Pirates Weekly Update (April 30, 2012)

The Pittsburgh Pirates finished the week Sunday afternoon with a 4-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves. After the loss the Pirates were forced to settle with a 3-3 week in which they looked very impressive at times even in a loss. The starting pitching of the team continued to excel and stay in the top 5 of the MLB in team ERA. However, even after AJ Burnett went 6 innings with just  1 Earned Run, the bullpen gave up 4 to spoil the streak of not giving up or scoring more than 5 runs in a game. The Pirates now hold that record with 18 straight to start the season. The other huge bright spot to the week was the play of Pedro Alvarez. He went 7/18 this week with 2 homeruns, 4 doubles, 3 RBIs, 2 walks, and a batting average of .389 (to raise his season average to .200). The Pirates finish up a 4 game series with the Braves tonight as James McDonald (0-1 with a 2.78 ERA)  faces Braves Pitcher Mike Minor (2-1 with a 3.42 ERA)

Pittsburgh Pirates Update

The first two weeks of the season are now in the books. The Pirates are sitting at a modest 6-9 record and are getting ready to start a three game series with the Colorado Rockies. To this point of the season the Pirates have fared very well against what most people believe is the toughest April Schedule in the NL, by facing just one team so far with a losing record in 2011. However, the offense that plague them so many times last season is once again a major concern. To this day the pirates have not scored more than 5 runs in a game (they also haven't given up more than 5 runs). Which is a huge area of concern because this team was supposed to have upgraded in the offense over the off season. Pickups like Clint Barmes, Rod Barajas and Nate McClouth have done very little season for the pirates and are starting to be questioned as every day starters. If the pirates had even average batting during the first two weeks of the season we could be looking at a team with a record like 10-5 instead of 6-9, because of how well the pitching has been, (4th best ERA in the MLB). The schedule gets easier down the road so it is too soon to write this team off as the 20th straight losing season.

Pirates offseason pickup AJ Burnett went 7 innings on Saturday giving up 0 runs and striking out 7 batters to improve and already solid starting rotation.

Pirates Baseball (As of April 17 results)

As the first week came and went for the Pittsburgh Pirates, they found themselves in a familiar place, the bottom of the NL Central. The Pirates troubles this season only begin with their record. The team has come up with just 18 runs in 10 games and has a team batting average below .200. These stats are easily the worst in the major leagues. However, the competition has a lot to do with these early season offensive struggles. The team so far has faced 4 Cy Young award winner in Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Clayton Kershaw, and Barry Zito. Also they have faced several pitchers who are considered the best in the game like Vance Worley, Matt Cain, Ryan Vogelsong, and coming up against the Diamondbacks Ian Kennedy and Tim Hudson. The runs are very hard to come by against these pitchers to begin with, when you throw in the Pirates history of lackluster hitting, results are not good. The only bright spot in the lineup so far this season is Center Fielder Andrew McCutchen who is batting over .300 early on and had the game winning hit against the Phillies on April 8. A positive to come out of the first 10 games is the starting pitching, the whole staff has kept them in essentially every game and has fought hard against starting pitchers who are considered head and shoulders better than them. If the Pirates can start putting up a few more runs, then the pitchers have a chance to start succeeding and competing.

NCAA Tournament: Final Four

Last night when Kansas completed it's upset of the #1 seed North Carolina Tar Heels, the last ticket to the final four was punched. The Jayhawks will be joining, Kentucky, Louisville, and it's opponent next week, Ohio State. After weeks of wild upsets, the top seeds prevailed during the sweet 16 with many of the higher seeds winning, with exception of the Cardinals and Florida Gators. On the left side of the bracket meeting in the elite 8, the 1 Seed Kentucky Wildcats defeated the 3 seed Baylor Bears, who did not have a tough road beating many higher seeds. The Cardinals then defeated the Gators which was a matchup of 4 vs 7, but both teams were very talented and played at a level of 1 vs 2. So the meeting next Saturday night on the left side will be Kentucky vs Louisville, a rematch from back in December when Kentucky won the meeting by 7. This matchup has a different feel though because Louisville has now won 8 straight games including the Big East Tournament Championship (which the 2010 National Champion Connecticut Huskies did also). On the right side of the bracket, both regions came down to their top 2 seeds, with the 2 seeds winning in both. Ohio State defeating the Syracuse Orange and Kansas beating North Carolina. The Saturday matchup of Ohio State vs Kansas is also a rematch of a December game in which Kansas won without Ohio State's star Jaredd Sullinger did not play.

NCAA Tournament: Upsets Busting Brackets

Every year on the day after selection Sunday, thousands of people around the country print out brackets to fill out and compete against one another. The beauty of picking the brackets is too put more interests on the games. This year, in particular, people are becoming very disappointed with their brackets early on in the tournament. The main reason for this is because for the first time ever, two number 2 seeds have lost in the first round of the tournament against 15 seeds. This being Duke losing to Lehigh and Missouri losing to Norfolk St. Both teams are popular championship and final four picks. Although I chose Missouri to win it all and Duke advancing to the elite eight, seeing these upsets are quite exciting and is what "march madness" is all about. Both Norfolk State and Lehigh were knocked out last night to Florida and Xavier respectfully, but their legacy on this years tournament will not be forgotten. Also, the double digit seeds represented well in the Sweet Sixteen with Xavier (11), Ohio (13), and North Carolina State (11). I would not be surprised if one or two them advanced or even got the to the final four, given the history of the "madness".

Intramural Tiebreaker's

As my intramural team gets set for the last week of the regular season we come across a problem in the league's tiebreaker rules. As of now we understand that if a tie in the standings is present the way to break that tie is by determining which team has a great "Sportsmanship Rating." This seems like its a good cause but it is greatly flawed. With only 5 games teams cannot develop a good enough reputation to actually establish a consistent Sportsmanship rating. Therefore the teams that are favored by the refs at first will receive a higher rating. My team has received an average of 6.25 sportsmanship rating with best possible being a 7. The team we will most likely be tied too is the team we tied back in week 2, (when I wrote of this article) we both are 2-1-1 and seem to be favorites going into the final game. That teams sportsmanship rating is 6.75 which is a significant advantage givin the fact they have gotten just one game without a 7 and know they have to put on a good show for the refs to make the playoffs. So, going back to the game against them, if an overtime was in place for us when we played them this wouldn't be an argument because there would have been a clear winner and the league's flawed tiebreaker system would not have to be put in place.

Dunk Contest Problems

Over the weekend, we got to witness the NBA All-Star festivities. Friday night with the celebrity game featuring comedian Kevin Hart stealing the show with his hilarious antics throughout the whole game. Then the rising stars game with Kyrie Irving dominating the game and receiving the MVP. On Saturday the events featured the skills competition, 3-Point Contest and the Slam Dunk Contest. The skills competition was filled with star point guards and was won by Spurs guard Tony Parker. The 3-Point Contest also had its big names including Kevin Durant, but was one by fellow all-star Kevin Love. Finally the Slam Dunk Contest, the participants where, Derrick Williams of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Chase Budinger of the Houston Rocket, Jeremy Evans of the Utah Jazz, and Paul George of the Indiana Pacers. This is where the problem occurs. Many people who do no watch the NBA frequently and only follow the highlights on sportscenter will not even know who any of these players are. Where are the stars of the league who consistently have top 10 dunks during the season? Why can't the participants be LeBron James, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, and Dwight Howard? Now that would be a show. The NBA needs to figure out a way to convince these guys to perform in this for it to have the same craziness as it used too. With that being said, congratulations goes out too Jeremy Evans for winning the slam dunk contest, and his creative 2-ball dunk.