A few things...

Just a few things to catch up before taking time for (hopefully) team previews over the next two days.

The Pirates were crushed by the Atlanta Braves 9-3 as Zach Duke's string of decent starts ended at two as he fell to 7-13 on the year.
Duke lasted just an inning and Daniel McCutchen a hair more than that as Atlanta led 8-0 midway thorough the third of an unremarkable game.
The Pirates travel to Cincinnati tomorrow for the first of three games against the pennant contending Reds....

Alex Presley and Pedro Ciriaco each collected their first big league hit in the loss,which always a nice thing.
I never saw Alex Presley as a big leaguer,but give him credit for an excellent 2010 and whatever the future brings,he will always have the ball for his first big league hit....

Make sure you check out our friends over at NationalsProspects as our review of the 2010 Hagerstown Suns second half goes up tomorrow.

More on the Browns coming up,but the team waived 2009 second rounder David Veikune as Eric Mangini draft picks continue to pile up as disappointments past the first few picks.
We weren't enthused about the pick then,even less so now...

Scott Bowden does what might be his best work with his latest post over at Kentucky Fried Rasslin.
Bowden takes a look at his term in Memphis wrestling behind the scenes and captures the scene perfectly.
I highly recommend it to all old time fans and to younger readers as well for a look at the business as it used to be...


One of my favorite writers takes a shot at the rampant greed in college sports,as John Feinstein writes in the Washington Post.
Feinstein is accurate on this topic and well worth the read...

Will try to be working on Browns and Seahawks previews as well as this weeks picks and game of the week selections as well tomorrow and Saturday...