Devils and Pirates notes

A few Random Ramblings to keep things in order before a premature return to work.

The New Jersey Devils announced a one time return to the old days of the red and green for their St.Patrick Day home games against the Penguins.
The Devils don't use a third jersey usually,but I always liked the red and green,so I am more than fine about using them.
The old unis are shown in the card to my right of Slava Fetisov.

The Devils also seem to be making a move to market the team better than in past seasons.
The Devils are employing a PR firm that has been contacting bloggers (we were contacted) with press releases and other notes to get the word on Devils hockey fastest to the people that care most-the hard core Devils fan.

New Jersey also took a swipe at their former cousin,the NBA's New Jersey Nets.
You see,the Devils were sold separately from the Nets and the Nets have this pipe dream of moving back across the river to Brooklyn,where they dream of an arena that has yet to have a shovel hit the dirt.
The Nets by continuing to shuffle along at the aging Meadowlands instead of either moving to Newark with the Devils or getting off their rump and moving to NYC,keep the Meadowlands arena open.
That creates competition with the Rock for various events that add coins to the coffer.
So when the Nets recently announced their decision to remove the name New Jersey from their road uniforms,the Devils were faster than a down ice rush to tweak the Nets a bit.
Almost immediately a billboard with this went up near the Meadowlands.

The Pirates were rapped again by the lowly Reds,this time 11-5 as Charlie Morton allowed four runs in the first in a game that was just awful to watch.
The Bucs attempt to avoid a four game sweep today with Zach Duke against Homer Bailey.

Pittsburgh also called up Neil Walker and Virgil Vasquez before yesterday's game.
Walker grounded out in a pinch hitting appearance,while Vasquez in a stunning surprise allowed two runs in one inning of work.
There should be a few more callups after Indianapolis finishes their season on Monday.

Not sure why Pirate blogger have such venom for Walker.
Various writers have written Walker off after two average seasons at Indianapolis and despite Walker's flaws at the plate (mediocre average and poor plate discipline),I would not be against a Walker vs Andy LaRoche showdown in spring training.
Their gloves seem similar and although LaRoche hits for better average,Walker has the power advantage.
Walker certainly is not the prospect that some thought he could be at this stage,but I am not ready to write him off as a bust yet either.

Pedro Alvarez,Brad Lincoln and Dustin Molleken are on their way to Europe to play in the World Cup.
Alvarez and Lincoln will be on the US team,while Molleken will be pitching for Canada.
Tough break for the collection as Alvarez left just before I could have had him sign his Altoona card.....

I plan on a Buckeye football preview over the next two days and I think I am going to wait until after the Lake County series against the Suns before doing one or two huge on the signing fronts...