A Star"ling" is born!

Good Morning,

If you are a Pirates fan, last night was a special game to watch as Starling Marte made his MLB debut and he did not disappoint going 2 for 4 with an RBI, helping the Pirates take game one of the four game series in Houston 5-3. The biggest swing of the game for Marte came on the first pitch of the game when he connected on a pitch by Astros Starting Pitcher Dallas Keuchel and drove it deep to Left Field to give the Pirates an early 1-0 lead. Last night was an exciting moment not only for Marte and the Pirates but for all Pirates fans, especially those of us who were lucky enough to watch him work his way from Altoona to Indianapolis to Pittsburgh and I hope the next time I head to People's Natural Gas Park in Altoona that Starling Marte's Name will be added to the Road to the Majors Display I have pictured above.

Here is a link to the Home Run Video if you have not seen it yet.
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?c_id=mlb&content_id=23364783&topic_id=17807232

Along with the great start by Marte, A.J. Burnett continued his successful season by recording his 12th win and Joel Hanrahan took over the NL. Lead in Saves with his 30th.

The other big Pirates News concerned Wandy Rodriguez who will make his first start as a Pirate against his former team the Astros Saturday Night. Should be an interesting game.


AAABA Update: With the severe weather that hit the Johnstown area last night, game 1 of the AAABA Championship literally floated away. The field took on so much water it began flooding and one photo from Twitter shows how bad it was. Game 1 is now scheduled to be played tonight at the Point.

Source: [Twitter]

-The Flood City Sports Fan

AAABA, Penn State, Curve, and Much More

Good Evening,

Since the last time I posted, a lot has happened in the world of sports. The biggest story has been the Penn State sanctions handed down by the NCAA. These sanctions do hurt the current football players on the team and future players, but as many people have said, they were needed. I think these sanctions help to deal with the cult mentality that has overtaken the University over the past few decades. From former players to students, to fans there have been some comments about the Sanctions, the NCAA, and others that have been over the line the past few days, but one took the cake for me. In a video posted on the 96.1 Kiss Website (See it Here), one fan actually compared the sanctions to the planes hitting the towers on September 11th.  I understand fans of the team being upset because quite frankly had these sanctions been handed down to Pitt for something similar, I would probably have been as disgusted and upset as there fans are. However, to compare these sanctions to one of the biggest tragedies in the history of our nation is disgusting and futher proves the grip of the cult mentality in Nittany Nation.

OTHER NOTES:

Altoona Curve: After winning the rare 2 Doubleheaders in 2 days over the weekend, the Altoona Curve are currently in the midst of a 6 game winning streak that has them back near the .500 mark and also out of the cellar in the Eastern League Western Division. If that is not interesting enough, they sit in 4th place but they are down less than 3 games from second place so with a few more wins they could be right back in the playoff picture. Lets hope this roller coaster keeps going up.

AAABA: The AAABA Championship has been set and we know who the two teams will be that will represent Johnstown in the National Tournament. Regular Season Champion Berkley Hills Renegades and Martella's Pharmacy will now play a best of 5 series to see who will be the league champion and more importantly who will get the often sold out night games during the tournament.  This should be a good series matching two talented teams  MY PREDICTION: Renegades in 4 Games

NASCAR: The countdown is on until the second Pocono Race of the season and this one matters even more than the other considering only a handful of races remain until the Chase begins. The President of the Raceway is offering a unique promotion for the race: If Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins, a fan at the race wins $100K. Click Here for more info on this

- The Flood City Sports Fan

National League Wins and Post Game Thoughts

Good Afternoon,

If you are a fan of the National League, today is a good day for you especially if your team has a shot of making the playoffs, because thanks to the 8-0 N.L. win last night the N.L. representative will have home field advantage in the World Series. The argument is made by both sides about whether or not the All Star Game should determine this, but the fact of the matter is if you are a fan of the Pirates like myself, it is a guarantee that if they make it to the World Series, Game 1 will be played at PNC Park. I realize this is still a long shot with half the season remaining, but hey it gives us all something to look forward to. 

Overall I thought the game was entertaining, even though the N.L jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and never looked back, I always enjoy seeing these big match ups that you can only find in the All Star Game. I was also happy to see both Andrew McCutchen and Joel Hanrahan get into the game and provide support for the N.L.

Looking at the Home Run Derby, I was not impressed this season. The HR derby used to be one of my favorite parts of the All Star Festivities but I am slowly losing interest like many others. I feel this comes from a variety of factors, the biggest being how ESPN covers the Derby. One thing that disgusted me was during some of the hitters at-bats they were talking to other All Stars and not focusing on the hitters which I found disrespectful. The website Bleacher Report did an article with some interesting twists that could be added. Click Here to check it out.

The other big issue of this year's All Star Festivities was the situation involving Robinson Cano and him not selecting Kansas City Royal and hometown favorite Billy Butler for the Home Run Derby. This lead to Cano being booed relentlessly throughout the Home Run Derby and All Star Game. I have also read reports online today that Cano's family was "yelled at" during the Derby. While I disagree with the heckling of his Family members, I really had no problems with him being booed overall. This is an issue that may affect future Home Run Derbies.

- The Flood City Sports Fan


Photo Credit (NL Logo): http://media.photobucket.com/image/national%20league%20logo/multifariousramblings/baseball/NationalLeagueLogo.png?o=17

First Half Recap and Awards

Good Morning,

Today is the final day of baseball before the All-Star Break and the Pirates are guaranteed to be in a first place tie in the division no matter what happens in this afternoon's finale against the Giants at PNC Park.Sitting at 47-37 it is clear that this has been a first half to remember. The team has won 8 of their last 10 games and their 28-14 home record is the best in baseball. Today will be an interesting game because the  Giants will send Tim Lincecum to the mound. Lincecum comes into today's game with a 3-9 record in 17 starts with a 6.09 ERA. Hopefully the Pirates can take the series against the Giants and be 11 games over .500 as some of their players head to K.C.

Now For Some 1st Half Awards. Keep in mind that these are my opinions and you may agree or disagree with me.

Team MVP: Andrew McCutchen. How can you argue with this decision: .359 Batting Average, .605 Slugging Percentage, 109 Hits, 16 HR, 56 RBI. McCutchen has been the driving force behind this teams offensive success lately, despite the fact that he was in a slump at the beginning of the season.
Honorable Mentions: James McDonald, Pedro Alvarez, A.J. Burnett


Team Cy Young: James McDonald. This was a tough decision considering how well the pitching staff as a whole has performed, but McDonald has stepped up this season with a 9-3 record in 17 starts, a low  2.37 ERA which is third in the N.L. and 100 Strikeouts makes McDonald a great choice for this award.
Honorable Mentions: A.J. Burnett, Joel Hanrahan

Team Comeback Player: Pedro Alvarez. To be honest, at the beginning of the season I didnt think Pedro was gonna last all season in the Majors, but I have been pleasantly surprised with him since then. 16 HR, 50 RBI and a .486 Slugging Percentage gives me confidence in Pedro as the season moves on.

Honorable Mentions: Casey McGehee, Rod Barajas, James McDonald, Garrett Jones


Along with these, some Pirates players and coaches were honored by ESPN's Jayson Stark in this article:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8134086/handing-baseball-midseason-awards

-The Flood City Sports Fan

10 Games over .500

Hello Everyone,

It has been a while since I was on here. Thats what summer does to ya! One great thing about this summer is the Pittsburgh Pirates this year. 10 Games over .500 and sitting in first place in the NL Central. This has all of us that are Pirate fans excited each and every night. It is extra special for people like me who were infants the last time the team made a run like this in the early 90's. We have never experienced a season like this one, so it is just as special if not more special for us.

I am also a fan of the Zoltan theme that this team has taken because it bonds the team and brings them together and also, I enjoyed the movie "Dude Where's My Car. There is even a company selling shirts with the Zoltan sign on it in a Pirates theme. Could this be a theme similar to the "We are Family" of the 1979 World Championship Team? I guess we will all have to wait and hope for the best. 

Photo: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7IZwmkyB4kgI3G9ufXezIATphhMUtDFFVQBYtyh5IwAmPMsM6bqvgdTNL5p8v0dAO22GSI8o6yRM9Xt9CR_5dYD5IdpwkomBYQCGkibbIpSwsuwgCTTFTi_QIKjrZg6FQWsqK-ulKzpIN/s1600/zolt134.png

Looking at the Pirates AA Affiliate in Altoona, the Curve continue their up and down season teatering around the .500 mark and sitting in 4th place of the Eastern League Western Division at 41-43 at the time I post this. The curve sit 8 games out of First place, but only trail second place by 3.5 games which in the Eastern League is an easy challenge to overcome. The top team in the Eastern League is the Akron Aeros who hold an impressive 30-15 record at home and I dont see this changing. It seems that Akron is typically one of the top teams every year. No matter where they sit in the standings, a trip to Peoples Natural Gas Park is always an entertaining one, and my last trip when the Curve played these Aeros a few weeks ago included a bench clearing in the 9th inning.

Hopefully, when I make my next post the Pirates success is continuing and the Curve get on the right track. Until then, enjoy all the fun of summer both on and off the field.

- The Flood City Sports Fan