HOLYCRAPTHAT'SALOTOFLEGOS!

Props to Jason Burik, who created a to-scale model of PNC Park...with Legos.

I was a huge Lego fan back in the day. I'm also a huge Pirates fan, so right now, I'm drifting back to a time when the Pirates were still good, and Lego-building consumed most of my day. We visited the Lego phenomenon back during the toy's 50th birthday. My thoughts:


I grew outta Legos when they started making those massive sets where you could build like a castle or interactive building of some sort. I was used to the simple sets where your imagination dictated what you built. I could build a ridiculous stick/tower.


Yeah, I think it would be safe to say that I wouldn't have the energy to build a scale model of PNC Park, even though the stadium is superbly badass.

You can check out more of Jason's Lego creations, including Heinz Field (!) here.

Merry Christmas 2008

This image is from last Christmas. Hope you have a happy holiday wherever you are. Be safe, and high five someone you love. Or get pulled around by a mini pony.

Rest in Peace, Dock Ellis

Famed Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis died yesterday. He was 63.

Ellis is said to have passed due to liver problems.

Dock is famous in Pittsburgh because of his quiet, unassuming demeanor. He never did anything to ruffle any feathers, and never pitched under the influence of drugs.

And if you believe any of that nonsense, then you need to read about the man.

Ellis famously pitched a no-hitter under the influence of LSD, and spoke out on many social topics. He spoke out on race during his career, and was a supporter of the Pirates fans walkout in the summer of '07. My favorite Ellis story, other than the LSD no-hitter, is when he tried to hit every batter in the Reds lineup in order to motivate his team. He beaned 1-2-3 hitters Pete Rose, Joe Morgan and Dan Driessen, before failing to hit Tony Perez (he walked him). He threw a few pitches at 5-spot hitter Johnny Bench's head before Pirates manager Dany Murtaugh pulled Ellis.

Without recording an out, Ellis' line looked like this: 0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K. Fantastic.

Ellis will never be forgotten in Pittsburgh, and his legend will live on no matter how much the Pirates suck nowadays.

Rest in Peace, Dock!

Wikipedia Hates Dave Littlefield

I'm at my company Christmas party, so this is all I'm giving you. Enjoy this little nugget from my buds at TIGG:

Wikipedia Hates Dave Littlefield.

As does 99% of Pittsburgh.

Rinku Singh's Windup and Delivery

Much has been made about the Pirates signing those two Indian reality show winners, Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel. Sure, they won some contest that was looking for the strongest, most accurate arm in India, but can that be equated to MLB success?

The short answer...who knows?

We're in uncharted territory here. There's never been an Indian player in the bigs, and cricket bowlers haven't exactly flocked to the major leagues in the past.

All we have to go on is some scout's take, as well as the above video. It shows Singh, the lefty of the duo, in his windup and delivery. Now, My expertise goes as far as watching a guy at the stadium or on t.v., so I'm not gonna give you some bullshit analysis on his fastball (the pitch shown).

From what I can tell, he knows how to throw overhand.

And beggars can't be choosers.

Other Unproven Pitching Signings by the Pittsburgh Pirates

We've just found out that our lowly Pirates have signed Indian "pitchers" Rinku and Dinesh, two guys that have never played baseball. Ever. That's why I put quotes around pitchers.

The guys (who have an unintentionally hilarious blog, language barriers are ALWAYS, ALWAYS funny) now have a minor league contract in place with the team. With our recent string of success, I'd venture to say that the two will be up facing big league batters before the All-Star Game.

Pittsburgh is obviously trying to find any talent it can, in the hopes of a low-risk, high-reward kinda deal. These guys only worked out for Major League scouts after winning some contest to see who had the strongest and most accurate arms in India.

But there have been other Pirates signings over the past few days that haven't registered with the general public as much as the Rinku and Dinesh deals. The Buccos are completely transforming their pitching staff with a bunch of unproven, big arms that weren't in the league last year. Hell, anything that'll get us closer to 90 wins rather than losses.

So what other unproven acts will be on the Pirates mound this year?

Lincoln Hawk. He's been pumping up his throwing arm in his truck.



Mega Man.

Olympic hottie Leryn Franco.

The kid from Rookie of the Year.

A T-Shirt/Hot Dog Cannon.

That 16 year old, Japanese knuckleballer chick.

Kool Aid Man. ('Cos he's a pitcher...forget it)

All big signings, no doubt. Go Pirates!

Steelers Players Named Player of the Week.

Here's a list of Steelers players that were named Player of the Week, by season, during PSaMP's existence. I told you I was gonna do this before, so I can post it in the sidebar. Stupid Blogger only lets you post links in the sidebar if you've already published the page, so I need to post this now. You can find it in the left sidebar in the future, for easy reference.

2008
Willie Parker - Offensive (Week 1)
LaMarr Woodley - Defensive (Week 1)
Troy Polamalu - Defensive (Week 2)
Jeff Reed - Special Teams (Week 4)
Ben Roethlisberger - Offensive (Week 5)
LaMarr Woodley - Defensive (Week 7, NFL.com writeup)
James Harrison - Defensive (Week 11)
James Harrison - Defensive (Week 13, NFL.com writeup)
Deshea Townsend - Defensive (Week 14, NFL.com writeup)
Aaron Smith - Defensive (Week 15)
Tyrone Carter - Defensive (Week 17)


2007
Ike Taylor - Defensive (Week 5)
James Harrison - Defensive (Week 9)
James Harrison - Defensive (Month, November)
Ben Roethlisberger - Offensive (Week 10)
Ben Roethlisberger - Offensive (Week 16)

PSaMP Extra
Xavier Nady - NL Player of the Week

The Pirates Are Good At Baseball

Barring some ungodly circumstance, this might be the last I write about the Pirates until next season. Steelers season has begun and the Pens are gearing up for the coming year as well. But I need to comment on some recent happenings on the Pirates landscape and how we should effectively deal with the news.

A few days ago, the Buccos clinched their 16th consecutive losing season, tying them with the 10,000+ loss Philadelphia Phillies for the longest streak of back to back losing seasons in the history of professional sport. There's no NFL, NBA or NHL team that has reached that level of awfulness, and the MLB proudly(?) stands alone with two. One more year of this, and we take the top spot.

My buddy Pat had a solid look back at the streak. I was about the same age as Pat when the Braves/Bream/Cabrera/Pirates/Bonds play went down. I remember the good times, contending for the NL pennant, watching Bonds, Bonilla and Van Slyke, marvelling at Drabek. But it seems like all of my good memories about the team have been destroyed by this string of ineptitude. I chuckle now when people bring up the Pirates in conversation. It shouldn't be like that.

But it is. We're stuck with this awful team, hoping that each year will snap the skid. Raise the Jolly Roger stated that the streak-continuing loss provided for a sad day in Pittsburgh...but did it? I think we're looking at this the wrong way.

As a fan of the team desensitized by the 16 years of awful baseball, I think its time to re-think how we view the Pirates. The Buccos just accomplished something that has been untouched by everyone, save for the lowly Phillies. The team that once boasted Clemente, Stargell, Honus, Barry, multiple World Series trophies and the Maz walkoff now is known throughout the sports world as one of the worst franchises ever. So instead of crying over our misfortune...let's celebrate our new position in baseball lore.

Is anyone really going to be fiercely discussing the Ravens/Giants or Bucs/Raiders Super Bowls 30-40 years down the road? The Marlins beat the Indians to capture a World Series, and they weren't even a team when we last had a winning season. The Lightning won a Stanley Cup at some point.

My point is...so many teams best .500, go to the playoffs, win championships, produce Hall of Famers. Hell, we get spoiled by the Steelers and (hopefully) the Penguins. Only two teams have ever lost 16 consecutive times. And we're at the point where number 17 is not out of the question.

So why the sadness, Pirates fans? We've come to expect sub-.500 seasons, so why would the 16th version of the same story be any different from the previous 15? Flip the script, and take pride in your team being a conversation point for years to come. Shit, we've just done something astoundingly special and seemingly impossible. If this is all we have to look forward to, why not make the best of it?

I Am Jeff Karstens

Yeah, you heard correctly. Me and Jeff Karstens are the same person.

Karstens had a perfect game going last night through 7 2/3 innings before surrendering a two-out double in the 8th. We as fans have no idea what was going through Karstens' head in the 7 full innings prior to the hit, and how he handled losing a perfect game that late in the contest. I mean, if you're attempting to throw just the 18th perfect game in the history of the sport, you gotta be feeling it throughout. Karstens and his teammates can lie all they want and say they weren't thinking about it, but I know the truth. Because I've had perfection spoiled before.

I've performed "Flawless Fretwork" on a handful of songs on Expert in Rock Band. I think the first was Weezer's "Say It Ain't So" (simple song, not a lot of notes). "Mississippi Queen," "I Think I'm Paranoid," "Maps," "When You Were Young," yeah...I've murdered them out to 100% on the fake guitar.

Prior to dominating Weezer on Expert for the first time, I had a few shots at perfection, only to lose my killer streak in the waning moments of the song. Eyes focus harder, hands get sweaty, surrounding distractions become blurry, friends/family/bandmates are no longer in the peripheral vision. You try to block out the "oh no, I'm gonna lose this" feelings, but they're there...they're there.

Which is why Karstens had to know he hadn't surrendered a baserunner through nearly 8 innings. Every batter he faced lost the singular battle, and collectively, they'd wind up losing the war. He could try and block out the anxiety and nervous ambition while trying to complete the task which seemed so distant in the early innings, but the thoughts had to be slaughtering his mind.

So don't feel bad for losing the perfect game, Jeff. Hell, you still won the game on a two-hit shutout. You at least have one supporter who knows what you were going through. Even I've had to settle for gold stars on Expert without achieving 100% "Flawless Fretwork."

Final Thoughts On (Former) Pirate Jason Bay

In light of the recent Jason Bay/Manny Ramirez/prospects trade, my good friend Texas Gal decided to hit up some Pittsburgh bloggers for their thoughts on Bay. It's part of Jason Bay Day at Center Field. Yours truly participated, and had this to say:


--

What can I say about Jason Bay? A Pirate for parts of six seasons, Bay gave us fans every emotion one could hope for when one becomes baseball fan. Franchise records as a rookie, power to all fields despite looking like a third line hockey winger, unrealized potential, "is-he-clutch?" worries, nasty injuries and at times, All-Star caliber play. As a Pirates fan, I get to see Bay's tenure in the Burgh within the greater context and how he has shaped the future of the Pirates. Yeah, we suck now, but just you wait.

The Sox were probably impressed with his 26 dingers as a rookie. If Boston has done their collective homework, they'll be more than happy with Bay's current .985+ fielding percentage, or the little nugget that the guy counted on to be the Buccos' primary source or power actually tied a MLB record in 2005 for most steals in a season without getting caught (before getting thrown out at the very end of the year, dammit). Boston fans, you're getting a guy who might worry you, or might blow your..ahem...Sox off (sorry). Baseball-Reference says you're getting either Kevin Mench or Grady Sizemore. Seems about right.

I thank Bay for all he gave to the team. Brian Giles was a hero in Pittsburgh, and Bay had the responsibility of replacing Giles when he was traded to the San Diego Daddies. Bay's name seemed to be in constant trade rumors since his arrival, but his career year in '06 allowed the other guy acquired from San Diego, Ollie Perez, to be dealt to New York for Xavier Nady instead. Nady's recent trade then brought us prime prospect Jose Tabata. Now Bay's trade brings us Andy LaRoche and Craig Hansen. By most accounts, Bay allowed the team to segue between Brian Giles and a first round pitcher, a legit third base prospect and a stud like Tabata. Take that however you want, but you can't ask for much more when you trade a guy who was as respected in Pittsburgh as Giles was in '03.

A little part of me is sad to see Bay go, mostly because I'll miss his opposite-field homers over the Clemente wall. If Bay continues his trend of hot hitting against AL East pitching, that short porch near Pesky's Pole might get lit up.

Pittsburgh wins, getting top prospects that we desperately need, and Boston makes out by getting a guy 7 years younger than Manny who can still be counted on for 28-30 homers and 100 RBIs when playing to potential. Not a bad trade by anyone's count.

Jason Bay Traded!

Jason Bay was just traded. To either:

The Rays, or:

The Red Sox.

The Sox rumors seem to be stronger. The move would let the Dodgers acquire Manny Ramirez, with Pittsburgh somehow getting four prospects.

UPDATE: The trade woke up the corpse of Deadspin-era Will Leitch. Bay to the Sox. I'm anxious to learn about the prospects coming to the Burgh.

BLOW YOUR MIND UPDATE: One of the prospects is third baseman Andy LaRoche, brother of current Pirate and ADD sufferer Adam LaRoche. I retire.

The other prospects are right-hander Bryan Morris from L.A. and outfielder Brandon Moss and reliever Craig Hansen from Boston.

Congrats To Goose Gossage

I wanted to make a quick mention to send congratulations to former Pirate Rich Gossage, who was inducted into the HOF this past weekend.

Buccos.com was the only info you'll ever need about Goose's one year in the Burgh:


A fan favorite in Pittsburgh, "Goose" Gossage perhaps had his best MLB season his only year as a Buc in 1977: 151 strikeouts in 133 innings, with a superb 1.62 ERA.


Exactly. All the congratulations in the world go to Gossage. Although you were only in town for a year, Pittsburghers are happy to have shared in your success.

I Start Seamen Rampage

Bucco fans, your Put Sabre Tips Right have all new nicknames for nearly every player on the team, including some for the older greats as well. This video (created by Nets FX), while sorta long and set to video game music from my old Macintosh Performa, is a good starting point if you're just trying to catch up.

Pact Stamp is on the DL.

In Lockjaws might (hopefully) get traded to the Dodgers.

Vineyard Rx should have made the All-Star team.

Do Each Alarm has ADD.

Bee Control Meter needs his number retired league-wide.

Mental Touch just made his first All-Star team. I shall use this as his official nickname from here on out.

Come up with your own anagrams here. Be sure to dominate any player not yet mentioned by this random-ass video.

Blue Jays Fans Are Creative, Classy

Baseball fans are unique. And original.

Let's get specific, and single out some of our Canadian fan-brothers (if that's even a word). The last interleague series we played prior to the current Yankees series involved another AL East team, the Toronto Blue Jays. I'll forever respect the Jays solely for the Joe Carter home run to win the World Series. Their fans...not so much.

With Freddy Sanchez up to bat, these geniuses decide to give up on the name Freddy, and instead, use the term Dirty Sanchez (language NSFW).

Excuse me while I laugh for a few minutes.

"Ooooh, his first name ends in a Y and his last name is Sanchez. I wonder how we can make something hilarious out of this?"

It was funny the first time. It was funny the second time. Hell, it was funny the third. By now, though, I'm sick of losers thinking they're so damn original by chanting "Dir-ty San-chez."

And according to the Youtube page, these idiots were sitting right in front of Freddy's wife and two kids when they proved how hardass they were. Real classy, dicks. I hope Freddy shows up at their cubicles next week chanting, "Micro-managed, corporate-slaves making minimum wa-ge."

At least they coulda got creative and gone with some of these:

"Ilich Ramírez Sán-chez"

"Ros-elyn Sán-chez"

or even

"Matt San-chez"

Do some research next time, jerks.

Turning Point? Please?

Gotta show love for Rick Chandler today.

In Deadspin's MLB Closer, Rick asks:


Wouldn't it be ironic — in a fun, cosmic sort of way — if the turning point for the Pittsburgh Pirates' franchise came on Tuesday night? It was the first time since 1960 that the New York Yankees had played in Pittsburgh, when, as you surely recall, Bill Mazeroski won Game 7 of the World Series with one of the most dramatic walkoff homers in baseball history. The Pirates celebrated that day 48 years ago with another win on Tuesday; 12-5, featuring 19 hits and homers by Jose Bautista and Ryan Doumit.


In light of last night's drubbing of the Yanks, the question seems fit. Pat at WHYGAVS admits that the win feels like more than just a win...maybe not season-changing, but special enough. We've suffered through a stretch of losing baseball rarely seen in the MLB. One more year of this bullshit, and we tie the Phillies, yes, the 10,000+ loss Phillies, for the record of 16 consecutive losing seasons. So why couldn't last night be the turning point?

I'm a relatively young guy, but I've been blessed to see the Pens win multiple Stanley Cups and the Steelers get that one for the thumb. I'm not predicting a World Series win in the near future, but damn it I wanna see it happen. Now, we need much smaller goals at this point...win streaks, .500 baseball, consistent pitching...but the goal of every team should be to win it all.

We entered last night's game with the worst interleague record in history, and fittingly, were playing the team with the best interleague record in history. I'm not going to pretend the fans of the Buccos know anything about the MLB playoffs thanks to the string of sucktitude, but beating the Yanks the way we did last night felt awesome.

I've told you about the group of people who gather in NYC to watch the Pens games before. Myself and a good number of the same people do the same for Buccos games. Since I've moved to New York, I haven't been able to watch as much baseball as I would like, what with starting new jobs and all. But last night, one guy summed up what we were all feeling when he said, "If we win tonight, this is our World Series." There's no better way to say it. The Buccos won a playoff game (in our minds, at least). We showed that our offense is legit, if at least for one night. Why can't this be the 15-year-old spark needed?

To be honest, I really don't know where I'm going with this post. The Pirates played awesome, a bunch of us actually felt good watching a Pirates game, Rick asked a similar question to what we were all thinking in a Manhattan pub on a Tuesday night, and I really want nothing more than to see that little bit of success duplicated.

So come on, Buccos. End our suffering, please? Build off last nights win.




(Disclaimer: This post sucks and I know it. Direct hate mail to psampmail@gmail.com)

Foreshadowing, Brought To You By Roberto Clemente

Spooky, huh?

I know its easy to make a claim that you never know when your time may be up in this world, but it sounds odd coming from a professional athlete. Nowadays, with so many players worried about contracts, injuries, playing well in contract years for bigger paydays down the road, endorsements, etc., its peculiar to think any of 'em might actually contemplate their own demise. Maybe this video shows how much the modern athlete has changed from his predecessor.

Or maybe Clemente was just that special of a guy.

We always hear of Clemente's skill and his incredible sense of compassion for disaster victims. However, his time was before that of Youtube (damn you, Al Gore), so actually seeing him talk of his own mortality is entirely spooky.

Clemente's head was in the right spot. He was a season away from his 3,000th hit, and knew it was still a distant possibility. He was injured throughout the '72 season, and his hit came in September, well after the All-Star break. Still, with such a historic achievement within grasp, Clemente knew that the plateau was still out of his hands. His untimely death is foreshadowed in this video, a thought that sends chills up my spine.

Roberto Clemente. Baseball player, humanitarian, hero, All-Star...clairvoyant?

State Farm, The MLB, Fuhbaw and One For The Other Thumb.

Here's some stuff you should check out while you fritter away your Friday:

My buddy Cian had a solid post about chaos in the NFL, and even name dropped Dick LeBeau and the Steelers. You should probably frequent his site.

Also, head over to One For The Other Thumb, where I was a panelist again for Meeting People Is Easy.

And finally, check out the cool happenings going on with State Farm and the MLB. There's a contest going on called Call Your Shot. Sign up at the link I just provided, and you could win a trip to the Home Run Derby. If you pick a spot in the ballpark and said Derby contestant hits a home run to your spot, you could win tons of cool prizes including a Chevy Tahoe and season tickets for the 2008-09 season for the team of your choice.

I wonder how they'll get their hands on Buccos tickets, seeing as how there's never any empty seats at PNC.

Again, the link is here. Be sure to sign up.

Thanks to Abbey for sending me that link. Plus, if you win, I'll make a personal visit to meet you, being that I live in NYC and State Farm is trying to set you up with cushy accommodations in the city for the game. And that's better than a car and tickets, right?

The Best Defensive Outfielder In MLB History

That is an image of the best outfielder in MLB history, according to Rawlings.

Recently, Rawlings announced the Gold Glove All-Time Team. The mashup at the top of this post takes the 3 outfielders and makes one super baseball player. The three honorees are Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr. and Pittsburgh's own Roberto Clemente.

And now you can have night terrors about that image.

The Pirates are planning on celebrating Clemente's inclusion at this Saturday's home game against the Blue Jays. Pittsburgh will host Clemente's widow, Vera, as well as Roberto's sons Roberto Jr. and Luis. Roberto Jr. will throw out the first pitch.

Clemente was a 12-time Gold Glove recipient during his 18 years as a Bucco. He helped pave the way for the modern Latin ballplayer and became an inspiration to Pittsburgh kids of all generations. Though I come from a different age group, I was taught at an early age to respect and admire anything Clemente-related. This is why I've wanted the league to retire Clemente's #21 league-wide.

And in case you were wondering, I used these pictures of Mays, Grif (classic)and Clemente. Horrifying.

Matt Capps Blows First Save, Sleeps With Fishes

Sure, last night's game was memorable for the game-winning homer by Lastings Milledge, or the dugout words between Elijah Dukes and Manny Acta, but lost in the loss was a stark realization...Matt Capps blew his first save of the year.

Considering where the Pirates stand in the NL (near the bottom), its amazing to think that Matt Capps has been this strong through 65 games. Capps had been 15 for 15 on save attempts before the inevitable blown save.

The people in the above video must have taken the blown save to heart (I know the video precedes last night, but it sorta works). According to the Youtube page, that's a Matt Capps bobblehead getting tossed into the river. C'mon folks, its just one blown save! 15 of 16 is still pretty respectable. I mean, he does play for the Pirates.

Randy Johnson Is A Pretentious D-Bag D-Back

Yes, I said it.

And this is coming from a guy who loves Randy Johnson. The Mariners-era flying mullet? Awesome. The exploding bird? Priceless.

However, the comment he made after the Pirates' 5-3 win last night was a little egotistical, if I dare say so.

To set the stage, the bottom of the 3rd inning provided some fireworks. Neither team had scored, and Doug Mientkiewicz had called a late timeout in the batter's box. Johnson had gotten ready to pitch, and was obviously perturbed at Mientkiewicz's timeout. The two players exchanged words, Johnson started walking toward Mientkiewicz and the benches cleared. Cooler heads prevailed, and nothing of significance happened. Except for Johnson walking Mientkiewicz, then walking in the first run of the game.

Dougie tried to dismiss any friction, and offered the closest thing to an apology:

I'm not going to say much about it, but those things happen, especially when it's hot outside," Mientkiewicz said. "I just asked to get set in the box. Obviously, when pitchers get started it's hard for them to stop.

I'm not trying to get anybody hurt. I don't get many at-bats these days, and I want to at least be ready when I get one.

Johnson tried to forget about the situation as well, but couldn't resist acting like an asshat:

It's not really the storyline," he said. "It didn't bother me at all. If it would've, he'd probably be on a stretcher and I'd be out of the game.

Really? You're 8,000 years old. I'm no huge Mientkiewicz fan, but Johnson comes off looking like a fool. If it didn't bother him, why did Dougie walk? Why did Johnson then walk in the game's first run? Why was he unable to reverse his love for the base-on-balls, issuing 5 of 'em in just under 6 innings?

Johnson was obviously rattled, and allowed the Buccos to win their 5th of their last 8. As my buddy Pat at WHYGAVS said:

...the Bucs are two games under. 500 on June 9th and with the Nationals and Orioles looming on the horizon, they're not going to get a better shot at .500 this year. If they don't do it now, it's not going to happen.

Perfectly put.

And Johnson is still a douche.