With apologies to the late great Tom Petty, it’s the Pittsburgh Pirates who are free fallin. The Bucs have now lost eight in a row and fourteen of their last sixteen games. This team is a disaster from top to bottom. The pitching stinks and the Pirates can’t generate much in the way of offense. And to think this team was only two and a half games out of first place at the All Star Break.
• Streaks like the Pirates are on usually get people fired, but don’t look for that to happen in Pittsburgh. I would be very surprised if owner Bob Nutting gets rid of team president Frank Coonelly, general manager Neal Huntington and manager Clint Hurdle. Nutting truly likes these guys. He also would have to pay off their contracts, which I don’t see happening. So while fans may call for change in Pittsburgh, it’s probably not going to happen.
• Neal Huntington didn’t make the trip to New York with the club. He said on his radio show that he was back in Pittsburgh working on trade deadline preparation. He also talked about winning another World Series. It’s pretty obvious that the Pirates aren’t going to add to this club. Why would they? I’m sure they will try to make a deal to get rid of players with expiring contracts, but don’t expect any of those deals to return much.
• Chris Archer is terrible. He will go down as one of the all-time trade busts in the history of the Pirates. I wrote in this blog last year following the trade that I thought the Pirates overpaid big-time for Archer. After seeing him pitch for a year, I think the Pirates got royally hosed. Archer gave up another home run and surrendered six runs in the first inning at Citi Park on Sunday. He put his team in a big hole that they could not come back from. Chris Acher is a great kid but he’s a lousy pitcher. The Pirates probably couldn’t get a bag of balls for him right now.
• I’ve never seen a team blow more opportunities with the bases loaded than our beloved Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates had the bases loaded with no outs against the Cardinals last week and failed to score. This is a pattern I’ve observed for several years now. Loading the bases is usually a formula for scoring runs. For the Pirates, it’s a formula for frustration.
• It was nice surprise at all that the Steelers gave head coach Mike Tomlin a one-year contract extension. He’s now signed for three more years, the same number as quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. General Manager Kevin Colbert revealed that he turned down a contract extension and plans to go year to year at this point of his career. He’s earned the right to do so after twenty years with the Steelers.
• Football season has begun. The Steelers are back in Latrobe for training camp, which means that Arnold Palmer’s hometown is now the center of the universe for fans of the Black and Gold. It’s always enjoyable to go watch the Steelers at St. Vincent. You can bet the crowds will be huge again this year.
• I think you can call this training camp, “Camp Business”. All the drama from last year seems like a distant memory. I get the feeling this team is focused and out to prove that they are a championship caliber team. It was nice to see the guys show up without all the fanfare we’ve seen in the past. On paper this Steelers team isn’t as talented as they were last year with Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell. It’s possible, however, they could be better in the long run. Guess we’ll find out.
• I made my annual trip to Kennywood Park this past weekend. The new Steel Curtain roller coaster is as good as advertised. Simply put, it’s incredible. We were there when the park opened and headed straight for Kennywood’s newest attraction. If you like coasters this is a must. I don’t know how much Kennywood spent on the Steel Curtain but I’m guessing it will pay off big-time in the long run.
• Adrian Peterson is the latest big-name athlete to be broke. Despite having made nearly one hundred million dollars in his football career, Peterson is being sued for nonpayment of loans. It’s incredible to me in this day and age how athletes blow their fortunes. Yet it keeps happening. When will these guys ever learn?
