Looking at the Numbers: Pirates Edition (Part 3)

Today concludes the three part series, the first of a new feature of this blog called "Looking at the Numbers". Click Here to see part one and Click Here to see part two. Thanks for checking this out and look for more "Looking at the Numbers" in the future.

For part three, we look at the earliest parks in the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Photo Source

Recreation Park: Used from 1885-1890

All Time Record at Recreation Park: 204-163 (.556) in 6 seasons

Best Season: 37-19 (.661) (1885)

Worst Season: 14-25 (.359) (1890)

Recreation Park was used by the Pirates for six seasons. According to a plaque outside of Heinz Field the site of Recreation Park was located NW of the field. The Pirates had three winning and three losing home records at Recreation Park. In their final season there, they went 14-25 at home while finishing 9-88 on the road for a final record of 23-113. Their best season at the park was in 1885 when they finished 18 games over.500.

Photo Source

Exposition Park I: Used from 1882-84
All Time Record at Recreation Park: 53-88 in 3 seasons
Best Season: 17-20 (.459) (1882)
Worst Season: 18-37 (.327) (1884)

The Alleghenys, who later became the Pirates played at Exposition Park I for three seasons. While there is not much information available on the team, I was able to find that the team had losing records at home during all three seasons.

That concludes "Looking at the Numbers: Pirates Edition". Thanks for looking at this series and look for future editions of "Looking at the Numbers" in the future. A special thanks to www.baseball-reference.com for providing the tools to find the information used in this feature."

- The Flood City Sports Fan

Looking at the Numbers: Pirates Edition (Part 2)

Good Afternoon,

This is part two of the first "Looking at the Numbers" series. For the first installment I am looking at the Pirates All-Time Records at each of their home parks. Click Here to see part one, which features PNC Park and Three Rivers Stadium.

Today's post will look at Forbes Field & Exposition Park III. Tomorrow the series will conclude with a look at Recreation Park, Island Grounds, Mahaffey Park, and Exposition Parks 1&2.

Photo Source

Forbes Field: June 30, 1909-June 28, 1970

All-Time Record at Forbes Field (Regular Season): 2599-2118 (.551) in 62 Seasons

Best Season (Percentage): 26-8 (.765.) (1970)

Best Season (Wins): 52-25 (1925 & 1960) (.675)

Worst Season: 23-54 (.299) (1952)

The Pirates won almost 2600 games in their 62 seasons at Forbes Field. In 46 of the 62 seasons, the Pirates were above .500 in wins at their home park. In nine of the 42 seasons the team was 20+ wins over .500 at home and were 10 or more games over .500 in 36 of the 46 seasons. The team did have some down years with seasons where they finished 31, 28, and 25 games under .500 at home. The team won the 1925 and 1960 World Series at Forbes Field and had success throughout their time at the field. In their final season at the stadium, the Pirates went 26-8, winning their last nine games at Forbes Field before moving to Three Rivers Stadium on July 16th.

Photo Source

Exposition Park III: 1891-1909

All Time Record at Exposition Park III: 834-508 (.621) in 19 seasons

Best Season: 56-15 (.789) (1902)

Worst Season: 32-34 (.485) (1891)

The Pirates only played 19 seasons at Exposition Park III, but they had success there almost every year. They had a losing season once in 19 seasons at the park, and that was 1891 when they went 32-34. They had double digit wins over .500 in 15 of the 19 seasons at the park. The 1909 season was split between Exposition Park III and Forbes Field. The Pirates played 24 games at the park before moving to Forbes Field, going 19-5.

Tomorrow we will conclude the final part of this series looking at the earliest parks of the Pirates.

- The Flood City Sports Fan

Looking at the Numbers: Pirates Edition

Hi everyone,

Today I premere a new feature here on the blog known as "Looking at the Numbers". For the first edition of this new feature, I figured I would look at the Pirates all-time record at home. In my last post, I talked about the Pirates record in Philadelphia and Milwaukee so I thought this would be a good place to go to. This first post will include PNC Park and Three Rivers Stadium

PNC Park: March 31, 2001-Present

All-Time Record at PNC Park (As of 4/28/13): 476-505 (.485) in 13 Seasons

2013 Record (As of 4/28/13): 8-4

Best Season: 45-36 (.555) (2012)

Worst Season: 34-47 (.420) (2001)

The Pirates currently play at one of the best parks in America, and while the team has continued their consecutive losing season streak, the team has seen an increase in wins and attendance in the past few years. The Pirates had their best season in the history of PNC Park in 2012 terms of wins and losses and their second best attended season since the inagural season of 2001. Over two million fans made their way through the turnstiles in 2012 with an average attendance of 25,826. This is second only to the inaugural season where the average attendance was over 30,000.

Source: http://www.mcmas.net/fod/three2.jpg

Three Rivers Stadium: July 16, 1970-October 1, 2000

All-Time Record at Three Rivers Stadium (Regular Season): 1324-1081 (.551) in 31 Seasons

Best Season: 58-23 (.716) (1977)

Worst Season: 31-50 (.383) (1986)

The Pirates had success in Three Rivers Stadium, going 240 games over 500 in their 31 seasons there. The Pirates averaged 42 wins in their time at Three Rivers Stadium. They also participated in nine postseasons at the stadium, including two World Series runs. From 1970-1981 the team never finished below .500 at home and won at least 10 more games than they lost in all but two of those seasons. 1981-1990 was not as successful at Three Rivers as the team had seasons where they went 6,10, and 19 games under .500 at home. In their final five seasons at the stadium, the Pirates went 201-202.

Tomorrow's post will include Forbes Field & Exhibition Park III.

Sources: http://www.baseball-reference.com (Year-By-Year Records)

-The Flood City Sports Fan

Pirates Best the Braves

Raise the Jolly Roger!!!

I am in a posting mood this afternoon and that is thanks to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who just finished a successful homestand going 7-2, including a sweep of the Cincinnati Reds. The most impressive part of the homestand might have been the Pirates taking three of four games from the Atlanta Braves who came into the series with a 12-2 record. The Pirates are now two games over .500 at 10-8.While the overall series was impressive here were some interesting stats from the series.

After giving up six runs in the first game of the series, a 6-4 loss, the Pirates gave up only three runs in the three wins, while scoring 13 runs. The Braves also lost their first games on the road this season, going 7-0 before Friday's 6-0 loss.

Another impressive stat was the fact that former Pirates pitcher Paul Maholm was the only starting pitcher in the Major Leagues that had not given up a run this season. That changed on Saturday as the Pirates scored three runs on Maholm in the sixth inning giving him his first runs allowed of the season and his first loss of the season.

The bats came alive for the Bucs, hitting four home runs during the series, including Pedro Alvarez getting his first two of the season.

The Pirates now head on the road for a ten game road trip with stops in Philadelphia (4), St. Louis (3), and Milwaukee (3) before returning home to take on the Nationals and Mariners. It will be interesting to see how the Pirates perform on the road trip, specifically at Citizens Bank Park and Miller Park, where the Pirates have not fared well. Overall, the Pirates were 4-11 against the Brewers and 4-3 against the Phillies. On the road they were 2-2 in Philadelphia and  3-6 in Milwaukee last season.

But for now, lets enjoy this great homestand and once again... Raise the Jolly Roger!!!

Photo Source

- The Flood City Sports Fan

Night with the Panthers Recap

Good Afternoon,

It's been a pretty good Sunday after watching the Pirates take three of four from the Braves, but I will get to that in the next post.

For this post I want to recap the Night with the Panthers event that was held this past Thursday at Sunnehanna Country Club. This year was the sixth that the University of Pittsburgh and the Johnstown chapter of the Panther club have held this event, inviting fans for a night of good food and the chance to meet some of Pitt's coaches and athletic office staff.

I had the opportunity to speak with several Pitt athletic officials along with head football coach Paul Chryst. He was very friendly and open to taking pictures, signing autographs, and talking about the upcoming season.  I also had the chance to meet Pat Bostick, former Pitt QB and current analyst for the Pitt Football broadcasts.

Everyone is excited about the upcoming football schedule along with the much anticipated move to the ACC. One thing that Executive Associate Athletic Director Donna Sanft and Chryst said during their speeches was the fact that season ticket sales are on pace to sell out Heinz Field for the first time since 2003.

Johnstown native Marco Pecora spoke during the event and explained how all the players from the Johnstown area who played at Pitt were like a family even though they came from different schools.

Overall, the event was a great opportunity to get together with other Pitt fans while meeting Pitt staff and getting ready for July 1st when Pitt officially becomes a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

-The Flood City Sports Fan

Frozen Four Recap

Good Evening,

This past week, I had the privilege of attending the Frozen Four games at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. The Frozen Four featured Yale, Quinnipiac, St. Cloud State University, and UMass-Lowell, who traveled to the steel city on their quest to win the NCAA Division I Ice Hockey Championship. The three games played during the two day Frozen Four were exciting and included an overtime winner, A goal by a hometown player in the championship game, and two goals in 13 seconds. Before getting into the three games, I wanted to take a minute to focus on the other event that surrounded the three games, Frozen Fest along with the arena itself.

Frozen Fest: Frozen fest featured some great giveaways including a freezer mug given to everyone by Allstate. There were also activities like skill shooting, speed shooting, and games featuring some of the NCAA spring sports. There was live music both days and the participating teams held pep rallies to pump up not only their fans, but all in attendance for the games. It was a great way to prepare to head into the arena.

Consol Energy Center: The arena was decked out in Frozen Four Logos and banners  in the concourses, lobbies, and the seating bowl. As the photos will show below they did a great job incorporating the bridges of Pittsburgh into the logos. The atmosphere inside during every game was impressive as the arena did a good job mixing the live music from team bands with the regular music they play. They also had in-game interviews with some big names like Ray Shearo, Billy Guerin, and Derek Schooley being featured in interviews. One touch I enjoyed was the use of Mike Lange saying "A Great Day for Hockey" prior to each game on Thursday and "It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh" on Saturday.

Now Onto the Games...

Semifinals: Both semifinal games were exciting but I will start with the 3-2 overtime win by Yale over UMass-Lowell in the first game. It appeared that Yale was looking at a trip to the National Championship game with two first period goals by Mitch Witek and Antoine Laganiere, but UMass-Lowell was not going down without a fight. At 14:38 of the second period, they got on the board thanks to Riley Wetmore and just 14 seconds later, Joseph Pendenza tied the game, exciting their contingency.

In the second game, Quinnipiac used three first-period goals to defeat St. Cloud State University 4-1. The first period goals came from Jordan Samuels-Thomas, Ben Arnt, and Jeremy Langlois. Samuels-Thomas ended up with two points in the period, getting the assist on the Arnt goal. St. Cloud State got their lone goal from Joey Benik in the second period, before Kellen Jones set the final score later in the period. Despite losing by three goals, St. Cloud State outshot the Bobcats 34-28. Ryan Faragher took the loss stopping 24 of 28 shots, while Eric Hartzell stopped 33 of 34 shots in the win.

Recaps for both games:

http://www.ncaa.com/game/icehockey-men/d1/2013/04/11/yale-mass-lowell

http://www.ncaa.com/game/icehockey-men/d1/2013/04/11/st-cloud-st-quinnipiac

Finals: For fans of Yale and Quinnipiac, their National Championship meeting on Saturday night was their fourth meeting this season. Yale had been unable to pick up a victory in the previous three meetings, but the fourth time was the charm for the Bulldogs, as they shutout Qunnipiac 4-0, winning their first National Title the history of their program, while winning the first NCAA National Championship for a team sport since 1953. It appeared that neither team would get on the board as the second period would down, but Clinton Bourbonais got the Bulldogs on the board, as his shot from the left faceoff circle cleared the pads of Eric Hartzell with four seconds left in the period. Yale pick up goals from Charles Orzetti and Andrew Miller in the first ten minutes of the third period, before Pittsburgh's own Jesse Root set the final score with an empty net goal at 13:02. 

Game Recap:

http://www.ncaa.com/game/icehockey-men/d1/2013/04/13/yale-quinnipiac

Final Thoughts: This was another great event brought into the city of Pittsburgh. The fans from all four schools were noticable, along with fans from other schools and people like me who attended the games to see some exciting hockey, which we received. Fans packed local bars, restaurants, and hotels providing a boost to the local economy along with the other events going on in town this past weekend. The state of Pennsylvania will benefit from the Frozen Four again next year as Philadelphia takes the reigns and hosts the event in 2014.

- The Flood City Sports Fan

Frozen Four Preview

Today is practice day before tomorrow begins the Frozen Four at Consol Energy Center. The four teams participating are Quinnipiac University, Yale University, UMASS-Lowell, and St. Cloud State University. Here is a quick preview of each team along with links to stories about them. I will be visiting Consol to watch part of the practice for Yale this morning so I will try to post some pics later this afternoon along with detained previews.

#1 Quinnipiac University: (29-7-5)
How they got here: Def. Canisus 4-3, Def. Union (NY) 5-1

http://www.quinnipiacbobcats.com/sports/mice/2012-13/releases/20130331yk0qiy

#3 UMASS-Lowell: (28-10-2)
How they got here: Def.  Wisconsin 6-1, Def. New Hampshire 2-0

http://www.ncaa.com/news/icehockey-men/article/2013-04-08/business-usual-umass-lowell-prepares-take-yale-frozen-four

Yale University: (20-12-3)
How they got here: Def. #2 Minnesota 3-2, Def. North Dakota 4-1

http://bostonglobe.com/sports/2013/04/09/not-trendy-pick-yale-hockey-team-marches/JCH8SqMcfuGqcvukFaOIMJ/story.html


St. Cloud State University: (25-15-1)
How they got here: Def. #4 Notre Dame 5-1, Def. Miami (Ohio) 4-1

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_22986353/shooter-now-twins-exec-works-spring-training-timberwolves

Additional Links:
http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/icehockey-men/d1 (Bracket)
http://www.ncaa.com/championships/icehockey-men/d1#!championship_br_home (Championship Page)

Penguins clinch the Atlantic Division

Good Morning,

Last night the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Carolina Hurricanes by a score of 5-3, but this win was more than their x win of the season. The win clinched the team's first division title since the 2007-08 season and their 7th overall. They are also the first team to clinch their division this season, but Chicago should be able to clinch in the next game or two.

Last night's game was a back and fourth affair and at times the Penguins had some moments where they appeared sloppy. Carolina took advantage of two of these moments and lit the lamp, but were unable to pick up the win. Justin Peters took the loss for the Hurricanes, stopping 2Endgame: Penguins 5, Hurricanes 3 - Pittsburgh Penguins - Features8 of 32 shots, being added to the starting lineup at the last minute. He looked flustered, which made sense after being pulled just 7:58 into the game the previous night. There were 4-5 times where he lost the puck after making a block or save, leaving him scrambling to locate the puck.

The fourth line was the key to the 5-3 win last night, as they added three points, including the game tying goal in the third period, before Malkin and Dupuis set the final score with goals at 10:02 and and empty net goal at 19:58.

Additional Links:
Official Boxscore
Penguins Game Recap

Arena Review: Jamestown Savings Bank Arena

On the Saturday before Easter, I visited the Jamestown Savings Bank arena, home of the NAHL's Jamestown Ironmen. They were taking on the Johnstown Tomahawks in the regular-season finale so my dad, cousin, and I made the roughly 3.5 hour trip from Johnstown to Jamestown, NY for the game. Upon arriving at the arena, one thing I noticed was the abundance of street parking within walking distance of the arena. We parked right next to the arena and since it was Saturday, we parked for free. As we entered the arena you immediately see the ticket windows to the left and to the right is the DFT Communications Arena, where the Ironmen and Tomahawks would do battle that night. The arena actually features two arenas with a smaller rink on the other side of the snack bar. 

The main arena seats 2,100 people in two levels of seating. There is a nice walking track around the lower seating bowl which is open to the public during non-game days. There is also a snack bar with reasonable prices and a wide selection, along with Sully's Irish Pub behind the lower seating bowl. The upper level is where I sat during my visit, which had a great view, though there is not a bad seat in the house.

Tickets prices were reasonable for the game with the most expensive ticket being $17, which included access to the Legends Club which featured food throughout the game included in the price of the tickets. The spread that night featured hot dogs, roast beef sandwiches, penne pasta with chicken and alfredo sauce, and assorted cookies. The food was served in a room that featured comfy couches and televisions, making it a great value for the price.

The area around the arena does not offer much, but there is a hotel across the street, the Best Western Jamestown for easy access. There is a museum honoring Jamestown resident Lucille Ball just two blocks from the arena, for fans of her work. The museum has a gift shop featuring some unique items. Click Here for more information on the museum.

Overall, the arena was very nice and I imagine that when a crowd of 2,100 fills the place, it would be rocking. Unfortunately, Jamestown draws about 600 fans per game and on this particular night, the crowd was about 1/4 Johnstown fans.

Click Here to visit the Jamestown Savings Bank Arena Website

Safe Travels...

- The Flood City Sports Fan

Raise the Jolly Roger, Baseball's Back!!!

As you can see from today's post, baseball is back and I could not be happier. Last night I braved the chilly April air (Felt more like a January day), and made my first of many visits to PNC Park this season to see the Pirates take on the Chicago Cubs in their second game of the season. The chill in the air definitely kept many fans from the ballpark, but one of the perks of last night's game was the fact that it was Buc Night. For those who are unfamiliar with Buc night, once a year the Pirates offer $1 tickets, hot dogs, and popcorn along with $1 off fountain drinks. Usually, the tickets we receive seats in the upper deck for the $1, but last night the seats we got for $1 were located in right field above the Clemente wall, my favorite section of the park to sit in.

After settling in with some hot dogs, I was lucky to see a great outing by both the Pirates hitters, but also Wandy Rodriguez who had an impressive outing going 6.2 innings, giving up only two hits while striking out six. The bullpen performed well, especially Tony Watson coming in and getting the Pirates out of the jam in the 7th. Jason Grilli struck out two in the 9th to pick up his first career save. Seeing win #1 and being in one of my favorite sports venues was worth freezing my @$$ off.

While at PNC park, I noticed some interesting changes this season. The AYCE seats have been moved to the upper deck, being replaced by a new riverwalk-themed stand. I will have to check this one out on a future visit. Another change I will check out on one of my future visits is the rebranding of the Hall of Fame Club, which is now sponsored by Rivertowne.

In other baseball news, the Altoona Curve open their 2013 campaign tonight in Erie, PA. For a nice preview of their season and tonight's game, click here for a blog post from their broadcaster.

Until next time, keep swinging for the fences

-The Flood City Sports Fan