Despite only giving up one more hit than they mustered up themselves, the Wild Things, behind Gary Lee, fell to the Lake Erie Crushers by a score of 4-2 at CONSOLE Energy Park. The Wild Things started their bats off early in the bottom of the second inning. Shain Stoner hit a two-run shot, his seventh of the season, to put Washington up 2-0. The Wild Things drew two walks, two hits, and two runs in the inning. Lee pitched 3.0 innings of no-hit baseball for the Wild Things, but managed to ... Read More
Archives for July 2013
Out with the old and in with the new for the Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off an underwhelming season last year going 8-8. For a team that believes every year is a championship season, this doesn't sit well with players, coaches, management and fans. It is time for the Steelers to shed the players that have lost a few steps and no better time to do it than to do it in training camp. Guy Whimper has yet to play a snap in the city of Pittsburgh and hopefully it stays that way. Whimper had only 392 plays on offense in 2012 with the ... Read More
Puttin’ On the Foil: NHL’s Bodyguards
In 1977, this quote, "Puttin on the Foil," became very popular to the hockey world and to this day, SlapShot is still a cult favorite amongst diehard hockey fanatics. The Pittsburgh Penguins have been out muscled the past two playoff seasons by the Philadelphia Flyers and this year in the Boston Bruins. The Pens are loaded with offensive and defensive talent. However, the Pens really need to get bigger, meaner, and quite honestly need to add a goon or two to police other teams. In 2011, ... Read More
All 22: Bread and Butter of the Run Game
We’ve previously discussed the potential change to a zone blocking scheme with the hire of Jack Bicknell Jr. But what core running plays would the team be leaving with the shift? For the last number of years, the bread and butter of the running game has been the Power O, a man blocking scheme with the backside guard pulling. Two examples today from two radically different formations. Personnel: Nickel Scheme: Power O Result: 12 Yard Gain by Redman Look from above. Pittsburgh ... Read More
Bucs must address struggling bench
There are plenty of opinions of exactly what Pittsburgh Pirates' general manager Neal Huntington needs to do when the trade deadline approaches. Huntington certainly has his options to choose from as targeting a productive right fielder certainly makes sense, as would more production at shortstop and maybe an additional arm or two. However neither is as pressing as the need to upgrade the woeful Pirates bench. Pirates' manager Clint Hurdle has been known for frequently using all 25 ... Read More
Locke outdueled by Colon in 2-1 loss
On a Monday night in Pittsburgh, with Oakland in town, two first place teams took to the field with two All-Star pitchers taking their respective place on the mound. What is this, Moneyball the sequel? As hard as it was to imagine at the beginning of the year, the Pirates and A's were the marquee game on Monday and will be the rest of the series. The pitching matchup couldn't get better Monday as Bartolo Colon (yes, that Bartolo Colon) outdueled Jeff Locke en route to a 2-1 victory. If you ... Read More
A look ahead for the Pirates
After a first half of baseball that exceeded most fans expectations it is time to look forward to some key match ups. Right now the Pirates have 75 games left to play with 46 games left against teams currently in contention. The key match ups being its nine games left against the Reds and 14 games left against the Cardinals. The 46 games against contenders is slightly skewed with 13 of those against NL West teams playing in a division that is currently wide open. Below is a list of games ... Read More
Ijames, Beatty make Frontier League All Star team
While the Frontiet League All Star Game is set to be played at CONSOLE Energy Park, the home field crowd will have two hometown heroes to cheer on. The Washington Wild Things had two players selected to represent them on the East Division's All Star roster. Utility man Stewart Ijames and Second baseman CJ Beatty have both been selected to the roster. The selection comes during both players first season in Frontier League play and their first with the Wild Things. Ijames, who has seen most ... Read More
The importance of Rob Scuderi
We've all heard the classic lines before that, "You never realize what you have until it's gone" and "If you love something, let it go. If it comes back, then you know it was meant to be." While these usually refer to material things or a significant other, they can be substituted for many things. After the Pittsburgh Penguins won their last cup, a crucial part of their team headed out to Los Angeles. Ask General Manager Ray Shero one of his biggest regrets in his tenure with the team, and he'll ... Read More
Dwyer on mission to go from Trade Bait to Starter
When the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Michigan State running back Le’Veon Bell in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft it said a lot about the players on the roster. The Steelers clearly aren’t sold on Isaac Redman or Jonathan Dwyer being their long-term starting running back; so much so, in fact, that they spent a second round pick on a running back. That was, of course, never said in words by the Steelers front office, but their actions, as they say, speak louder than words. And those ... Read More