A Wonderful Memorial Day in Sports. Watch it.

In what would have been Pittsburgh Pirates news 2 years ago, it is now Memorial Day (wishing you and yours a happy one), and Jose Bautista is currently leading the majors in home runs.

No, I haven’t been drinking.



Bautista currently has 16 home runs. His previous career high? You guessed it, 16. At this pace, he’d hit 50 homers this year. And if that doesn’t make you want to blow your brains out, Pirates third baseman this year have hit a total of 4 home runs. Four big ones. That’s just sickening.

The Stanley Cup Final continues tonight with two teams that aren’t the Penguins. The summer of bummer continues. Should at least be an entertaining game, though. The Flyers will stick with Michael Leighton in net, and Antti Niemi will remain in goal for the Blackhawks.



Hossa watch: Game 1: 0 Goals, 2 Assists

Shutdown Corner over on Yahoo had a great story on Cincinnati Bengals star Chad Ochocinco. Chad had received a letter from a young, homeless fan who wrote about how Ochocinco was his favorite player, and his dream was to attend a football camp. Make the jump over to Shutdown Corner to read the rest and see the video. A kind gesture from what seems to be a good guy.

Happy Memorial Day, folks.

Nothing going on, but updating anyways.

For Pittsburgh sports, it’s a quiet Memorial Day weekend.

The Pirates lost their 387th straight game. The kids will be called up in a couple of days, should be a lot of fun to watch them.

The Blackhawks beat the Flyers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals. The inexperience and nerves of both young goalies were on display, as a total of 11 goals were allowed. If Game 1 were to be an indicator for the rest of the series, it’s going to be a damn entertaining one.

Unfortunately, continuing with sports news on the other side of the state, Phillies star Roy Halladay hurled a perfect game yesterday against the Florida Marlins. Perhaps even more amazingly, yesterday marked Halladay’s FIFTH complete game of the year. Oh, and by the way, it was just his 11th start of the year. Unreal. To put that into even more perspective, in 2010, Halladay now has pitched more complete games than any pitcher did in 2009, with the lone exceptions being Zach Grienke (6) and Halladay himself (9).

In other baseball news, Angels star Kendry Morales shows how quickly one can go from winning to losing.



Hope you get better soon, Kendry.

The Most Damaging Loss in Sports History?

The day was October 14, 1992. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves faced a game 7 at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. The Pirates had come back to tie the series after being in a 3-1 hole. The Pirates took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth off the strength of Andy Van Slyke and Orlando Merced RBI’s. Starting pitcher Doug Drabek shut out the Braves through 8 innings, and was showing no signs of slowing down.

What happened in the next 20 minutes would irreversibly change the dynamic of the Pirates franchise, and would perhaps be the most damaging 20 minutes to any particular team in sports history.

The inning started off with a Terry Pendelton double. The trouble was exacerbated by a muffed grounder by second baseman Jose Lind, leaving runners at the corners. Drabek, nearing in on the 130 pitch mark, issued a walk to Sid Bream, ending Drabek’s night. Reliable reliever Stan Belinda came in to try to stop the bleeding.

Belinda settles things down a bit, and gets slugger Ron Gant to hit a deep sacrifice fly to left, scoring Pendleton, but tallying the all-important first out. Belinda then walks catcher Damon Berryhill, loading the bases for the pinch hitter, Brian Hunter. Belinda was able to get Hunter to pop out harmlessly to Jose Lind. 2 outs. Bases still loaded.

And strolling up to the plate came the player that even today, the mere vocalization of his name conjures up memories of the painful moment, Francisco Cabrera. For Pirates fans, the memory comes back in pieces. Cabrera works the count to 2-1. Belinda gears up, looks to throw his sinker to induce the ground ball. Cabera connects. Left field. Justice scores. Bonds gets it. Bream rounds third. The throw. LaValliere and Bream dive for home.

Safe.

The lasting image of David Justice wrapping his arms around a collapsed Sid Bream.

And here we sit. Nearly 18 years later.

Both the stadiums that held that series are now gone. For the Pirates, the memory has continued to haunt the new one.

The Pirates were never the same. After that 1992 season, many key players such as 1992 NL MVP Barry Bonds and game 7 starter Doug Drabek. 1993 began the teams current losing streak. One that doesn’t look to end anytime soon.

Who knows what would have happened had Bream been one step slower. Perhaps that core 1992 would have stayed. Perhaps nothing would have been different. We just don’t know. But what we do know is that 1992 was the last competitive team the Pirates have fielded. Those who graduate high school this year were not even alive to see it.

It is for the last 18 years that I would label the 1992 NLCS Game 7 the single most damaging moment to any particular team in sports history.

Much as we try to forget, the ghost of Francisco Cabrera continues to haunt us all.

The Two Sides of the 2011 Winter Classic

In case you fell asleep at 6:30 last night and are just now waking up, the 2011 Winter Classic will be between the Pens and the Capitals at Heinz Field. This had been being discussed for some time now, and the decision shouldn’t really come as a surprise. As can be expected, not everyone is going to be happy about this decision, and rightfully so. In order to look at what the Pens v. Caps WC truly means, I will attempt to separate myself into a Penguin fan and a general hockey fan.

Pens Fan Kurt:



The NHL is the smartest league ever. 57,000+ screaming Pens fans? A once in a lifetime experience. I will do terrible, despicable things to get tickets to this game. The thought of watching Crosby v. Ovechkin in a driving snowstorm is so exciting that I may have to change my pants. This is going to be an instant classic, without a doubt the best and most competitive Winter Classic by far. The ratings and attendance will be through the roof. As a hockey fan, how can you not totally be in love with this idea?

To rebut, Hockey fan Kurt:



If I have to see one more nationally televised Pens-Caps game, I will hurl myself off the nearest building. I already have to deal with 3 of the 6 nationally televised games in February/March be the Pens-Caps, why do I have to watch one in January? How can this be the fourth Winter Classic and we’ve yet to see a Canadian team? Hockey fans would watch a Toronto-Montreal WC just the same. It’s unfortunate that the ratings have to define the teams that can play in the Winter Classic. The NHL is just beating the Crosby/Ovechkin rivalry to death.

Truth be told, this is basically how I feel about the 2011 Winter Classic. Of course I want to go, or at least watch it. I think it’s great for the city of Pittsburgh. But I can also see that from the perspective of a hockey fan, it’s tiring to ALWAYS see the Pens v. Capitals. It’s not fair to the other hockey teams, fans and cities that deserve the opportunity to host the Winter Classic. It’s not fair that the Pens have played in two of the four.

All arguments aside though, who can forget this?



Pens for the win.

Black Hawk Down. The state of the 2010-11 Chicago Blackhawks

Marian Hossa is a major league screw-job. After losing in the Stanley Cup Finals in the past two season, Hossa is hoping the third time is a charm. Even if Hossa were to raise Lord Stanley this year, at what cost does it come to the Blackhawks, who gave Hossa a 12-year, $60+ million deal. I’m sure that Hossa’s whopping goal total this playoff run- which currently stands at two- was not what Chicago had in mind when Hossa laid his pen to paper.



The Hossa contract, coupled with the contracts they gave Brian Campbell and Duncan Keith (Raise your hand if you knew that Campbell and Keith had more lucrative deals than Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews), helps put the Blackhawks in one of the worst positions in relation to the salary cap that I have ever seen. The Hawks are nearly a million dollars OVER next years salary cap, and they still have to re-sign 6 guys! With a salary cap that is unlikely to drastically change next year, here is a list of Blackhawks that have over a $5 million cap hit for 2010-11:

Brian Campbell ($7.1 mil.) – who ranked 27th among defenseman in scoring. Woof.
Jonathan Toews ($6.3 mil.)
Patrick Kane ($6.3 mil.)
Cristobal Huet ($5.6 mil.)
Duncan Keith ($5.5 mil.)
Marian Hossa ($5.3 mil.)


An image of a Blackhawks fan come July.

Mind you, the current starting goaltender, Antti Niemi is NOT under contract for next year, not to mention the 3 forwards and two other D-men. And who knows whether any team will want backup goalie Cristobal Huet and his massive contract here in the off-season.

And people around here thought the Pens salary cap was in bad shape after last season.

If you’ve gotten down to this point in the post and are wondering “What the hell does this have to do with Pittsburgh?” Well…

At least we know who we WON’T be playing in the Cup finals next year.

To end, I will leave you all with my reaction to the Pirates getting shut out last night.