Follow @TBerardi_OVA The Pirates (88 - 65) open up a crucial 3-game set against the Reds (87 - 66) to close out the home portion of the 2013 regular season. Francisco Liriano (16 - 7, 2.92 ERA) faces Matt Latos (14 - 6, 3.14 ERA) Leading Off With nine games remaining, the Pirates trail the Cardinals by one game in the NL Central race. Their magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 4, meaning they could clinch as early as tomorrow night. Hurdle's Quotes On Neil Walker's hot bat as of late ... Read More
Archives for September 2013
Looking at the Haley-Brown conflict
Mike Wallace, the newest target for Miami Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill, was visibly and vocally upset following his team's Week One victory at Cleveland. He wants the football, and he was not afraid to let everyone know that. Last week, he starred in a close victory at Indianapolis, where he caught nine passes for over 100 yards and a touchdown. Wallace is on a 2-0 team, while his ex-teammates in Pittsburgh are sitting at 0-2. Ben Roethlisberger, the man who found him often for big-splash passes ... Read More
Cole Plays Stopper in Pirates 10 – 1 Victory
Follow @TBerardi_OVA The Pirates got a phenomenal start by Gerrit Cole and used a five run fourth inning, which included two homers, to propel them to a 6 - 1 victory over the Padres on Thursday afternoon. Cole had his usual rough start to the game as he allowed two hits, walked one, and struck out two. The inning was highlighted by a Chase Headley RBI groundout putting the Padres on the board first for the fourth straight day. Cole would shut down the Padre offense after that, allowing ... Read More
The Pens and Flyers are more alike than you may think
The Pittsburgh Penguins are starting to mirror their cross state rivals. Both of these teams have high powered offenses with shaky defenses and a huge question mark in net heading into the 2013-14 season. Dan Bylsma and Peter Laviolette will be looking for strong starts to their seasons. This summer, the Flyers bought out Ilya Bryzgalov and brought in Ray Emery to compete with Steve Mason. The Penguins drafted highly touted Tristan Jarry with their first selection in the NHL draft. There is ... Read More
Padres Score Twice in Ninth to Stun Pirates
Follow @TBerardi_OVA Logan Forsythe and Rene Rivera each singled with two out in the ninth off of Mark Melancon to give the Padres a 3-2 come-from-behind win at PNC on Wednesday night. It erased a dominant performance by Charlie Morton as he allowed a single run over eight innings of work while giving up two hits and tying his career single-game strikeout total of nine. "I thought John [Buck] did a great job behind the plate and the defense made some great plays," said Morton. "For the ... Read More
Steelers miss Heath Miller more than anything
The Steelers dropped to 0-2 on the season with their 20-10 loss to the division rival Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football this week, and most of Yinzer Nation was sent into utter chaos and panic. This is the first time in Mike Tomlin’s seven year tenure that the black and gold have been two games under the .500 mark, and the first time in Big Ben’s career that the team has started the season with consecutive losses. While both of those are incredibly impressive statistics, they ... Read More
Pack PNC Park if you want
Since April, Pirates fans couldn't get too high or get too low. It is, after all, a 162-game season. Although with some panic meters this year, you'd think it was a NFL season. Finally, the home stretch is here. The Pirates are in the middle of a division title race and a wild card race with the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and technically the Washington Nationals. The Pirates tied the season record for most sellouts in a season, and the fans have been flocking out ... Read More
Pirates Fall 5 – 3, Lose Ground In Central
Follow @TBerardi_OVA PNC Park -- Morgantown, WV native, Jedd Gyorko has replaced Chase Headley as this year's Pirate killer as the second basemen (A diehard Pirate fan growing up) went 3-for-5 with a three-run homer and two runs scored in a Padres 5 - 2 victory over the Pirates on Tuesday night. Jeff Locke had a rough outing as he allowed four runs and ten base runners over five innings of work. Three of those runs came in the third inning when Chris Denorfia and Will Venable led-off the ... Read More
Pirates Gameday: Hurdle Talks Playoff Roster Competition, Extra Wild Card Spot
Follow @TBerardi_OVA The Pirates (87 - 63) look to bounce back after yesterdays one-hitter against the Padres (69 - 80). Jeff Locke (10 - 5, 3.14 ERA) will take on Eric Stults (8 - 13, 4.03 ERA). Leading Off Starling Marte is starting in left field and batting first. It's the first time since Marte has gone on the DL that he's started. "We're a much more dynamic team with him in left field," Hurdle said. Hurdle's Quotes On if there's a competition for playoff roster spots -- "There ... Read More
Steelers Week 2 Report Card Following another loss
Another week in the books and even more problems for the Pittsburgh Steelers as things didn't go very well on either side of the ball Monday night as the black-and-gold dropped to 0-2 on the young season with a 20-10 loss against the Cincinnati Bengals. Through two weeks there aren't many positives to go around but let's see if there are any as I hand out my Week 2 grades. Quarterback: The offense seemed to move well when Ben Roethlisberger was allowed to speed up the game, but unfortunately ... Read More