he has pitched as well as he ever did. His record so far this season is 2-7. But that is definitely not indicative of how he has pitched this year. Most of his outings have been outstanding, but he has had little to no support and thus the record. He has kept the Pirates in most games that he has pitched, but sometimes there is a pitcher that the team just doesn't score runs for. This time it's Maholm, and it is unfortunate because he has pitched so well this season.

The 5th guy or wherever you wanted to slot him in the rotation was going to be Ross Ohlendorf. Ohlendorf has shown flashes of above average stuff in the past and has given the Pirates hope that they have found another quality arm to fill out the rotation. So much for that. Ohlendorf has continued to have arm problems and is currently on the 60 day disabled list. But, one's misfortune is another's fortune, or however that saying goes. Ohlendorf goes down and Jeff Karstens steps in as the short term solution. Karstens has done an amazing job. Every time he takes the mound the Pirates have had a chance to take the W.

Karstens came to the Pirates in 2008 as part of the Damaso Marte/Xavier Nady trade with the Yankees. He has had mixed success in previous attempts at starting but he may be solidifying his spot in the rotation for the rest of the year. His record is only 3-4 but his era is sub 3. The only drawback is that he usually doesn't get past the 7th inning, but I think Clint Hurdle would be happy if his pitchers could keep their eras in the 2s.

Let's look at that trade. Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte for Ross Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens, Jose Tabata, and Daniel McCutchen. That one seems to be working out well for the Pirates this year. 3 out of the 4 are on the Pirates and playing very well. The fourth was expected to be part of the rotation. That trade has worked out pretty well for the Pirates this year. Xavier Nady has been injured and bounced around a few teams, Damaso Marte remains with the Yankees, but is no stranger to the disabled list.

It is amazing that amongst this streak of losing that the Pirates have not managed to find some quality pitchers that could not even break the double digit win plateau. This year with the addition of Kevin Correia and the seasoning and tinkering of the pitchers they have acquired the Pirates seem to have a rotation that can keep them in games for 7 to 8 innings regularly. When the rotation can do that and keep the bullpen staff from extended duty it makes the bullpen that much fresher which helps them to be ready when needed. If these guys continue to improve that streak may be in danger.

These 5 guys are just a part of the pitching staff that has shown a lot of improvement from last year. In part 3 of this series I'll give analysis of the bullpen staff. The Pittsburgh Pirates are looking like they have the makings of a good team. It's great to be close to .500 and not out of the race at this point in the season, thanks in large part to the starting staff.

The Pittsburgh Pirates take Cole

Given the opportunity to pick first in this year's major league draft the Pirates selected Gerrit Cole.

Cole is a California boy, and has a fastball that has ventured into triple digits.
Read more about him soon.

It's happening to the Pittsburgh Pirates Part 1

Since Barry Bonds left years and years ago the Pirates have gone through waves and waves of what Pirates fans have hoped would be the next group to take the Pittsburgh Pirates back to the playoffs, or at least a winning season. Well, the core of the current group is the heart of this team right now.

At pitcher the Pirates have a group that seems to have been tinkered with and matured to the point where their ERA makes you forget about the recent flops that have been part of those other failed groups. A series of trades and free agent signings by the front office has brought what looks like a talented group to the team until the group of young arms recently drafted arrives.

Recall the high hopes the Pirates had for Zach Duke, Tom Gorzelanny and Ian Snell. The expectations for that group were never realized. The ERAs never went down and the wins never came. Now there is a new group ready to stake their claim and lead the Pirates into the promised land.

Charlie Morton, obtained from the Braves, could be considered the Pirates stopper. At the time of the trade Pirate Nation was up in arms because of the player he was traded for. Nate McLouth had become a fan favorite with his hitting and fielding. Why would the Pirates trade a part of their then core for a pitcher that had shown promise but had failed in his tryouts for the Braves.

Morton is starting to show Pirates Nation what the front office saw and McLouth has been average in his time with the Braves, never hitting as well as he did at the time of the trade. Morton has been nothing short of amazing this year. He has risen from the realm of AAAA players and finally started showing the stuff in the majors that he did in AAA. The Braves gave up on him and traded him to the Pirates. Thank you Atlanta. The Pirates did some tinkering and changed his delivery in the offseason and he discovered a sinker that some could argue that is now one of the best in the majors.

If the Pirates manage to break that string of losing seasons this year, another signing in the offseason might have much to do with it. Another pitcher, who could be considered the co stopper or the road stopper and who recently led the majors in wins has been a huge success and might be a major reason for the change in attitude of the team.

Kevin Correia, who now has 8 wins, brings a confidence to the Pirates that has been lacking. He has shown that he can win in the past and thanks to a change of scenery to Pittsburgh, he has shown so far this season that those past performances were not a fluke. He has been outstanding on the road especially, helping the Pirates confidence in that area and translating to as many wins this year, a third of the way through the season as all of last year.

These 2 guys are the heart of the Pittsburgh Pirates rotation this year, but there are others that have contributed significantly. Check out Part 2 of this series in the next few days.