A season-high five home runs for the New York Yankees (22-19) were more than enough to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates (17-24) at Yankee Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Still searching for the franchise's first regular season win in New York, Edinson Volquez (1-4) and the Pirates were down early, unable to match the power of the Yankees lineup. Mark Teixeira homered in the first for a quick 2-0 lead, Zoilo Almonte added a solo shot in the third, and Brett Gardner, Alfonso Soriano and Brian McCann ... Read More
Archives for May 2014
Gregory Polanco Nearing Call-Up Date
We are less than a month away from the date that will avoid super two status for Gregory Polanco allowing him to be called up by the Pirates. Polanco has continued to dominate AAA as he leads many batting categories in the International League and is posting a .370/.436/.604 average through 36 games with 11 doubles, five triples, five home runs, 35 RBI, nine stolen bases, 17 walks, and 30 strikeouts. Polanco leads the league in average (.370), on-base percentage (.436), slugging percentage ... Read More
Pirates Should Stay With a Closer by Committee Once Grilli Returns
The Pittsburgh Pirates have been playing better baseball over the past two weeks, despite injuries that have kept closer Jason Grilli and starting catcher Russell Martin on the shelf. Both veteran leaders expect to be returning to the active roster sometime before the end of May. Grilli has been out with a left oblique strain since April 21. On Wednesday at Miller Park in Milwaukee, the Pirates closer threw a side session of two simulated innings, 24 pitches overall. Reports from the session ... Read More
BREAKING: Ray Shero Fired
The Pittsburgh Penguins have fired Penguins General Manager, Ray Shero. Despite of helping build a team that made consecutive Stanley Cup appearances in 08-09', and being named the NHL GM of the Year just last season, the Penguins have struggled to find playoff success since winning the Stanley Cup in 2009. There is speculation that Dan Bylsma will be next to go, but no announcement has been made at this time. According to Chris Peters from CBS Sports, the new GM will determine Bylsma's ... Read More
Wild Things drop season opener to Freedom
Courtesy of Washington Wild Things The Washington Wild Things (0-1), presented by Washington Financial, dropped its first game of the 2014 season 6-5 to the Florence Freedom (1-0) on a walk-off walk at UC Health Stadium on Thursday. Florence struck first in the home half of the third as Jacob Tanis, the reigning Frontier League MVP and teammate catcher Joe Staley delivered back-to-back homers for a 3-0 Freedom lead. Freedom outfielder Nick Stein hit a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth ... Read More
Melancon Blows Save, Pirates Lose 4-3
Mark Melancon had a rare loss of control in the ninth with the Pirates hanging to a 3-2 lead. The closer allowed a two-run walk-off single to Khris Davis after allowing a single and back-to-back walks to load the bases. It is the fifth time the Pirates have blown a lead after eight innings as Jason Grilli has blown three saves and Melancon two. There was some good news that came out of this game as Wandy Rodriguez -- activated off of the DL today -- went five inning while allowing only two ... Read More
New faces ready to lead Wild Things in 2014
When the Washington Wild Things take the field tonight for their season opener against the Florence Freedom on the road at 7:05 p.m., some things will be different. Overall, though, skipper Bart Zeller is optimistic about the upcoming season. "Everyone is cautiously optoimistic. There's not a manager in the Frontier League that doesn’t feel good when they start," Zeller said. "The thing about baseball is that your team changes every year. On paper we have we have a solid ballclub." The ... Read More
2014 NFL Draft Grades – The Great, The Terrible, and the Potentially Ugly
Teams That Cleaned Up St. Louis Rams – Jeff Fisher continues to build this Rams teams in the image of his early 2000’s Tennessee Titans squads. OT Greg Robinson was the best lineman in the draft by far, and the addition of DL Aaron Donald gives St. Louis four starting defensive linemen with top 15 overall pedigrees. RB Tre Mason was the most pro-ready back on the board. CB Lamarcus Joyner, SS Mo Alexander, and CB E.J. Gaines will all vie for playing time in 2014. The Rams took a chance on DE ... Read More
Pirates Get to K-Rod, Beat Brewers 4-1
The Pittsburgh Pirates (17-22) evened up their series against the Milwaukee Brewers tonight, winning 4-1 behind a solid performance from SP Francisco Liriano. Bryan Morris, Tony Watson, and Mark Melancon finished off the final three innings, with Melancon racking up save number five since taking over for injured closer Jason Grilli. The Brewers (25-15) were unable to get anything going against Liriano until scoring the tying run on a Jeff Bianchi sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth ... Read More
Shero and Bylsma Share Equal Blame
After the Penguins were swept in four games against the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Finals, changes should have been made. At the very least, Dan Bylsma should have been fired and Kris Letang probably should've been traded to not only create cap space but build depth at forward. Instead, the Penguins kept Bylsma and rewarded Kris Letang by giving him an eight year extension worth $58 million. The result? Another embarrassing early exit in the playoffs and now the dream of seeing ... Read More