Big Lead Sports Bar



Tuesday night's Pirates-Phillies game ended with Andrew McCutchen hitting a walk-off home run and following that with his best imitation of Michael Jordan at the 1988 NBA Dunk Contest as he crossed home plate:

Wednesday night's game? It had some Pirate heroics, including a game-tying home run in the ninth inning from Brandon Moss and Joel Hanrahan getting out of a bases-loaded jam earlier in the frame. Unfortunately for the Buccos, the biggest moment of the evening came from Ryan Howard, who pretended not like he was Michael Jordan, but himself at the 2006 Home Run Derby, when he made PNC Park look like a Little League field. Howard blasted a 10th inning Phil Dumatrait offering into the Pittsburgh night for a three-run blast, the difference in Philly's 4-1 win over the Pirates on Wednesday.

The Pirates' normal lack of offense wasted seven quality innings from Paul Maholm, whose only real mistake was a gopherball to Chase Utley in the first innning. Cole Hamels scattered seven Bucco hits over eight shutout innings, including two Lastings Milledge singles and doubles by Steve Pearce and Ronny Cedeno. A blown Ryan Madson save gave Madson the victory, as he closed out Pittsburgh in the 10th for his fifth win of the season in front of a Pittsburgh crowd with a heavy (and unfortunate) Philadelphia influence.

The two teams play the rubber match on Thursday night at 7:05, with J.A. Happ (10-2, 2.59) facing off against Charlie Morton (3-6, 5.21).

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jmarinara said...


A show of hands for people who still care.

Anyone, anyone?

BurressWithButterflyWings said...

Boy, having that lefty specialist to go to in the bullpen is really overrated, right Neil?

Suds said...


Steve said...

Well obviously people do care since there were plenty of them at the games Tuesday and Wednesday...oh, wait a sec...those were Phillies fans.

Someone needs to remind the idiot Nutting what can happen if you put together a winning team. Not only do the fans sell out the home games (which translates into money for Bob), but they also follow the team to other venues as well, meaning more MLB tickets and merchandise sold and again...more money to the idiot Bob, via the revenue sharing system that supports him and his wretched franchise.

I'm still hoping the Pirates can play bad enough to finish with the first pick next draft just to watch how they spin not talking Harper and signing a much lower ranked middle reliever AAA lifer prospect into "We picked the best player available for the Pirates". Just can't wait to see the Pirates retarded (I mean faithful) eat that one up.

Cousin Eddy said...

Ok everyone needs to calm down here. If you have no logic of baseball or the business side of professional sports, then how about just keeping your mouth shut.

Anyone who thinks that Neil Huntington is doing a poor job deserved to get pushed off of a cliff. And ironically folks, obviously Bob Nutting knows what he is doing as well. Every year he manages to somehow make the Pirates one of the most profitable organizations in Major League Baseball. Just because the Pirates do not have a winner in 2009 does not mean Bob Nutting is not a great business man. Because the fact of the matter is, he is a GREAT business man. He somehow still manages to get fannies in the seats, which gives him and his partners more green.

As far as Neil Huntington goes. Ok, I know just by reading some of the comments, that I know more about the game of baseball than all of you combined. Do you people actually realize what Neil Huntington had when he got to Pittsburgh??? NOTHING!!! There was not a single player that could be considered a legit prospect. The last two seasons the Pirates have spent more money than most teams in the draft. They are finally beginning to draft players based on skill and not on signability. That role was reserved for Dave Littlefield.

Neil dumped about 15 million dollars at the deadline this year. Now people complain about the trades of Wilson, Bay, Nady, Sanchez, McClouth, etc. But newsflash, did they ever come close to a winning season while in Pittsburgh? NO!!!! If your telling me that a shortstop who was being 8 million a year, and was here for half of the losing seasons is the answer, then I'll say your crazy.

Let me just leave you with this. Huntington and company came to Pittsburgh, and the cupboard was bare. He has gone grocery shopping in a sense to fill that pantry in the minor leagues. In just two years Huntington has taken the Pirates from having the 28th worst farm system to 15th. If your not excited for the direction that this team is headed, well then I guess you never will be excited when they make a playoff run in a few seasons.

Cousin Eddy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Steve said...

Some of us understand very well how baseball works and how businesses are run, which is what makes what Nutting has been doing for years all the more transparent and how fans still buying into the BS even more sorry. No one says Nutting isn't a good businessman, just a terrible owner and if people are buying tickets to see great business, they're really getting their money's worth. Major League Baseball, the only business in America where the more you suck the more profittable you can be. Pittsburgh Brewing should seriously hire this guy as a consultant.

I have no issue with Huntington...yet. So far, it looks like he's got a plan, albeit a drastic one, but it may not get him anywhere if he's ultimately handcuffed by ownership that places greater profitablity over winning, or even being vaguely competitive for that matter.

If Neil miraculously builds this team into a good ball club and the ownership decides to again trade key players for peanuts versus paying them to stay and ultimately put a real winner on the field, then maybe the glass half-full fans will finally realize it's a pointless dead end to keep following.

If there's ultimately a limit to how good this team is allowed to be because of financial reasons, why get excited now? If mediocre is a good as it's gonna get, what's the point? A good farm system is only good if they can reap the rewards and not send these players to other clubs in a few years once they're proved they can compete at the big league level.

It's been 12 years with this ownership -- or some variant of it -- just to get to the point where the team is now, at the brink of professional sports infamy and the only constant has been Nutting. Good job Bob!

I would love nothing more than to see this team turn it around in the next few years and regain some dignity a storied franchise like the Pittsburgh Pirates deserves but like a dog, I only have to be kicked, conned and lied to so many times before I realize the owner is an uncaring, unloyal fraud.

Amazingly, I typed this without opening my mouth.

BurressWithButterflyWings said...

Ok Steve, take a breath now.

One thing that has me curious is just how my knowledge of baseball is insufficient because I don't agree with everything Neil Huntington says and does. Honestly, what has he done so far? We don't really know, this is his first time running the ship so the jury is still out on that one. Everyone points to his roots in Cleveland, but right now they in a rebuilding phase after one decent season out of about ten or so.

I am well aware of the simple facts that he had nothing when he came here. That isn't exactly breaking news to any Pirate fans. But I don't understand how me pointing out that he made a comment that was blatantly idiotic makes me less knowledgeable regarding the game.

As for Nutting as a business man; i don't think anybody is really questioning his expertise in that field. The man has made a mockery of an entire fanbase with 5 year plan after 5 year plan, and boatloads and boatloads of cash in the process.

But he isn't willing to take the big risk for the big reward. At least that is how i see it.