The Train Kept A-Rollin'

No Malkin, no problem.  No Letang, no problem. Backup goaltender versus an elite Boston team, no problem.  Just what can stop the Pittsburgh Penguins in their current march through March?  As the team's current winning streak has reached nine games, practically one fifth of the abbreviated 48 game season, hockey experts across the land are taking notice of our flightless birds. 

With a perfect four point weekend, culminating with an impressive 2-1 win over a very good Bruins team, the Pens opened up a staggering twelve point lead over the Jersey Devils for the divisional title.  With only 18 games remaining in the shortened season, the Penguins are looking like a true cup contender this spring, with captain Sid Crosby looking like he may need to make some more room in his already crowded trophy case.

The recent wins have been of all types - high scoring end to ends, shootout wins, exciting come from behinds.  Oh, and as Ron Cook of  FM 93.7 The Fan just reported, the Pens became the only team in NHL HISTORY to come from behind by two or more goals and win a game in regulation after being shut out through the first 40 minutes of play, when they did so against Bruins on March 12th.  Impressive...

BACK CHECKING:

• despite my second sentence, an extended loss to Letang could prove costly.
• so just who has turned in the most delightfully surprising season thus far: Paul Martin or Chris Kunitz?
• with just nine wins to go, Marc Andre Fleury is set to join a quite exclusive club of netminders who have notched career win #250 prior to their 29th birthday.  Can you name the others?
• Beau Bennett, future Penguins star or trade deadline bait?
• when do the Mark Eaton jerseys go on sale again?

The Circus Comes To Town

What a great night of entertainment an NHL matchup of two Stanley Cup candidates can bring.  It's doubly entertaining when the game can be preceded by a bona fide circus show.  It must have been an amazingly triumphant feeling for reigning clown prince Scotty Hartnell and his throngs of orange and black clad cheese steak drooling minions last night as the buzzer sounded ending the first act of the show. The Wells Fargo faithful were treated to a big top spectacle that could rival any Ringling Brothers performance.  Not only were the Philly Flyers drubbing the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 on the scoreboard, they were doing it in a way that was eerily familiar for us chagrined flightless bird backers.  The unjustly dubbed Sniveling Sid Crosby was the tamed cowardly lion, netminder Marc Andre Fleury looked as graceless as the dancing bear, and James Neal in a fight, well, let's just say that a bearded lady is far more appealing (and southeastern PA has plenty of bearded ladies).

Sure, it was quite the freak show.  Unfortunately for those Philadelphians that follow the NHL's most classless act, the game is actually 60 minutes in length, not 20.

The lion hearted Crosby and his pride roared out of the visitors' locker room to start the second frame with a renewed focus and drive.  The outcome that the scoreboard revealed 40 minutes later was the reality that our Philadelphian brethren deny confronting - the Penguins are simply a more talented hockey team.  The 6-5 victory will go a long way in cementing a basic concept in the Penguins' minds - stay grounded and play solid hockey and the results will be there.  The Pens are not the outfit best suited for a rumble in the Broad Street gutter, and we all learned that lesson painfully last April.  Guys like Neal are paid to launch laser beam slapshots not fists, and certainly not at rogues like Hartnell.  The bullying needs to be left to those who have perfected the science, as Pens' coach Dan Bylsma must continually remind his squad that talent and fundamentals can and will prevail.

The circus left town last night with the lion again confirmed as jungle king, and the clown again confirmed as the lovable loser...

 

the jubilant Hartnell celebrates with the Philly crowd after first period

 

The Newest Cable Reality TV Show: Breaking Buccos

With yesterday's signing of former standout third baseman, Brandon Inge, the Pittsburgh Pirates have again shown the baseball world that they have fully shifted their approach in the most fundamental activity in the life of a pirate - hunting for treasures.  This philosophical and procedural redirection can be understood through a simple analogy utilizing the new national pastime, reality TV.

In the years we now refer to as BAJ (Before AJ), the Battlins' talent hunters enlisted the legacy Storage Wars model when it came to finding low priced talent.  The concept was simple, easy to execute, and above all else, affordable.  The latter attribute being most alluring to any Pirate executive.  The Storage Wars process requires the buyer to drop a blind, marginal commitment price on an unknown commodity, with the hopes that value is found inside - neglected, forgotten, and abandoned by the previous owner.  In recent years the Bucs would focus on former top end prospects, players who may have been high draft picks or simply "big upside" guys, but for whatever reason were now deemed expendable by their current team.  Essentially, it was a low risk, high return, slot machine approach, looking for that jackpot dream in a talented young player who just simply languished under his current owner's development system. Under this model, these were players who never truly evolved past the prospect phase.  Names like Brandon Wood and Lastings Milledge typify the Storage Wars concept.

2012 ushered in the AAJ (after AJ) era to Bucco Nation, aptly starting with the AJ Burnett acquisition from the New York Yankees.  With Burnett, the value hunting mentality shifted from gambling on unknown resources to searching for some proven quality products that may now be lost, forgotten, dented, devalued, or just simply unwanted.  Enter the American Pickers phase of Pirate baseball.  After the success fueled by the Burnett and (later) the Wandy Rodriquez acquisitions, the Bucs' front office went all in on the American Pickers model.  In a period of just a few months, the Bucs have inked former stars Russel Martin, Francisco Liriano, Jonathon Sanchez, and now Inge, mostly to team friendly contracts.  Although many may argue against my liberal use of the label "stars" for the entirety of this group, it should be pointed out that all four players have been standouts in their careers, and not too far in the past. 

The American Pickers model must not be confused with the Pawn Stars model, one that the Buccos employed heavily in the pre-BAJ era. That model was essentially based on bartering for old, outdated junk (Jeremy Burnitz, Matt Diaz, Lyle Overbay, Chris Gomez, Rod Barajas, Nate McLouth (II), Eric Bedard, etc, etc). The logic, often misguided, was that if you can't afford or attract the $12 million a year star, why not drop $6 million on a former star. Half price is a good thing, right?  Wrong!  It should be noted that most current Bucco humor is aimed at the futility of the Pawn Wars discipline.  Fool's gold is an expression commonly associated with the Bucs' Pawn Wars years.  More times than not, the six million dollar gamble would result in a grumpy, lazy veteran in his mid 30's who would be more than happy to mail it in for seven digit pay. The gold standard of Pittsburgh sports blogs, Mondesi's House, is literally named for the Pirates' longstanding romance with this style of acquisition.

The true reality for the Bucs, as well as any other so-called small market team, is that value hunting is a vital component in the team's everyday life.  Small market teams will never have that luxury to simply shop for a new pitcher or slugger with a wide open checkbook.  Teams on tight budgets must spend every dollar wisely, as acquisition is about the money, and only the money.  The often discussed non-monetary lures of playing in Pittsburgh are mythical and laughable.  We all know that PNC is a beautiful ballpark, but no outfielder in his right mind is going to surrender millions, or even thousands, for the privilege of playing in a cosmetically appealing pasture.  I adore the sights and sounds of the Vegas Strip, but I have absolutely no intentions of moving there. Today's players are concerned with Benjamins, not tugboats, skylines, or pierogies. It's about the money, and maybe a little about winning, which the Bucs aren't exactly doing either.

The small budget teams that succeed in today's sports economy are those that flourish at finding undervalued veterans to meld with their farm raised pre-free agency home growns.  There is value to be found in the community of 30-something major leaguers, and accurately gauging the direction that the talent is heading is a true art form that usually eludes most clubs like the Bucs.

The current Pirate model could most certainly work.  2013 will be the bellwether season for many things Bucco, including talent evaluation and acquisition.  The Pirates have an ample and interesting mix of young, developing players and experienced, proven veterans, but time is swiftly running out on the current regime. The ends must justify the means in 2013, or another structural demolition is inevitable.

Let's hope that this October will not be bringing Hoarders or Intervention to Bucco TV...

2013 Bucco Preview #1 (Starting Pitching)

Now that the Harbaugh/Harbaugh Smugbowl is in the books, and the Pens and the Pitt Panthers have both seemingly found that cruise control button for the time being, it's now time to swing the blogging focus to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

After a bevvy of off-season moves the Bucs are now weeks out of Bradenton with an interesting mix of players.  While the Russel Martin signing strengthens the weakest area of the team, I feel like the starting pitching will be the story of 2013.  If 2011 and 2012 have told us anything, it's that depth in the rotation is an absolute premium in the National League, and a shortage in major league ready arms quickly translates into slumps, slides, and eventually swoons.

This much we know about the starting rotation in Pittsburgh, the opening day staff should be as follows: AJ Burnett, Wandy Rodriquez, James McDonald, Francisco Liriano, and Jeff Karstens.  From first glance, this is probably the most veteran opening day staff that the Bucs have fielded since the early 90's.  With Burnett, Wandy, and Liriano, you have three guys that have been staff aces at different junctures in their careers.  One footnote here (in the depth category) is that Charlie Morton is progressing in his Tommy John rehab and should be ready to resume his starting role by late May.  Additionally, potential phenom Gerrit Cole could be ready for that call to the North Shore by mid June, should he further refine his game in AAA Indy.

Like most previous Bucco previews, if will be the operative word in spring 2013.  If AJ and Wandy can repeat their 2012 performances, if James McDonald can be a little more Jeckyl and a lot less Hyde this year, if Karstens can stay healthy, if Cole continues his development on the farm, and if Charlie Morton makes a strong recovery from the surgery...all these ifs will be posed early and often. 

The biggest if will be Liriano.  The Bucs struck gold last season with the AJ acquisition.  After being shipped out of the Bronx with an eight digit rebate check taped to his right arm, Burnett went on to put up near Cy Young caliber numbers while adding a little moxie to the Pirate ship.  If Liriano can exorcise his own demons and regain most of his former form, he will add another quality arm to a fairly deep rotation.

I'm not saying that the 2013 Pirate staff will rival the '92 Braves, but I will say that it has the potential to be the deepest rotation the Bucs have seen in 20 years. The presence of Wandy and Liriano should serve to lessen any stress that J-MAC places on himself, and having Morton and Karstens in the back half of the rotation is not a bad thing at all.  I like this staff,...if

Ye of Little Faith

Go find that Chicken Little for me and tell him to stick it in his beak.  After a three game, six point swing in four days, Dan Bylsma and his 2013 Pittsburgh Penguins have assured us that the white fluffy stuff falling on our heads is, in fact, not the sky after all.  Sure, I was amongst the numerous writers that forecasted potential doom for the flightless birds and their soft spoken skipper, but hey, that was four days ago, and seemingly another lifetime in the fickle world of professional sports.

The Pens have been simply dominant this week, outscoring three conference nuisances by a collective 14-4.  Along the way, the Pens finally put the energy back into Consol Energy with a resounding February 2 whooping of the Jersey Devils.  Perhaps the shadow that old Punxsy Phil saw was that of Marty Brodeur's backside as he flopped and flailed futilely as five Penguin pucks skimmed past him.  The Pens feasted again 24 hours later, cranking it up to the tune of six goals this afternoon.  Unsung gritter Chris Kunitz notched his first hatter since, well, maybe ever, to cap a six point weekend.  That point tally is nearly a month's worth of production by career numbers for Kunitz, who also managed a #2 star and a #1 star for the weekend games.

With twelve points and a 6-3 record our Pens now find themselves atop the Atlantic Division as the grind of the compressed season is kicking in.  What was once a slumping bunch has now become a focused and dangerous hockey team, playing strong in all areas of their game.  An attribute of a great sports team is the ability to recognize adversity and step up to answer the challenge.  Here's to hoping that the Penguins of the last four days are the great team that we hoped we'd see.

When In Doubt, Just Do As The Buccos Do

Garnering fan scrutiny is no longer the only similarity between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the newly hapless Pittsburgh Penguins, as the latter have now delved into the former's practice of collecting recent first round castoffs.  The Pens broke ground in the dumpster diving business this afternoon by inking former Carolina prospect Zach Boychuk.  With the expectation of being inserted into the team's regular lineup this weekend, perhaps Boychuk will be the missing piece to the Pens' perplexing puzzle of puny scoring. 

For those out there (A Dawg) who covet and clamor for size, you'll be disappointed to learn that the scrawny Boychuk tapes out at 5'10" and a buck eighty on the scales.  This move seems senseless on paper, but who knows, maybe Boychuk will be the Shrimp that Saved Pittsburgh.  (if you don't get the reference, please google Pittsburgh Pisces)

The fact that Carolina was willing to give up on a 23 year old, while generating no trade interest, isn't a strong endorsement for the scrappy forward.  More to follow on this and other Penguins drama in the next installment of As the Ice Melts...

From Hot Start To Hot Mess

As if us black and gold backers didn't have enough misery on our plates already this week, as we wait to see either the San Francisco 49ers hoisting Lombardi #6 or to witness Reverend Ray Lewis, deer antler balm and all, crying and hugging, and just basically making us all sick.  Now we get to swallow another spoonful of sourness as our flightless birds lose again, dropping their record to 3-3 at the 1/8 mark of the shortened season.

A week ago finding the financial plan for keeping the remaining two-thirds of the once legendary Crosby-Malkin-Staal Show intact beyond next season was the primary concern amongst the patrons of Penguin Nation.  Now, it's not even on the radar.  Convincing the most offensively gifted team in hockey that one goal a night ain't getting it done would be my top priority if I stood behind that All Star laden and well paid bench. 

Perhaps six games is a bit early to pass out grades, but has anyone signed on expecting a Sid and Geno led team with a .500 record?  Maybe Disco Dan Bylsma has a few more dance steps in his repertoire, but given the urgency surrounding this team and this season, he had better do that hustle pretty darn quick.  Just ask Michel Therrien about his former boss's patience when it comes to underachievement...