I was going to lead with the Pirates win yesterday over the Phillies,but the stunning passing of Bob Probert at the age of 45 takes precedence.
Probert was (in my opinion) the greatest enforcer that hockey has ever seen and despite past issues with drugs and alcohol to see him pass away at such a young age is simply stunning.
Probert was on a boat with his family this afternoon and began suffering severe chest pains
Bob Probert was more than just the most feared puncher on skates,he could play the game as well with six seasons of double digits in goals and a career high of 29.
Probert's off ice issues certainly didn't help his career any and it actually caused his departure from Detroit,but it seemed like his post career had been spent straightening up those affairs and Probert was not in the news for negative reasons.
Probert participated in a Canadian reality show called Battle of the Blades last season,which seems to have been a figure skating show.
Probert also made a memorable appearance in WCW with a scrap with Tank Abbott that didn't result in any contact,but did see Probert "save" his boss Bruce McArthur from Abbott.
The amount of classic battles that Bob Probert fought are too numerous to mention as are the people that he fought with.
A few memorable wars were with the Devils Troy Crowder,who beat Probert in their first meeting before Probert gained revenge with an emphatic win in the rematch,Tie Domi,who seemed to delight in taking poundings from Probie and then mouthing off after yet another defeat and against the always scrappy,but undersized Wendell Clark.
Bob Probert's fight record can be found here.
Bob Probert was the reason that I started collecting and making hockey fight tapes (now DVD's) and his collection was the first things that I obtained when I began.
But to me,the death of Bob Probert hits hard for another reason-Bob Probert was 45,there is three years of difference in age between us.
Being in the shape that I am in makes one ponder things in life,maybe it is time that I do something about this and take care of business..
Thanks again to my favorite all time enforcer Bob Probert for the memories and rest in peace...
Very few good things came out of the Phillies 12-4 pummelling of the Pirates last night other than the first pro homer by Pedro Alvarez (1). Paul Maholm was the loser and is now 5-7. Ryan Church also homered (3). Jeff Karstens (2-3) finishes the series against Joe Blanton (3-5)
Pirate Hooks
1) Paul Maholm didn't pitch well,but in the five run third it could be been lessened by better defense. Bobby Crosby turned a double play ball into zero outs and Ryan Church botched a routine fly that added even more to the total. The Pirates never recovered....
2) Crosby now has made eight errors in his fielding time this season. There usually is a reason utility infielders are what they are,but to be this bad in the field makes one question holding that spot.
3) Best part of the Pedro Alvarez homer? The opposite field shot. Alvarez will have so much more success if he can establish himself as more than a pull hitter. That leads in turn to teams not being able to play defensive shifts and playing him simply to pull and therefore more hits.
4) Maholm has now sandwiched his best outing of the season between his two worst outings of the year. Funny how things work sometimes in that manner...
5) Pittsburgh has pulled away from Cleveland and Houston and now would own the second pick in next years draft. They are still five games away from catching Baltimore for the top spot...
For the third consecutive day,the Pittsburgh Pirates used a pitcher that had not won a game this season to lead the team to victory. Ross Ohlendorf (1-6) threw seven scoreless innings in following Brad Lincoln and Daniel McCutchen in gaining their initial wins this week as the Pirates shutout the visiting Phillies 2-0. Both Pirates runs were scored on a weak dribbler by Andy LaRoche that forced Jamie Moyer to launch a quick and off target throw in order to try to end the inning by retiring LaRoche. The resulting error allowed Andrew McCutchen and Ryan Doumit to score and both started and ended the scoring for the day. Octavio Dotel snatched his 18th save after a scoreless ninth inning. The Pirates are now guaranteed no worse than a split of the four game visit from their interstate rivals and will attempt to wrap the series up with a win today with Paul Maholm (5-6) vs Kyle Kendrick (4-3).
Pirate Hooks
1) Play of the game comes from Lastings Milledge,who's sliding catch in the sixth with two runners on kept the Phillies off the board. Milledge is inconsistent with the glove to the point of maddening,but the catch was the difference in the game.
2) Ross Ohlendorf looked to be coming around with his solid outing last time in Oakland,but was even better last night. Ohlendorf got ahead in the count (22 first pitch strikes) and managed to stay ahead,which hasn't always been the case this season.
3) Neil Walker may be able to return to action tonight from his concussion issues. Walker's return would add a needed bat to the bench,which had been short handed since his injury.
4) Jamie Moyer looked pretty solid for the Phillies.Moyer is 47 years old and he could lose it at any time,but he has 267 wins for his career. Let's give him another five this year to move him to 273 for his career and 14 for the season. That means two more seasons like that gives him 300. That equals Cooperstown,friends-like it or not.
5) Charlie Morton was optioned to Indianapolis to give him a few more starts there and attempt raise his confidence.Morton looks to me to be the poster child for a 4A pitcher.
6) Do I need to conclude every blog with a Keith Olbermannesque countdown of days that Steve Pearce is forced to stay with the I-Tribe? This has gotten beyond ridiculous.
My latest post on the Hagerstown Suns is up over at NationalsProspects.com. Take a look and check out "Sue Dinem's" stuff often. If you are interested in Suns,former Suns or the Nationals in general,it will be well worth the stop.
Scott Bowden takes an excellent look at Ricky Steamboat at Kentucky Fried Rasslin. Steamboat recently was the subject of a WWE DVD release and was then pounded on Monday by inexperienced wrestlers to the point of a legitimate brain aneurysm. I know I sound like a cranky old guy,but in my day when the legends were beaten up for the purposes of an angle-the most that they suffered were a few punches,kicks and maybe the shirt torn off for good measure. The slams and bumps that Steamboat was given at the hands of nowhere near ready for prime time grapplers caused severe damage and was simply unnecessary. Everything evolves,but not always for the better..
Battlin' Bob sends us word of the passing of former Cardinals and Chargers coach Don Coryell at the age of 85. Coryell was almost universally loved by his players despite looking like he was wearing shoes that were three sizes too small with his facial expressions. Coryell was the innovator of the modern passing game and it took the Cardinals over thirty years to recover from his ridiculous firing after the 1977 season.
Former Canadian Triple Crown champion With Approval passed away last month in England at the age of 24.One of my all time favorites, With Approval set the world record for a mile and and three eighths and just missed victories that would boosted his resume' immensely with close defeats in the Breeders Cup Turf and Arlington Million.
Thanks again to those of you that sent notes on the Carl Radle feature. There will be music features in the future that even if you aren't a fan of the artist,you'll at least find them interesting reads.
Behind a surprisingly good outing from winning pitcher Daniel McCutchen (1-3),the Pittsburgh Pirates were able to slide by the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 at PNC Park. Octavio Dotel pitched the ninth for his 17th save. The middle game is tonight with Ross Ohlendorf (0-6) vs Jamie Moyer (9-6).
Pirate Hooks
1) Last nights start for Daniel McCutchen was the best that I had seen him look. McCutchen didn't get behind in counts and have to come in with a fastball like he had in being lit up in past starts.
2) The only mistake that McCutchen made was to Wilson Valdez,who hammered a fastball over the Northside Notch for the Phillies first run and the only earned run that McCutchen would allow. Valdez is not considered to be a power hitter,so seeing him slam the ball that far was a surprise.
3) John Russell moved Pedro Alvarez to second in the batting order in an attempt to have Alvarez see fewer breaking pitches. It worked to a degree as Alvarez hit an opposite field double for an RBI in the third inning....
4) Evan Meek fired two scoreless innings drop his ERA under one and even batted in the seventh in order to pitch the eighth,laying down a nice sacrifice bunt. I laughed at first about the beginning drumbeat for Meek to make the All Star team,but upon reflection-why not? It isn't like the Pirates have a super qualified player that would lose out and it would be a nice statement to have a dominant pitcher that isn't a starter or a closer make the team.
5) Andy LaRoche was given a throwing error from second that led to the second Phillie run and maybe LaRoche should have just ate the baseball,but he made a nice play to just reach the ball and had the run not scored,it could have been argued that it should have been scored a hit. 6) Tonight is Ice Cream Bowl giveaway night. From those terrible Pirates commercials that act like the home shopping club,they look pretty neat and sturdy too. I just might be attempting (at the right price,of course) to attempt to build a four piece set of those....
Lou Lamoriello and the New Jersey Devils were very busy on the first day of free agency as two players were bought out and allowed to become free agents,one player was lost,two were re-signed to new contracts and three new players were signed by the Red and Black.
First off,the Devils lost a player that was thought to be a linchpin of the franchise by some,but I don't think will turn out to be a huge loss over the long haul. Paul Martin signed a five year contract with the division rival Pittsburgh Penguins,so the Devils will see Martin quite often over the course of that contract. Martin was the Devils best offensive defenseman,but with the improvement of Andy Greene last season Martin's role could be filled by Greene with very little downside. Greene will have to raise his game some,but with Martin missing 55 games last season Greene and the Devils were able to have an extended preview of life without Martin. I think the Devils will do fine and the Penguins may wind up disappointed in the long run.Martin has never scored more than six goals in a season and for a player that Pittsburgh will be looking to replace Sergei Gonchar with-that is not exactly Bobby Orr country.
Andy Greene will have to be up to the task of being the power play point man and the top threat because the Devils signed two players that are basically defense oriented in Anton Volchenkov and Henrik Tallinder to long term deals. Volchenkov was brought in from Ottawa (six years 25.5 million) for this reason according to Lou Lamiorello-"He's going to do something in our zone that we haven't done since Scott Stevens left,and that's make it very hard to play in our zone." In other words-Lou has made it a priority to make the Devils defense play old time Devils hockey and keeping the net clean and clear looks to be a Volchenkov speciality. I talked to our number one expert on everything Ottawa Senators and he told me "You are going to love Volchenkov,you (Devils) havent had a guy like this since Scott Stevens,one of the top four defensive D-men in the game and Volchenkov and Chris Phillips were the best shut down defensive pair in the game". That sounds good enough for me!
The other new Devil blueliner is Henrik Tallinder for four years and 13.5 million. Tallinder is noted as a puck mover,although not a goal scorer with a career high of four. Tyler Myers credits Tallinder as the main reason that his rookie year was as successful as it was in Buffalo and with three young Swedes on their way soon in Alexander Urbom,Mattias Tedenby and Jacob Josefson,Tallinder looks to be an excellent tutor in the locker room as well as on the ice...
The Devils also upgraded at backup goaltender with today's signing of Johan Hedberg. Hedberg is an immediate improvement over Yann Danis and shows that for the first time that the Devils may truly be serious about reducing Marty Brodeur's playing time a bit. Hedberg is capable of playing twenty or so games at a decent level that Brodeur can sit and rest and not allow the team to be out of the contest.
New Jersey kept hard nosed right winger David Clarkson in house with a three year eight million dollar deal that needed to be done. Clarkson's injury last year was the missing intangible to the team and between his coming back late and the late season acquisition of Ilya Kovalchuk,caused the team to be out of sync. A full season of Clarkson changes that. Rod Pelley was also resigned as well to an unknown deal.
The Devils waived Jay Pandolfo and Andrew Peters. If both clear waivers,they can then be bought out of their contracts and the Devils would save two million dollars in cap space. I'll miss Pandolfo for his contributions to the franchise and his classy persona,but he is clearly near the end of the road and not of value for the contract that he was receiving. Peters will be replaced easily in the big enforcer role by Pierre-Luc LeBlond and wont be a loss of any stature.
Lou Lamoriello also says that the team is not finished making moves and still has a shot at Ilya Kovalchuk as well. I think that Kovalchuk will likely be out of the teams price range unless they are able to move someone and quickly so to make space,but I can hope. I know many think Kovalchuk was a bad fit for the Devils,but I disagree. One training camp with the team is all that Kovalchuk would need to seamlessly fit into the team.
The Devils used their second round pick in last weeks draft on Jonathan Merrill,a defenseman from Michigan. The 6'3 Merrill will attend michigan this year and was rated 21st by International Scouting,yet the Devils were able to grab him at the 38th pick.
Back tomorrow with Pirates-Phillies and maybe the promised inbox cleaning. Tonight's Devils news put that on the backburner...
Meat Loaf sung it and the Pittsburgh Pirates did it as the final three games of a nine game road swing turned out to end better than it began with two wins in three days at Wrigley Field against the only team that the Buccos can seem to defeat regularly in the Chicago Cubs. The Pirates now begin a four game series tonight against the hated Phillies at PNC Park with Daniel McCutchen (0-3) facing off against Cole Hamels (6-6).
Pirate Hooks-Things a bit hectic here yesterday,so I decided to combine the series into one recap and move on.
1) The Pirates had to be pleased with the pitching during the series. I saw the two wins (was in Frederick for the middle game loss) and both Paul Maholm and Brad Lincoln looked strong. What I was most encouraged with was both pitchers being able to work their way out of jams without the backbreaking base hits that plagues the Pirates consistently.
2) Lincoln was saved by the winds off Lake Michigan that kept a bomb off the bat of Alfonso Soriano in the ballpark instead of soaring out of it. That and Lincoln getting a huge strikeout of pinch hitter Tyler Colvin with two runners in scoring position were the biggest breaks in the game.
3) Lincoln allowed just four hits over seven innings,Paul Maholm seven over eight innings and Jeff Karstens seven in six innings in a losing effort. Keep the hit totals low and good things tend to happen. Compare those numbers to each pitchers previous start-Karstens seven in five and a third,Maholm seven in one and Lincoln eight in six and see the difference...
4) I don't want to shortchange Maholm in his win as he kept the Cubs off balance and didn't have the advantage of the wind either.
5) The Maholm win almost didn't happen as Ryan Doumit wasn't even halfway between second and third on a flyball smacked by Jose Tabata went over the head of Tyler Colvin. Doumit then compounded the error by not sliding into the plate and was narrowly safe.
6) That game again saw another injured infielder as Bobby Crosby ran into Lastings Milledge on a pop/fly. One would think that major leaguers would master a skill taught to children,but it is possible that crowd noise could have been an issue with the Crosby play. Considering the Neil Walker collision was in Oakland,I cannot give that possibility to that smashup.
7) Tom Gorzelanny tossed five shutout innings against the Pirates and continues to be at least a decent starter. Why Neal Huntington virtually gave Gorzo away (and to a division rival,no less) for an assortment of empty Gatorade bottles is baffling.
8) Andy LaRoche finally played some second base after the rash of collisions. I thought that was a good idea as I would much rather see LaRoche try than more of Delwyn Young's flailings like last year.
9) Hasn't Steve Pearce's injury assignment to Indianapolis seemed like it started in the Truman Administration? What the Buccos thinking process is with this is unknown,unless the idea is to attempt to inflate the trade worth of Ryan Church with some extra at bats. Pearce needs to be in the lineup and soon.
10) Speaking of Church and trade value-virtually none. Why would any team want a pinch hitter/backup outfielder that followed a .161 May with two homers with a .100 June with no longballs.
I am planning on trying to be back later with a cleaning of the inbox and a link to an article that I will be hammering out for NationalsProspects.com on the Hagerstown Suns...
