Are You Ready For The Playoffs

It's finally here.  After a brutal four month lockout, and an exciting three month season, it's finally time for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  I'm planning on writing in the future about why the SCP are so special, because that would take way too long to do right now.

First, here's what I think the Pens' lines should be/ probably will be for game 1 on Wednesday

F1 Iginla-Crosby-Dupuis
F2 Kunitz-Malkin-Neal
F3 Cooke-Sutter-Morrow
F4 Glass-Jokinen-Adams

D1 Letang-Despres
D2 Orpik-Martin
D3 Niskanen-Murray

F1 Iginla and Crosby seem perfect to play alongside each other, as we saw in the 2010 Olympics.  Dupuis is also very productive alongside Crosby, with whom he has played for much of his career in Pittsburgh
F2 Another benefit of bumping Iginla up to F1 is that it enables the Pens to reunite the 14-71-18 line, which dominated the NHL last year
F3 This figures to be a terrific checking line, with Cooke and Morrow who have tough reputations, and also contains Sutter who can score clutch goals.
F4 Jokinen deserves to be a top-9 player.  That just shows how deep this team is.

D1 Simon Despres hasn't played every game this year, thanks to what I think is a foolish thought by Dan Bylsma.  When he has played, he played alongside Letang.  And played well.  Let's see what he can do in the playoffs
D2 Orpik is a playoff hit machine, terrorizing opposing forwards (look out John Tavares). Martin has had a terrific year defensively
D3 I'm excited for this line.  The defensively sound Niskanen with the wrecking ball Murray.

Prediction:  I know, I know, this won't be an easy series.  But that doesn't mean the Pens can't dominate it.  The Islanders' key players have no playoff experience.  Their defense is questionable. That, combined with the Penguins ridiculous talent at forward, leads me to predict a 5 game series win for Pittsburgh.

The Good and Bad of the Pirates' Pitching

The Pirates currently sit at 11-9, one game back from the lead of the NL Central.  Not a bad position to be in, nearly a month into the season.  Almost all of the wins were due to a pitcher, starter or reliever, coming up with an amazing performance.  Similarly, a fair amount of the losses can be traced back to a pitcher not doing his job.  Here's a look at how some of the pitchers have been doing this year, and how things could look in the future.



AJ Burnett-  AJ has, as expected been the Pirates' best starter so far.  In his first two starts, he allowed three runs and recorded sixteen strikeouts.  Both were spoiled by the fact that the Bucs' offense was struggling mightily at the time.  He has continued to put up solid numbers, and has improved to 2-2 on the season (the Pirates' 6-5 win over the Reds went down as a no-decision for AJ).  Burnett seems to be the Bucs' most reliable pitcher for the duration of this season.

Wandy Rodriguez-  Wandy has been sensational so far in 2013.  In his first start, he shut down the Cubs through six innings, which would turn out to be the Pirates' first win of 2013.  In his next start, he injured his hamstring in only the second inning, and was forced to leave the game.  He missed his next start (Phil Irwin got the spot start, which turned out to be a thrilling comeback win over Cincinnati), and returned on the 19th vs. Atlanta.  He pitched a 2-hit shutout through 7 innings.  The Pirates closed out the game having faced the minimum 27 batters for the first time in decades.  As terrific as he has been, it is a very small sample size, plus the hamstring could come back to bother him.  Things look cautiously optimistic for Wandy.

James McDonald-  JMac, JMac, JMac.... Truly an impossible puzzle to solve.  Lights-out one day, lit-up the next.  Shut down the Cubs in his first start of the season, gets lit up for 10 runs in the 2nd inning against the Cardinals.  His most recent start against Atlanta was the epitome of inconsistency.  He struck out the first three batters he faced.  In the second inning, he loaded the bases, and proceeded to walk home the leading run.  Directly thereafter, he struck out three batters to end the inning.  Frustrating for fans.  I'm not going to venture a guess on JMac.  The potential for success is certainly there.

Jeff Locke-  Jeff Locke has been quietly mediocre.  He was unimpressive in his first few outings.  He had a good start on Tuesday vs. Philadelphia.  Personally, I don't think he will remain in the rotation very long.  Charlie Morton and Francisco Liriano are returning soon.  Later on, Jeff Karstens will be ready.  Gerrit Cole will be called up.  No space for Locke.

Jonathan Sanchez-  Similar story for Sanchez.  He's been remarkably mediocre thus far, including a 10 run torching by the Arizona Diamondbacks.  I would be shocked if he is in the rotation in June.

Buccos Report: The First 13

We're 13 games into the 2013 season, and its not really clear what we should think of these Pirates.  They've had highs and lows, to say the least.  Plenty of strengths, and plenty of weaknesses.  It featured being swept by the Dodgers without a fight, a strange series win in Arizona, and an impressive sweep of the rival Cincinnati Reds, including the comeback from being down 5-0 last Sunday.

Positives so far:

Starling Marte-  In his first full season in the Major Leagues, Starling Marte has been tearing it up.  With a .370 batting average so far, a .404 On Base Percentage, 3 doubles, 1 triple, and one home run, he has easily been the Pirates' best player.  He is one of the fastest guys on the team (second possibly to Andrew McCutchen), and can do it all in Right Field.  Its full speed ahead for what looks to be like an excellent season.

The Bullpen-  Some of the Pirates' starting pitchers have gotten it done.  Wandy Rodriguez, and AJ Burnett have done their jobs.  None of the Pirates' other three starters have made it deep into a game, some of them not getting through five innings.  When you don't get many quality starts, you need a strong bullpen to pick up the slack, and they've done just that.  Jeanmar Gomez and Justin Wilson have looked very good in long-relief.  Tony Watson and Jared Hughes have been good, save for a bad outing each (Watson on the 12th vs. CIN, Hughes on the 14th vs. CIN).  Mark Melancon and Jason Grilli have been locking it down at set-up and closer, respectively.

Disappointments so far:

Pedro Alvarez-  Pedro has had a typical Pedro slump so far this year.  He is weighed down by his .073 Average, and zero homers or extra-bases.  We've seen this before.  It could drag on for who knows how long.  When it ends, it could end in dramatic fashion, with Pedro ripping off homer after homer for a while.  Who knows.

Looking ahead

The Pirates have the toughest opening six weeks in all of baseball.  they have come out of the first two weeks within one game of that coveted .500.  This schedule stays tough, but that sweep of Cincinnati is encouraging.  Nothing gets a team rolling like some wins vs. a divisional rival.

Don't Panic... yet

It's April 7th, and the panic is already on.  We're only one week into the six month journey that is baseball season, and people have already written off the Pirates.  I'm not saying there's no reason to do so.

This has been a very disappointing start.  One win, five losses to start the year.  The total inability to get hits, let alone runs.  A series loss to the divisional rival Chicago Cubs, and a sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers.  It wasn't pretty.  The Bucs wasted two beautiful pitching performances by AJ Burnett.  They wasted a surprisingly decent showing by Jonathan Sanchez.  Today's loss to the Dodgers marked the first time this year where the pitching staff did not give them a legitimate chance to win.  The offense took a step forward, with Andrew McCutchen crushing the team's first home run of 2013.  Hits weren't quite as scarce as before.  People seemed to be getting better quality contact.  But still, there's not much good to take out of the first six games of the season.

But amid all of the widespread depression among the Pirates community, I'm about to say why it is absurd to panic just yet.  Here's why:

Pitching is the foundation for success.  It is absolutely the most important thing for a winning baseball team to have.  The Pirates have it.  AJ Burnett has turned in two top-notch starts.  Wandy Rodriguez delivered a handling of the Cubs' lineup.  Even Jonathan Sanchez turned in a quality start, pitching through six innings allowing three earned runs.  The bullpen has performed well, with Jared Hughes succeeding in both of his outings, Tony Watson getting out of a bases-loaded situation unscathed.  The pitching is certainly there.

The obvious, glaring issue with this team is the hitting.  The team collectively has hit below .200.  Until today, there were zero home runs, and only two doubles.  The only player to have two hits in one game was Starling Marte, and they were both singles.  Alvarez isn't looking good, if you know what I mean.  However, you should wait before hitting the panic button.  Look at last year's season.  We started in a very similar fashion, with excellent pitching and extremely bad offense.  But they pulled through.  Eventually (May 25th to be exact) the offense lit up.  And don't be fooled, the Pirates have some serious weapons.  Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Garrett Jones, Neil Walker, and Starling Marte make for a formidable core.  If something, anything, can spark this offense, it could easily light on fire once again. It's not a lack of talent, at least I don't think so.  It's something intangible.

This bodes well for the Pirates because it means things could turn around at any moment.  Today we could hit this horribly, but as soon as tomorrow we could have a big day at the plate.  I'm not saying it will turn around tomorrow.  I'm saying that it could turn around tomorrow.  And there's no reason to say it won't be tomorrow.  They face the Arizona Diamondbacks, who play in a very hitter-friendly ballpark, which could be just the thing to get this offense going.

I'm not pretending that this first week hasn't been bad.  All I mean to say is that the potential is there to pick things up any day now.

Equipped for Success

Last year, the Penguins were a favorite to win the Cup for much of the year, especially after Sidney Crosby made his second return in March.  As the the trade deadline approached and passed, the Pens' GM Ray Shero did something out of character: nothing.  He made no moves to strengthen the team in any way.  This proved to be a mistake, as Philadelphia would eliminate the Penguins from the playoffs in the first round, embarrassing them defensively.

This year was obviously different.  Shero did a lot to strengthen the team.  In fact, he did far more than any other NHL GM.  Here's a look at the Pens' 5 acquisitions (In chronological order), and how they can help them to a Stanley Cup win.

1. Tomas Vokoun One of the glaring problems in the Pens' playoff loss to Philadelphia was the goaltending.  Marc-Andre Fleury played very poorly (an understatement).  This was in part because of fatigue.  Backup goalie Brent Johnson played so poorly in 2011-12 that he couldn't be trusted to win a game, forcing Fleury to play over 20 games in a row.  He had nothing left by the time the playoffs came around.  So, Shero went out and got a reliable backup who could relieve some of the load.  Enter Vokoun.  While he won't see the ice during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, he will give Fleury the rest he needs to play well.

2.  Brenden Morrow Before this season started, in my New Year's Resolutions blog, I pointed out that the Penguins needed to regain their toughness.  The toughness they had in their 2009 Cup win, but totally lacked in 2011-2012.  The bottom line:  The Playoffs are not a scoring-fest, they are a defensive, hard-hitting battle.  The Pens got some of the toughness back with the veteran winger Morrow.  He will play on the third line instead of Tyler Kennedy, making that line more of a traditional third line (hard-hitting, good defensively, hard to play against in general).

3.  Douglas Murray In 2009, as the Penguins were gearing up to eventually win the Stanley Cup, Shero acquired defenseman Hal Gill.  Gill was a great shutdown defenseman, something infinitely valuable in the Playoffs.  Gill left for Montreal after that year.  The Penguins have lacked that solid, veteran presence ever since, especially after Sergei Gonchar left town.  The Pens regained some of that when they got Doug Murray.  He is probably the most underrated hitters in the league.  He adds to the Penguins' toughness and defense, which (not to sound like a broken record) is incredibly important to win a Stanley Cup.

4. Jarome Iginla  This is the one we're all excited about.  Last Wednesday, we all went to bed thinking Iginla went to the Bruins.  To the delight of Pens fans everywhere, Ray Shero swooped in at the last minute and grabbed him.  This is an obviously great addition to this team.  Iginla has a scoring touch which is always a plus, and he can also hit and even fight.  Another player in the "tough to play against" list.

5.  Jussi Jokinen Jokinen is a 3rd-line-at-best center.  He was acquired mainly because Crosby is injured for the time being, and we need depth at center.  Tyler Kennedy wasn't exactly cutting it as a No. 1 center, so Shero pulled the trigger (Jokinen came with a very, very low price tag).  Once Crosby returns, he will be slotted into the fourth line, which desperately needs a spark.  He is a whiz at faceoffs, which the Penguins have lacked this year, even during the 15 game win streak.

Happy Easter... I mean Opening Day-Eve

Finally.  The most mind numbingly boring thing in sports, MLB Spring Training, is over.  The team is finally at PNC Park, preparing for Opening Day against the Chicago Cubs tomorrow.  After an entire month of speculation of what will happen this season, in particular the 20 year old question of "Will the Bucs make .500?".  Well, after a month of thinking, one thing has become clear: Nothing is certain, there are too many variables.

So, on this Opening Day-Eve, I'm taking one last stab at a preview to the 2013 season.

Four players you can expect big things from in 2013

Andrew McCutchen, CF-- This one is so obvious, I considered not even writing it.  Last year, Cutch established himself as a true superpower in the MLB.  He had a bit of a drop-off in the final 1/3 of the season, which coincided with the team's collapse.  He is hungry to put up big numbers the whole way through, and more importantly, he is hungry to carry this team into the playoffs.

Starling Marte, RF-- Marte was called up from the minors in late July of 2012.  He famously crushed a home run on his first pitch of his first at-bat, which happened to be the first pitch of the game.  A big statement indeed.  The next 2.5 months were so-so for Marte.  He didn't meet the unfair expectations that come with such a statement, however he wasn't all that bad.  He is very young, and has lots of potential.  Look for him to try to establish himself as a quality MLB hitter in 2013.

Clint Barmes-- In this case, you need to thing of "big things" in a relative way.  Barmes was terrible for most of 2012.  He showed signs of life in parts of August and September, but that was it.  I see him making a comeback this year, posting something like a .250-.260 batting average.

Wandy Rodriguez-- Wandy was acquired by the Bucs at last year's trade deadline.  As a starting pitcher, he turned in solid outings in nearly every start.  He had been doing that for a long time with Houston, but couldn't be seen behind all that failure by the Astros.

Two players NOT to expect big things from in 2013

Neil Walker-- Walker entered the Big Leagues in 2010.  He has been a fairly good player his whole career.  Last year he hit very few home runs and showed very little power.  Also, he was injured for most of August and September.  This is just one person's opinion, but I don't thing Walker will have a good 2013.

Jeff Locke-- Jeff was called up from the minors in August of 2012, and never really put together an impressive performance.  While he is young with good potential, I see him having a poor start to 2013 and being replaced by a healed Jeff Karstens or Charlie Morton.

Final prediction for 2013

Record: 88-74

Wild Card appearance

5 Starters, .500

I could write a list a mile long of things that need to happen for the Pirates to have a winning season.  Their first winning season in twenty years, the longest such streak in North American Professional Sports.  The most important thing to a team's success, by far, is strong starting pitching.  The Bucs' rotation of SP's this year is hard to gauge, due to some injuries and player inconsistency.  Here's what it looks like to start the season(Opening Day is monday!).

1. AJ Burnett  AJ was one of the Pirates' biggest bright spots last year.  In his second start of the year, he allowed a baseball record nine runs through four innings.  After that, he played like a true ace for pretty much the entire season, including a one hit masterpiece in which he came within four outs of a no-hitter.  He also served as a veteran leader for the team.  Look for the same strong play this year, but don't be too surprised if he slows down a little.  He is 37 after all.

2. Wandy Rodriguez The Pirates made three trades at the trade-deadline last year, and one of them could be considered a success.  That one success would be the trade that brought SP Wandy Rodriguez from Houston.  Rodriguez played excellent ball, although it was a small sample size starting at the mid-august trade-deadline.  All signs point to him having another solid year this year.

3. James McDonald JMac is probably the hardest pitcher to gauge of them all.  In the first half of the 2012 season, he played like an ace, an all-star.  After the all-star break (the midway point of the season) things went south in a hurry.  From the midpoint on, he posted an Earned Runs Average (ERA) above eight.  Eventually, in mid-August, he was pulled from the starting rotation and demoted to the bullpen.  So the question for this year is "which JMac will we see this year?  The ace, or the 8+ ERA JMac?  A lot of the Pirates' success this year depends on that.

Veterans Jeff Karstens and Charlie Morton will both start the season injured, and the following guys will fill in for them:

4. Jonathan Sanchez Sanchez, signed in the offseason by the Bucs, is one of the more bizarre stories on the team this year.  Four years ago, he threw a no-hitter.  Last year, he had an ERA above nine. NINE.  What is more disturbing is that the Pirates' front office somehow thought he would be a good addition this year, and signed him to a minor league contract.  The most disturbing is that they promoted him to the Majors, and gave him a spot as a starting pitcher.  Buckle your seatbelts.  Let's hope he proves me wrong.

5. Jeff Locke  Jeff Locke was given his first chance as a starter during the second half of last season.  He put up poor performances, simple as that.  However, he is very young, and shows potential. We'll see.

A lot of the Pirates' hopes this year depends on these people.  The latter two tossers seem like a dreadful back-end of the rotation, but help will come when Karstens and Morton return.  Another piece of good news:  2010 first-round draft pick Gerrit Cole is ready to play at the major league level.  He probably won't be called up to Pittsburgh until at least June, which would allow the Pirates to retain him for an extra year.  

9 wins, 9 reasons

The Penguins have established themselves as the team to beat in the Eastern Conference, with 44 points.  Somehow, they have just one less win than the miraculous Chicago Blackhawks (and their streak of 24 games without a loss-in-regulation).  The Pens sit atop the Atlantic Division, and to every Pens fan's delight, Philadelphia sits at the bottom.  That's right, the Flyers are below the Islanders.  Anyhow, the Penguins currently sit atop a 9 game winning streak, which could be accredited to the following 9 reasons:

1. Sidney Crosby "Sid will never be the same".  "He's one big hit away from retirement".  Those are two quotes thrown around a lot over the past year.  Amusingly enough, such rumors were entirely started and continued by fans.  Not team doctors, not team officials, not team coaches, not other players, and certainly not Sid himself.  I have no basis for saying this, but I'd be willing to bet that anybody who said that had no formal medical training whatsoever.  Sid The Kid is back to stay, and better than ever.  Teammate Brooks Orpik, who has played with Crosby for his entire career, says this is the best he's ever seen him, even better than his pre-concussion tear.  He leads the league in points by a mile.  He piles up the assists at an insane rate, and the scoring touch seems to be picking up by the day.  Its no coincidence that the Penguins are winning.

2. Goaltending The Pens goaltending was more or less a question mark for the beginning of this year.  Backup Tomas Vokoun had three or four bad performances, and Marc-Andre Fleury showed vulnerability. On this winning streak, save for a couple exceptions, the goaltending has been more than strong.

3. Penalty Kill In the first part of the season (most noticeably on the Pens' mini losing streak which preceded the winning streak) the team's penalty kill was very weak.  This was a stark contrast to the past two seasons, in which the Penguins took the 1st and 4th rankings respectively.  On this winning streak, for the most part, the PK has looked back like its old self.  They are pressuring the puck more, which forces opponents to make quick (and bad) decisions.

4. No Excuses Remember 2011, when Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin sat out the final four months of the season?  Remember how the Penguins made the playoffs (with home--ice advantage) that year?  Its because they (led by coach Dan Bylsma) NEVER use injuries as excuses.  Over the course of this winning streak, the Pens have been without Evgeni Malkin for most of the time.  One could hardly notice.

5. Persistence Pays Off Many have labeled the 2013 Penguins as the "comeback kids"(similar to the '08-'09 team).  The team has made late, dramatic comebacks a bit of a habit.  Notable ones include a 2-goal comeback vs. Philly in the 3rd period, a 2-goal comeback vs. Boston in the 3rd, a 3 goal comeback @ Florida in the 2nd and 3rd periods, and a 3 goal comeback @ Philly.  The persistence has provided several empowering victories, and has given them the look of a playoff team.

6. Home Ice Another rumor thats been flying around: Consol Energy Center is too quiet.  I simply don't understand this one.  I mean, any arena would be quiet with its team down 4-1 to the Islanders.  Even in a normal circumstance, no fan base screams during play relentlessly (save for the insane MTS Centre in Winnipeg).  During big moments towards the end of the game, Consol is as loud as anywhere in the NHL.  You have to think this affects the players in a positive way.

7. Welcome to Pittsburgh, Sutter Brandon Sutter started his career with the Penguins extremely quietly.  He wasn't necessarily bad, he just wasn't scoring much.  He played terrific defensive hockey. Now, all of a sudden, he has become a source of dramatic, game-changing goals.  With a late goal to complete a huge comeback vs. the Flyers, and two goals in the final five minutes of an astonishing comeback win vs. Boston, Sutter certainly has carved a place in this team.

8. Depth The Penguins depth is unbelievable, from top to bottom.  First off, any claims that Sidney Crosby should get some better wingers are absolutely absurd.  On one side, you have Chris Kunitz, who is second in the league in points (only to Crosby.  Kunitz also has two hat tricks on the season).  Third line center Brandon Sutter is thriving, as I said above.  James Neal is continuing to be the 40-goal man of last year.  Dustin Jeffrey is ably filling in for injured Malkin.  Newbie Beau Bennett is already making waves, as a second line winger.  It even goes down to the fourth line in Joe Vitale, who leads the way in face-offs.

9. Discipline Something the Penguins lacked in a big way before this streak is discipline.  Taking too many penalties.  One way or another, they have simply stopped doing that, which obviously results in less chances for opponents to score.

Madison Square Garden: what's so special?

I recently had the chance to see a hockey game at Madison Square Garden (the home of the New York Rangers).  The Penguins were not involved in the game, so I could view the place fairly objectively.  As soon as you walk in, and until you walk out, they don't let you forget that it's the "most famous arena in the world".  My opinion:  Who cares?  Of course, history and old age make an arena special.  But it's not the only factor.

Take the Pittsburgh's (now demolished) Civic Arena.  The place was ancient, built in the late 1950's.  Up until its 2010 destruction, people loved the place.  But they didn't love it because of the history of the place.  The loved it because of its charm and familiarity.  The randomly colored orange seats.  The ancient scoreboard, complete with that little screen that could only show sliding block letters.  The way it wasn't symmetrical, like they built the place and then crammed in extra seats wherever they could (which, in fact, is exactly what happened).  The red siren lights and the flashing "YEAH" sign with the jumping penguin.  All of these things made Civic Arena a "home" for Penguins fans.

No such things are found at Madison Square Garden.  All you see is a bunch of hastily put-together videos of "Garden History" during intermissions.

Not to mention, the Civic Arena was miles louder than MSG.

MSG will always be famous because of all the stuff that has taken place there, which is totally legitimate, I have no problem with that.  But The Civic Arena was a better place to call home for a team in many ways.

Pirates Batting Order

There are 25 days until Opening Day for the Pirates.  Over two weeks into Spring Training, we already have a good idea of what the team should look like.  Here's what I (not necessarily Clint Hurdle) think the batting order should be.

1.  Jose Tabata, RF
2. Starling Marte, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, CF
4. Garrett Jones, 1B
5.  Pedro Alvarez, 3B
6. Neil Walker, 2B
7. Russell Martin, C
8. Clint Barmes, SS
9. A.J. Burnett, P

1. Tabata has the skills to be a good Major-League player.  As he showed last year, he lacked some of the motivation and effort.  If he gets it together, he should make the lineup.  He is in the leadoff spot over Marte because Marte is known to be more of a free-swinging type of player, which is not ideal for leadoff.
2.  Marte is speedy, and has some power, but isn't a true home run guy.  Perfect for the 2-hole.
3.  No brainer.  McCutchen played every game last year in the 3-spot, putting up a .327 average.  He got 195 hits, including 29 doubles and 31 home runs.  Don't change a thing.
4.  I have Jones batting cleanup not because he is a better power hitter than Alvarez, but because Alvarez has NEVER played well in the 4-spot.  Most of his notorious slumps can be traced back to being put there.
5.  Being in the 5-spot gives Alvarez a chance to clear the bases with his mighty power, but without some of the pressure of the cleanup spot.
6.  Not much debate here.  Walker is a solid hitter, but without very much power.  Easily better than the two below him.
7.  Martin is coming off of a poor season with the Yankees, but, hey, so was A.J. Burnett last year.  The only reason I didn't put him in the 2-hole is because the bottom of the lineup needs more stability.
8.  Not much thought here.  The worst hitter in this group of eight, although he showed signs of life at the end of last year.

No Comparison

It's one of the few sports where the argument is even valid.  Is college basketball better than professional basketball?  It's one of those questions which nobody seems to agree on.  You'll be thinking "of course college is better"  and you assume most other people do too.  But then you hear some people saying the opposite, and you wonder how it's possible.  Here's why NCAA Basketball is better than NBA Basketball.

-- Teamwork:  In the NBA, too many teams are focused on one or two superstar players.  Take the Cleveland Cavaliers before Lebron's departure.  Do you think anybody outside of Cleveland can name a player who was on that team besides James?  And after Lebron made his grand exit, the Cavs went from being a playoff team to one of the worst teams in basketball.  You won't find any team in College Basketball so centered on one or two players.  Pitt coach Jamie Dixon uses a ten-man rotation.  ten.  In Pitt's blowout win over DePaul, 5 players had double digits in points, and every player on the team had more than one rebound and more than one assist.

-- Parity:  No matchup is safe.  Anybody who has witnessed the upset of a top 5 ranked team by an unranked team knows that this is one of the most exciting moments in sports.

Playoffs:  This one is obvious.  the NCAA's 65 team March Madness tournament is like nothing else in sports.  You get the excitement, school spirit, and upsets of college basketball, all day-every day for a whole month.

Game atmosphere:  This one's a no-brainer.  NBA crowds simply do not compare to college student sections.  Take Pitt's Oakland Zoo.  You've got 1100 fans (literally) jumping up and down, screaming through the entire game; Constantly taunting the other teams players and exploding with every big play of their own.  In the NBA, you have people who rarely rise out of their seats, and applaud after 3 point shots.

It's Time To Pray

The Penguins enjoyed a solid victory over the Florida Panthers Friday night.  They saw a brilliant performance from Marc-Andre Fleury.  They got a tough, game-tying goal from Chris Kunitz.  They got third period goals from Matt Niskanen and Dustin Jeffrey.  But all of that is out the window, and all eyes are on Evgeni Malkin and his apparent injury.

At around the four minute mark of the third period, Malkin slid into the boards back-first.  That caused his neck to snap back and his head to hit the boards.  Uh oh.  Of all the players, it had to be Malkin.  Just imagine the riots that would have ensued if it had been Crosby.

He doesn't officially have a concussion, but will be re-evaluated on Saturday.  This would be a huge blow to the team.  It would force Brandon Sutter to center a line with James Neal.  James Neal has no chemistry with Sutter, which would probably severely damage Neal's production, which we saw in the 2011 season.

It's time to pray.

Here's a video of the incident

UNINTENTIONAL

"It's Matt Cooke, what else do I need to say?"

"You know who was involved. That's how it is"

"The cat's out of the bag.  You know what's up"

"Why would you hit a player like that?"

These are all quotes heard in the Ottawa Senators' locker room after their 4-2 loss in Pittsburgh.  During the game there was a very unfortunate incident involving Matt Cooke and Ottawa star player Eric Karlsson.  Here is the cut-and-dry walkthrough of what happened (and why it was really unintentional):

1.  Cooke went into the corner with Karlsson to try to get the puck from him.

2. Cooke pins Karlsson against the boards (completely legal).

3.  Cooke turns his head to the other way.  In addition, Cooke's left arm comes up to further block his           own vision.  Cooke had absolutely NO WAY OF SEEING Karlsson during this next portion of the play.

4.  Cooke's foot comes up inadvertently due to some shift of balance or something of that nature.

5.  Cooke's foot comes down on Karlsson's achilles, severing it.

There is no way Cooke could have known where his foot was going, because he had NO WAY OF SEEING anything to that side of him.

I'm sorry, Ottawa.  It sucks.  But he didn't mean to do it.  And, for the record, it IS possible to win without your two best players.  Just ask Pittsburgh.

Devils 3, Pens 1

A perfect storm came together tonight at Consol Energy Center.  Not the kind that the 18,658 had been hoping for (They beat the attendance record by ONE person.  Pretty sure it was me).  It was a perfect storm of poor play by the Penguins and impressive play by the Devils.

To start, Devils' goaltender Johan Hedberg (the moose) played totally lights out.  The Pens got a few great chances in the first period, but Hedberg made even better saves.  He ended up shutting down (in part) a Penguins comeback attempt.

The Devils are known best for their defense.  Nobody goes to a Devils game thinking "Gee, I hope we get to see that explosive offense".  The Devils like to get a lead in a game, and then lock it down defensively.  They got a chance to do that today, when the Penguins spotted them a three goal lead towards the end of the second period.  They promptly went into shutdown mode, and it paid off.  The Pens got a goal just 14 seconds into the third period, but that was it.

The Devils played very well, but the Penguins played an extremely poor game as well.  There seemed to be a lack of hustle or urgency.  They would dump the puck in repeatedly, and seem to be slow to get in after it.  They must be tired, however, as they have played six games in the past nine days.  They were thoroughly unimpressive on offense.  They always went back to the same strategy of having a defender, who was deep in his own zone, sling the puck hard to a player who was guarded near the other end of the neutral zone.  It worked well under a quarter of the time.  When they did get into the offensive zone, they always swung to the outside and sometimes turned it over.  Sometimes a player would be driving to the net, and they would pass it to the outside only for that player to take the unscreened, long range, outside shot which would be saved effortlessly.  

Pens 4, Islanders 2

The Penguins got some revenge tuesday night in Long Island.  They avenged last weeks ugly 4-1 loss to the Islanders on home ice.

Marc-Andre Fleury was the Penguins MVP tonight.  by far.  He was solid all night, and made at least two jaw dropping saves; One of them a signature MAF cartwheel getting the glove on the puck, and the other a great save with the left pad coming across the crease.

The Penguins were undisciplined tonight, no excuses.  They gave the Isles 7 power play chances.  I did however have a problem with the officiating .  See, the way NHL refs call penalties is very strange.  They sometimes purposely ignore penalties, either because that team has gotten called a lot already in that game, or they simply aren't feeling it.  Also, NHL refs frequently call penalties that really shouldn't be called.  This is the part I really hate.  They do this to "even-up" on other penalties in the game.  If one team gets a 5-on-3 power play chance, look for the other team to get some cheap calls going their way.  The problem in this game was the Penguins had 5 penalties called on them in the second period.  None of them had more than 2:00 between them.  My point is, if the refs are going to continue to use their arbitrary penalty calling style, they at least have to be unbiased and even.

Fortunately, the Penguins' penalty kill came up HUGE.  Brooks Orpik, Paul Martin, and Brandon Sutter were all standouts in their defensive play.  Only once or twice did the Isles get a high quality chance on the power play (of which they had 7).  Maybe they should stop putting Sidney Crosby out there for the face-off.  Joe Vitale can do the same thing at the same success rate.

Pens 3, Rangers 0

Thursday night, the Penguins ended their one-game "slump" if you could call it that.  A lot of fans have been calling it that, but it doesn't make much sense.  Not that the Pens have been on fire this eyar, but we haven't lost more than two in a row.

This was easily the Penguins' most compelling win of the year from top to bottom.

The most obvious part was the goaltending.  Tomas Vokoun got the start, and he finished with 28 saves and a shutout.  He made shots from star players such as Rick Nash and Marian Gaborik look average.  Vokoun seems to be a positioning expert, taking most shots right in his chest.  This is different from Fleury, who is always flying across the crease to make the save with the pads, blocker, or glove.  

The team defense looked great.  The Rangers had a lot of opportunities on the rush, including some from their top line, that were thwarted when a Penguin stick interrupted the pass.  I've been very impressed by the speed of this defense unit.  Sunday night in Ottawa as well as tonight in New York, they have used their speed to catch up to players, sometimes on breakaways, and not let them even get a shot on goal.  

The offense looked a lot better.  They got three goals, but if it weren't for Rangers' goalie Henrik Lundqvist they would've had a lot more.  The two top lines, centered by Crosby and Malkin respectively, seemed to click.  Those two stars seemed to hit full stride today.

Other notes:

-Congrats to Simon Despres on his first (important) NHL goal.  He has redeemed himself since my last blog in which I criticized him.  His defensive play has strengthened, and he isn't such a bad playmaker at the point.

-The power play looked above average tonight, despite only scoring one goal (a beautiful deflection play by Neal off a shot-pass from Crosby).

A Bump In The Road

Don't let it get blown out of proportion, but the Penguins played a dreadful game against the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday night, in their home opener no less.  Don't let it get blown out of proportion, because there are 45 games left in the season, and the Penguins' chief divisional rivals have yet to win a game.  Even so, the Penguins played a poor, poor game.

The Penalty Kill was surprisingly one of the bright spots of the game, killing off a long string of penalties in the 2nd period, including two 5-on-3's.  I like the idea of throwing Sidney Crosby out there towards the end (what can't he do?).  Every time he was out there on the PK you could sense that he was still an offensive threat.

The Penguins' offense was their worst asset in this game, looking sloppy for the whole game.  They got absolutely nothing done on the rush (besides Crosby's breakaway goal).  You got the feeling they weren't speeding down the ice like they nomally do; most of the time they seemed to be standing around waiting for the pass, and by the time it got there the speedy Leafs were able to stifle it.

A few players I've been thoroughly unimpressed with:  Simon Despres.  He has been very sloppy with the puck, which is a no-no for a defenseman; Tyler Kennedy.  I've always hated TK's skating style, but it's just now catching up to him.  He seems to stop moving his legs once he enters the zone, which doesn't work because obviously it slow you down.  So he just glides there, and once all his options are gone, he tries to blast it on goal with it being blocked or missed most of the time.  One other dissapointment is Eric Tangradi.  Eric has been trying to break into the NHL for 3 years now, and he's blowing his best chance yet.  He gets to be on Evgeni Malkin's wing, and he's done nothing.  Don't be surprised to see Beau Bennett up from the minors.

Pens 3, Flyers 1: Starting Off Right

The Penguins definitely learned some things from las year's playoff loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.  They proved it today in their 3-1 win over the Flyers in their season-opener.  Last Spring, the Flyers' power play tortured the Penguins, and the Pens' PK failed to adjust.  Today, the Flyers had a whopping five chances on the power play, and the Penguins held them to nothing.

Other game notes:

Marc-Andre Fleury avenged his horrid performance in last year's playoff, shutting down the Flyers with 26 saves and only 1 goal allowed.

Evgeni Malkin was a monster in the first period, hounding the puck furiously on the forecheck.  He earned an assist on the Pens' first goal (scored by Tyler Kennedy).  Although his pace slowed a bit, he looked solid for all 60 minutes.

Tomas Vokoun will get a start right of the bat tomorrow night, against the New York Rangers of all teams.  The Rangers, led by goalie Henrik Lundqvist, seem to be the Penguins' biggest competition for the Eastern Conference title, however the Pens had their number last year.

Here is my full scouting report for the Penguins 2013 season

Penguins 2013 Scouting Report

Its been over eight months.  And finally, we are down to three days.  Three days until this sports town, left without a sport, gets its hockey team back.  The whole city's force going behind one team at full blast is a site to behold.  And they are not letting up.

On Wednesday night, the Penguins staged a scrimmage game, with the purpose of getting the players prepared for all types of game situations.  Then, they thought they might as well let some fans come and watch.  Every single one of the 18,387 seats were filled, with over two-thousand people left outside.  This town is desperate for hockey.  Now lets look at what to expect for this season, which, by the way, starts at 3 PM on Saturday in Philadelphia.

Forward

Dan Bylsma hasn't left us wondering too much about this one.  The first line will definitely feature Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis, centered by captain Sidney Crosby.  The second line is a little less clear.  It will definitely contain winger James Neal and reigning MVP center Evgeni Malkin.  The right wing is still up in the air, but will probably be filled by Tyler Kennedy, Eric Tangradi, or rookie Beau Bennett.  The third line will be centered by offseason addition Brandon Sutter, flanked by Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy (if he isn't on the second line).  The fourth line will be Craig Adams, new addition Tanner Glass, and Joe Vitale.

Defense

The first defensive pairing will certainly feature star Kris Letang, probably alongside Matt Niskanen.  Should be an excellent shutdown pair, given Letang's track record, and the promise Niskanen showed in the playoffs last year.  The next pair will be the wrecking ball Brooks Orpik, with Paul Martin.  Paul Martin had a horrid year last year defensively, many fans hoping for him to be traded.  Instead he is being paired with Orpik in the hopes that the shakeup will improve his game.  The third pairing will be Ben Lovejoy and Deryk Engelland, both solid, tough, defensemen.


Goal

Marc Andre Fleury is the team's number one.  He will get at least 28 of the 48 games this year, probably more if he goes on a tear.  New addition Tomas Vokoun adds stability in the backup position, which will do two things.  It will allow Fleury to get adequate rest, which he didn't last year (backed by Brent Johnson).  It will also add pressure on Fleury to be better, as Vokoun has the potential to be a number one.

Three days.  The city is ready.  Hockey is back.

Pens are elite, on the ice and off the ice

Yes, the Penguins have one of the best on-ice teams in the NHL.  That is for sure.  But they also have possibly THE best front office/fan relations in the NHL, and maybe all of professional sports.

On monday, the day after the lockout ended, co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle released an apology.  It wasn't like some might expect.  It wasn't filled with "we are so sorry" or any method of assigning blame anywhere else.  They took full responsibility, and told fans they had every right to stay Angry.  Real classy move.

On thursday, They announced an unprecedented lineup of bonus promotions.  Promotions include free food at games, and half off merchandise.  May not seem like much, but that stuff is pricy at the Pens' home Consol Energy Center.  They also announced that they will hold a contest which will give away signed jerseys, numerous free tickets, partial season tickets, front row seats to the home opener, and even season tickets (yes, season tickets.  Those things you have to get on an 8,000 person waiting list to get).

I'm sure every team in the NHL will attempt something like this, but you can just tell that they are being sincere.  You can tell that they are truly embarrassed of the actions of Gary Bettman and the rest of the villains of the lockout.