Steelers dare to dream of repeat, decade dynasty

Wednesday, September 09, 2009
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/



Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Santonio Holmes, Ben Roethlisberger, Mike Tomlin and Dan Rooney hope to hoist the Steelers' seventh Lombardi Trophy in February.

With apologies to the good people of San Diego, Nashville and Baltimore, it's pretty hard to imagine Super Bowl XLIV without the Steelers or New England Patriots. You're hoping the Steelers get there, I'm fairly certain. Here's the really neat part about that: If they do make it to Miami and win a third Vince Lombardi Trophy in five years, they will live on through eternity as the Team of the Decade. "I don't see how anyone could deny us that," wide receiver Hines Ward said, nodding emphatically.

Is that motivation or what?

Ask Terry Bradshaw, Joe Greene and their Steelers teammates how nice it is to have won four Super Bowls and be remembered as the Team of the 1970s. They'll talk your ear off. The same is true of the Green Bay Packers of the '60s, the San Francisco 49ers of the '80s and the Dallas Cowboys of the '90s. Being a Team of the Decade is a big deal. It signifies greatness over a period of time.

Winning one Super Bowl is hard enough. Ask the 15 teams that haven't done it. Ask your good friends from Cleveland; their Browns are one of five teams that haven't even played in a Super Bowl. But it's hardly impossible. They'll give out that 44th Lombardi Feb. 7 to somebody, right? As former Cowboys running back Duane Thomas once noted famously, "If the Super Bowl is the ultimate game, why are they playing it again next year?"

A question for the ages, indeed.

But two Super Bowls in a 10-year window is a remarkable achievement. And three? Three? In this era of free agency? Extraordinary, simply extraordinary.

The Patriots already have done it this decade, winning in the 2001, 2003 and 2004 seasons. They also lost in the Super Bowl in 2007 and in the AFC championship game in 2006. If they win the Lombardi this season, they'll be remembered as one of the NFL's all-time great dynasties.

But the Steelers have the opportunity to match the Patriots' three Super Bowl championships this decade. They have been nearly as consistent during that time, winning five division titles to the Patriots' six and losing in two AFC championship games, each against the Patriots. If they win this next Super Bowl, I'm giving them the tiebreaker over the Patriots for two reasons: One, it's my column, and two, Spygate. As former Steelers linebacker Joey Porter has pointed out about the Patriots, "They cheated; there should be an asterisk. They cheated and they got caught."

Who am I to argue with J. Peezy?

A bigger question: Can the Steelers do it?

The odds are overwhelming against any team repeating as champs. It has happened just eight times in the Super Bowl era. But I like the Steelers' chances. I like 'em a lot more than I did after they won in the '05 season. It's more than just the fact that Ben Roethlisberger isn't coming off a serious motorcycle accident this time. There isn't any sense of complacency under Mike Tomlin like there was under Bill Cowher, who knew '06 was going to be his final year as Steelers coach. That team started 2-6 and finished 8-8, one of three seasons this decade that the Steelers sat out the postseason.

"We've got some key guys in their contract years," Ward said.

Willie Parker. Casey Hampton. Ryan Clark. Justin Hartwig. Jeff Reed. Perhaps Willie Colon.

"Those guys are playing for contracts," Ward said. "They're going to be all-out all the time. I love it."

Ward also loves having Roethlisberger on his side. With Big Ben, the Steelers always have a chance. A third Super Bowl would all but lock up his spot in the Hall of Fame. Certainly, it would put him on even ground with Gisele Bundchen's favorite player, the Patriots' Tom Brady.

"Ben is a winner," Ward said, simply.

Of course, they are saying the same thing in New England about Brady. But Brady missed virtually all of last season with a serious knee injury. What impact that will have on him this season isn't clear. There also have been vague reports about some sort of shoulder problem ...

Enough.

Where's the fun in hoping that Brady is less than his best?

Just assume Brady will be healthy and as great as ever. The Steelers are. Ward said they expect everybody's best shot, starting with the Tennessee Titans' tomorrow night at Heinz Field.

"We can do it," Ward said. "We have the right tools to do it. There's no question the talent is here. Just about all of us have playoff and Super Bowl experience. And I like the mindset of this team. The guys don't really care who gets the credit. When we win, everybody's dream comes true."

Repeat champs.

Three Super Bowls in five years.

Team of the Decade.

That's one mighty big dream.

A realistic dream, too.


Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.
First published on September 9, 2009 at 12:00 am

Penguin's Crosby makes return visit to long-time fan

By Kevin Gorman, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Tuesday, September 8, 2009


Alice Kilgore shrieked when Sidney Crosby strolled into her living room, the Penguins captain wearing his black No. 87 sweater while making a special delivery to the season-ticket holder.

"You were right, eh?" Crosby said. "We've got something for you, too, a little extra since you called it."

That something little extra? The Stanley Cup.

"I'm afraid," Crosby added, "to ask for your prediction."

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby greets Castle Shannon resident Alice Kilgore with the Stanley Cup in her home Monday, September 7, 2009. Two years ago Crosby delivered her season tickets in person, as he did again this time, and she predicted the team would not win that year, but would win the cup this past season, as they did.

Philip G. Pavely/Tribune-Review

Two years ago, when Crosby delivered tickets to Kilgore's yellow-brick ranch house on Hiwood Drive in the Sleepy Hollow section of Castle Shannon, she was brutally honest when asked if the Penguins would win the Stanley Cup.

"I don't think you'll win the Cup this year," Kilgore told Crosby, patting him on the shoulder. "Not yet. Maybe next year."

While Crosby admitted that he "wasn't happy at all," he gave her credit for being right on the money: The Penguins lost to the Detroit Red Wings in six games in the 2008 Stanley Cup Final, but returned to defeat the defending champions in seven games in a Final rematch and win the Cup for the third time in franchise history.

"If she keeps predicting good things like that," Crosby said, "we'll be here every year delivering tickets."

A season-ticket holder since 1971-72, Kilgore was the recipient of a marketing promotion designed for Penguins players to interact with fans. Crosby and Evgeni Malkin made Labor Day deliveries before traveling to New York City for an NHL promotion tour.

Ten other Penguins players will deliver season tickets to fans today.

Kilgore's comments caused such commotion that it was only natural for a return engagement, one for which she was an unsuspecting participant. The Penguins had called in advance to assure she would be home, but did not explain the reason for the visit. With cameras and reporters crowding her living room, she waited with eager anticipation for the surprise.

"My heart's still pounding," Kilgore said. "It's more exciting than it was the last time."

Crosby's arrival brightened an otherwise dreary day. Neighbors gathered outside under umbrellas to shield the steady rain, one woman holding an infant wrapped in a blanket.

When Crosby pulled up in his Range Rover at 12:57 p.m., Judy Metzler looked outside her window and recognized the familiar face. She pulled on her Penguins No. 87 sweater, which Crosby would later autograph on the back, and took pictures with the Cup.

"It's brought so much excitement to our neighborhood," said Metzler, who lives directly across the street. "It's nice being out here, sharing in the fun. It brings camaraderie to the neighborhood and more enthusiasm for the Penguins, if there could be more."

When Crosby unveiled the Stanley Cup, Kilgore was thrilled.

"Can I kiss it?" she asked excitedly. "Can I kiss you?"

Crosby blushed as she planted one on his check.

Kilgore kept firing questions, filling the room with laughter.

"Are you available? Do you have a girlfriend? Do you like older women?"

Crosby was quick with his own one-line retort.

"You've got a pool out back, I see," Crosby said, a reference to the Cup ending up at the bottom of the swimming pool at former captain and current co-owner Mario Lemieux's home.

Struggling to lift the 35-pound Cup, Kilgore posed for photographs instead and enjoyed another encounter with Crosby. This time, she stayed away from forecasting and offered a motivational speech, suggesting the Penguins talk not about winning the Cup again - until after they've won it a second consecutive year.

"I'm just a hockey fan," Kilgore said. "I had a lucky guess."

Past, present, future Pirates lament streak

Prospect Lincoln longs for day when franchise is not 'mockery'

Tuesday, September 08, 2009
By Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pirates/


Pirates of the past can hardly believe it lasted this long, can hardly envision when it may end.

Pirates of the future hardly can wait for a chance to alter the course of this horrific history.

The alumni talk about the unthinkable happening right here in the City of Champions. This is the town that has hoisted two Lombardi trophies, taken one Stanley Cup and visited yet another Super Bowl and Cup final while its once-proud baseball franchise has nothing to show for itself.

Nothing other than a slew of failed next great prospects, a half-dozen different managers, 1,501 defeats and, now, a North American professional-sports record of 17 consecutive losing seasons.

The Washington Generals of baseball, one wag called them. America's new, true biggest losers.

The pledge class talks about it, but not too often, not too loudly. They do think about it, though. Often. Quietly.

Rusty Kennedy/Associated Press

Atlanta first baseman Sid Bream lies on top of teammate Dave Justice at home plate as they celebrate Bream scoring the winning run in bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1992 National League Championship Series. It was the last time the Pirates ended a season with a winning record.

Dave Parker sees speckles of talent, having been present for a 1979 championship-reunion weekend a fortnight ago when the Pirates won two of three from Cincinnati, having witnessed foundation bricks in "two or three of those young players and two or three of those pitchers; build around that." Ed Ott sees light at the end of the tunnel, though he prays it isn't an oncoming train. Bob Friend sees promise, especially in fleet Andrew McCutchen.

Pedro Alvarez sees the seemingly everyday trading. Brad Lincoln sees, hears, feels the derision that he terms "mockery." Andrew McCutchen sees red: "We all know. We all know. We're experienced enough to know we need to get certain things done" -- a critical defensive play, a shutdown inning of pitching, a ball lifted into the outfield or laid down for a bunt.

Currently, the Pirates have their third-youngest roster of the past half-century, and many more of the prospects such as Alvarez and Lincoln remain months, a year, a couple of years away. So, it is still a matter of time until these kids will be able to enact what they know, execute it, perhaps exceed expectations and extinguish the torch of defeatism passed from Pirates team to Pirates team for nearly a generation.

Winning is the legacy left behind by Friend, Parker, Ott and so many others before them with this tradition-steeped, 123-year-old franchise.

Losing is the reason Andrew McCutchen is here, the reason Alvarez and Lincoln are in waiting,
the reason the organization is dealing cards to reshuffle the underside of the deck: the minor leagues.

"That's why the organization every year tries to make as many moves as possible: to end that," said Alvarez, the 2008 second-overall draft choice and its great, wide-shouldered hope who clubbed 27 homers and collected 95 RBIs in 126 games at Class A Lynchburg and Class AA Altoona combined in his first pro season. "Every decision they make is for the benefit of the organization."

These are the voices of the halcyon days and the are-they-here-yet days, glory days and gory days, salad days and days of just-dessert, first-round, draft selections.

They are the artifacts of days gone by.

They are the building blocks of days yet to come.

Climbing out

Bob Friend has seen the absolute bottom, endured the worst of Pirates baseball.

He went 7-17 on what is considered the nadir of the franchise.

"That '52 team that lost 112, these guys [in 2009] are so much better. I hate to compare them to a team that lost 112. But you can see the talent; I'm not kidding."

The mention of '52 kindled a recollection.

"I won't forget a meeting [general manager Branch] Rickey had at Havana, Cuba -- that's where we trained," Friend recalled. "We just lost 112 of 154, and Rickey said, 'Gentlemen, we have World Series potential sitting in this room.' I was only 21 at the time, but the old-timers in the room, they were like, 'Holy cow.' But that's what you got to build on."

In that same room were Vernon Law, Dick Groat, El Roy Face -- bricks on the '60 champs.

Friend brings the grandkids to PNC Park games nowadays. The heck with the long ball; he digs Andrew McCutchen and a youth movement that, at long last, seems to possess some talent.

"This is the first time we've got young kids who are going to develop," Friend said. "We had the old-timers come in -- they were done two years before. They got more talent in place now. They keep talking about the bottom up. I don't think they care about setting the record. The next year or two, they can climb up and maybe be .500. Who knows, they could surprise. I tell you what, I'd pay to go see them. It's just a matter of getting them to believe in themselves."

Own the park

The Cobra hissed.

"You hate to see it 'cause it's such a sports-oriented city, the City of Champs," Parker, a former MVP and four-time All-Star Pirates outfielder, said last week from his Cincinnati home. "You have that hockey and football team winning championships. I hate to see the Pirates be the missing link.

"People will say, 'What happened with the Pirates?' It's really evident that it's tougher for the smaller markets to compete with the larger markets. The larger markets just go out and get what they need.

"The Pirates have had some good, young talent, but, unfortunately, they chose to go in other directions and get rid of the nucleus they had there. The type of personnel that's got to out-hustle, manufacture runs to compete. You ain't gonna hit it all the time, you ain't gonna catch it all the time, but the one thing you can control is your hustle. If I had anything to do with it, I'd tell them, '... you've got to out-hustle your competition.'

"It's a different type of baseball now," Parker continued. "We had great leadership: [Willie] Stargell, [manager Chuck] Tanner, [Phil] Garner, [Bill] Madlock -- we had four or five guys who'd take charge. Chuck put the responsibility on us to govern each other."

Perhaps, some leaders will grow from the current crop. Yet Parker believes it must be fertilized by past successes.

"Bring back the tradition," he said. "Bring back some of those guys from '79, some of those guys that are winners. Bring back some of that tradition as well. It's been a long road, 17 years, you say? That's a long time. Sometimes you can learn to accept losing. That's the one thing we took pride in, we tried to reflect what the city was about. The Pittsburgh people. The hard-working people.

"When we stepped between those lines, it was all business; we were not going to be embarrassed, by no means."

Sure, these Pirates have crafted a winning record in PNC Park. Parker, though, wants them to completely own the place. Use its nooks and crannies and friendly right-field porch to full advantage. They should dominate that house, to his way of thinking.

"It's beautiful," Parker gushed. "Willie would've hit some Downtown, and I would've capsized a few boats. I would've loved to have played there."

The descent begins

Oct. 14, 1992, Stan Belinda threw the last meaningful pitch, the last playoff gasp offered to Pirates followers. Almost a generation of youth have not beheld such a baseball thing of beauty. Meanwhile, the Steelers, Penguins, Pitt football and Pitt basketball have combined to play 297 postseason games. The city has staged two Downtown victory parades alone in the past half-year.

Belinda's pitch. Francisco Cabrera's hit. Barry Bonds' throw. Sid Bream's slide.

That's how Atlanta marched directly to the World Series plus a decade and a half of dominance.

That's how the Pirates fell into a death spiral of losing.

Seventeen years since that National League Championship Series ...

"It's a shame," said Jason Kendall, a catcher on the one Pirates club that came close to the postseason. "I know in '97, we went into the last four days of the season with a chance for the playoffs, the heck with a .500 record. Wish I could have been part of the turnaround, but that's the way it goes."

"We put together a team; on paper it looked good. One bad month, and we couldn't regroup from it," added Dale Sveum, a teammate in '97 and nowadays Kendall's coach with the Milwaukee Brewers that endured 14 seasons at .500 or below before their youth movement blossomed into a contender in the National League's Central.

"Yeah, [17 losing seasons] is kind of amazing, especially with the ups and downs of this division. ... You'd think there'd be a chance. It's unfortunate. There has been some talent go through there and stuff, but they haven't been able to put together the whole puzzle. The history and the banners and the Hall of Famers and the great players and the winning teams there ..."

High expectations

The highest-paid Pirate in 2009 turned out to be a boatload of them: the entire draft class, at roughly $9 million.

None of those 18- to 21-year-olds played any higher than Class A this summer.

"With everything that's been done bringing the level of competitiveness up in the organization, getting more guys in the minors," began Daniel McCutchen, a young starter acquired last July in a trade with the New York Yankees. A line of succession has been drawn. Players won't so much look behind them at a sordid, 17-year history; they'll look beneath them at players pushing for their jobs.

"I know how hard I worked and how hard my teammates worked [to reach the majors]. With the competitiveness, don't take a day off 'cause there's a guy behind you in the minors to take your spot."

And this from Andrew McCutchen, talking about the present: "We know we have what we need to compete and to win games."

It isn't happening yet, what with the Pirates' 11-23 record since the last of a dizzying number of trades that left three starting position players standing from the opening-day roster.

"We understand what's at stake and what has to be done to change the scenario," said Lincoln, a Class AAA Indianapolis pitcher who was the fourth overall selection of the 2006 draft.

"Guys who have been up and down [from the Pirates] let you know how the situation is up there."

But it remains relatively unspoken among the Pirates of the future.

"It's just one of those things we have to deal with, have it in the back of our minds that this is what we have to do no matter what," added Lincoln.

A long streak of above-.500 baseball, "that'd be something we need to achieve. Just show baseball that we deserve to be here and not [be made] a mockery every year that we're the Pittsburgh Pirates."

Catch more on the Pirates at the PG's PBC Blog. Chuck Finder can be reached at cfinder@post-gazette.com.
First published on September 8, 2009 at 12:00 am

How bad is bad?

Tuesday, September 08, 2009
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

It's not true that there were only Chicago baseball fans left at the end of another depressing day at PNC Park yesterday, although the "Let's Go Cubs!" chant that fairly rocked the yard in the ninth inning surely made it seem that way.

At least one man who knew his Pirates inside and out remained until the bitter end of the 4-2 loss that officially secured the Pittsburgh Baseball Club's rightful and deserved place in infamy as, at least in one significant respect, the losingest franchise in North American sports history.

He was the guy with the I WISH I WAS A DETROIT LIONS FAN sign.

PNC Park could have been filled with people with bags over their heads, and it wouldn't have said nearly as much as that clever sign about the national joke that the Pirates are and have been for as long as many of us can remember.

Doesn't seem like 17 years we've been watching this garbage.

Seems like 17 lifetimes.

Pittsburgh Pirates fans Ben Samson, left, and Iliya Udler, of Pittsburgh, hold signs at the end of another Pirates loss, 4-2 to the Chicago Cubs in a baseball game in Pittsburgh on Monday, Sept. 7, 2009. By losing their 10th in 11 games, the Pirates will finish below .500, just as they have every season since 1993. The string of 17 losing seasons is a record in the majors. (AP)

Sadly, this loss was like so many of the others before it. The Pirates didn't make any laughable blunders like they did in a rare win Sunday when catcher Jason Jaramillo caught a pitch and tossed the ball back over pitcher Paul Maholm's head to allow a St. Louis run to score. They just didn't pitch or hit well enough to win.

They do that with amazing, mind-numbing regularity.

That's why the Pirates thoroughly earned this consecutive losing seasons record, every bit as much as Joe DiMaggio earned his hitting streak and Cal Ripken Jr. earned his iron-man streak.
Epic, almost unthinkable, records that might never be broken don't just happen by accident. The Pirates used a lethal mix of bad ownership, bad management, bad drafts and bad players to get theirs done.

Mostly, bad ownership.

The losing streak started in 1993 under a conglomerate of Pittsburgh businessmen, continued under a group led by Kevin McClatchy and rolls on with no end in sight under Bob Nutting. With the first two ownerships, there was no real money to compete. That's the only reason promising young star Aramis Ramirez was traded to the Cubs for next-to-nothing in 2003. With Nutting, there's no real willingness to spend no matter how much he boasts about signing Pedro Alvarez, beefing up the minor league system and making progress in Latin America. Those are just a few of the costs of doing basic business in baseball, aren't they?

This is America.

You get what you pay for.

The Pirates are getting exactly what they have paid for.

Or as actor Michael Keaton, a Pittsburgh native, said before he threw out the ceremonial first pitch opening day in '06, "At some point, you have to write the check."

Speaking of low points for the franchise during the losing streak ...

Only the Pirates could honor someone and have him rip the organization.

On those few occasions when the team did spend, it made colossal mistakes. It gave contracts to players who quit on the team (Derek Bell, Raul Mondesi). It gave big money to players who were injured when they signed (Pat Meares, Kevin Young). It brought in retreads (Joe Randa, Jeromy Burnitz, Pokey Reese). It gave a six-year, $60 million contract to a singles-hitter (Jason Kendall). It took on other team's horrendous mistakes (Matt Morris). And, all the while, it drafted poorly, notably taking mediocre pitcher Daniel Moskos No. 1 in '07 instead of highly touted catcher Matt Wieters even though management said it had the money to sign Wieters, who already is in the big leagues with the Baltimore Orioles.

The Pirates couldn't have done worse if they had tried to fail.

A lot of people will tell you the Ramirez salary dump or the Kendall signing is the move that best defines the organization's ineptitude. I say it's the franchise's inability to take advantage of beautiful PNC Park and all it has to offer.

Not once, but twice.

McClatchy promised the new palace would mean a winning team when it opened in 2001. Yeah, right. It was bad enough the Pirates lost 100 games that season, which is really hard to do. But management further alienated the fan base by temporarily banning bottled water in the park and not allowing the high school kids to play their championship games on the pristine grass. Then, it had the brass to raise ticket prices after the season.

No wonder the ball club lost $30 million in its first three seasons in PNC Park.

Still, Major League Baseball gave McClatchy another chance to save himself from his mismanagement. I'm still convinced commissioner Bud Selig felt sorry for him when baseball awarded Pittsburgh the '06 All-Star Game, even though we didn't deserve it after hosting one just 12 years earlier. It should have given the Pirates a major boost, but, ah, no.

How humiliated McClatchy and Nutting must have felt when their team rolled into that All-Star break with a 30-60 record on its way to a 95-loss season. There would be 94 more losses in '07 and 95 last season. The current bunch of Pirates has a 54-82 record and an outside chance of getting to 100 defeats again.

So much for the promise of PNC Park and that All-Star Game lift.

Nutting has a relatively new management team in president Frank Coonelly and general manager Neal Huntington, who can't possibly be as bad as McClatchy and Dave Littlefield and McClatchy and Cam Bonifay before them. Still, an 18th consecutive losing season next year seems like a given because of all the young, inexperienced players Huntington has brought in.
Maybe by '11 or '12, if everything goes right, the Pirates will win more than they lose and end the streak. Or maybe not.

When does everything go right?

The losing could go on and on and on without a ownership change. This record might not be broken.

Here's one final depressing way to blow the Pirates' ignominious march to history into perspective: Kids who graduated from college this spring aren't old enough to remember when they had a winning team.

I'd like to predict it will happen at some point in their lifetime, maybe even before their kids graduate from college.

But I can't.

That would be irresponsible journalism.

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com. More articles by this author
First published on September 8, 2009 at 12:00 am

Ageless Hines keeps on ticking

Monday, September 07, 2009
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward has made hundreds of bigger, more significant catches, to be sure. But the grab he made in the exhibition game against the Buffalo Bills Aug. 29 -- he stretched high and behind him to pull in a pass from Ben Roethlisberger for a 19-yard gain -- was extraordinary, especially for a man who is 33 and has spent the past 11 seasons risking life and limb by going across the middle of NFL fields. Mike Tomlin was so moved that he offered Ward another contract extension on the spot.

The coach was joking, I think.

When Ward is involved, though, you never know for sure.


Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Hines Ward pulls in a pass as he's defended by Buffalo Bills' Paul Posluszny and Keith Ellison Saturday night.

The Steelers just did a new deal with Ward in the offseason, signing him through 2013. It was done without the acrimony that preceded his new contract before the '05 season when he was a training-camp holdout. The team is happy. "They don't just give you money around here. Obviously, they still see something in me," Ward said. He also is thrilled. "I know I got it good here."

Here's the neat part about Ward's contract: He plans on fulfilling it even though he'll be 37 by the end of the '13 season.

The man always has dreamed big and chased those dreams relentlessly despite, as he likes to point out, others telling him he can't accomplish them.

I'm thinking that uncompromising determination is going to carry him all the way to the Hall of Fame.

"I don't see why I can't do it," Ward said of playing several more seasons. "I'm still getting open against the other team's No. 1 cornerback, still getting separation. And the way coach Tomlin protects me, not beating me up in training camp, giving me Wednesdays off during the season ... That's going to keep me healthy and keep me fresh. Coach Tomlin knows it's not how you get to Sunday, it's what you do on Sunday."

On, in the case this week, Thursday night.

What a comforting sight Ward will be for Roethlisberger when the Steelers open defense of their Super Bowl title against the Tennessee Titans at Heinz Field. Super Bowl XLIII MVP Santonio Holmes has turned into a star and is a terrific deep threat. Heath Miller is as dependable catching the ball as any tight end in the league. But when the Steelers need a big catch on third down, Roethlisberger still looks for Ward first.

Smart man, Big Ben.

A big season should put Ward in the top 10 on the NFL's career receptions list. He has 800 catches. He also needs just 220 receiving yards for 10,000, another of the many franchise records he holds.

"I was thinking about it in the offseason. '800 catches! Damn, that's a lot of catches!'" Ward said, grinning.

All of his numbers are staggering for multiple reasons. One, he has played with six quarterbacks: Kordell Stewart, Mike Tomczak, Kent Graham, Tommy Maddox, Charlie Batch and Roethlisberger. "I never had a Joe Montana like Jerry Rice did or a Troy Aikman like Michael Irvin did -- until now," Ward said of Roethlisberger. Two, he has caught a lot of balls in bad weather and sloppy conditions at Three Rivers Stadium and Heinz Field unlike, say, NFL receiving stars Marvin Harrison and Cris Carter, who played in domes. Three, he plays for a successful organization that mostly plays from ahead in games and tries to kill clock by running the ball instead of playing from behind and throwing on every down. And four, the Steelers long have believed in winning with a power running game.

"That's why I think comparing my stats to some other guys is like comparing apples and oranges," Ward said. "All I know is nothing was ever given to me. So much hard work went into it. That's why my career means so much to me. It's not all about stats. It's about playing football and having fun."

That wasn't always the case with Ward. "Stats used to mean everything to me," he said. Then, he found that the joy of winning was even better. As he likes to mentor Holmes, "'We don't play for stats around here, we play for rings.'"


Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Steelers receiver Hines Ward never seems to quit smiling as the catches and yardage keep adding up.

Ward mentioned Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson. "I love him. He's a phenomenal wideout. When we played them last year, he had like 10 catches for 100-some yards. But we killed them." Ward also brought up Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions. "A phenomenal athlete. He catches balls all day. But they didn't win a game ... I tell Santonio all the time, 'Don't get caught up in the Pro Bowls and the fantasy league stuff. You can catch 100 balls every year, but, if we lose, what fun is that?'"

Don't misunderstand. Although winning a third championship and maybe getting a fourth to match legendary Steelers receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth is what drives Ward most, he still has personal goals. The big one is 1,000 catches. If he gets to that big number, he has to be a lock for the Hall of Fame, right? When you combine it with his multiple Super Bowl rings, his Super Bowl XL MVP honor, his four Pro Bowls and his reputation as one of the NFL's all-time great blocking receivers?

"I've thought about it," Ward said. He admitted to looking up the statistics of those receivers in the Hall of Fame, that apples-and-oranges business notwithstanding. "I really don't know what to think about my chances. I don't know what criteria they use. All I can do is play football and leave it up to the voters. Right now, it's enough for me that, when you talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers' wide receivers, my name is mentioned with Swann and Stallworth. It's enough for me having all of the franchise's receiving records. This is the top franchise in the league, you know?"

The point is difficult to argue, especially with the Steelers playing this season to repeat as champions, make it three Super Bowls in five years and, arguably, become the Team of the Decade. There are many reasons for that success. Ward is high on the list, right with the rock-solid Rooney ownership, the coaching stability with Tomlin and Bill Cowher before him, the defensive genius of coordinator Dick LeBeau, the ferocious play of LeBeau's guys and, of course, Roethlisberger.

One more really neat thing?

"I don't feel like I'm anywhere near being done," Ward said.

I'm not willing to tell the man he can't play until he's 37.

Are you?

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com. More articles by this author
First published on September 7, 2009 at 12:00 am

As Losses Mount, Pirates See a Brighter Future

By TYLER KEPNER
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
September 6, 2009

PITTSBURGH — Fading sunlight twinkles off the Allegheny River. Fans take the golden Roberto Clemente Bridge to cross it as optimism calls from the loudspeakers at PNC Park. The Black Eyed Peas have a feeling that tonight’s going to be a good, good night.

It is just a recording, of course. The band itself will be in town Thursday for a concert to celebrate the N.F.L. season, which starts that night at the stadium next door. Only 15,258 fans bought tickets to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ game on Friday. But Heinz Field will be packed all season.

David Zalubowski/Associated Press
Pirates Manager John Russell can only hope for better days.

“The Steelers are Super Bowl champions,” said Gary Varsho, the Pirates’ bench coach. “The Penguins are Stanley Cup champions. We want to get on board. It’s just going to take some time.”

It has been nearly 17 years since Varsho, then a backup outfielder, watched helplessly from the bench as the Pirates lost the pennant in Atlanta on a two-run single by Francisco Cabrera in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series. They have not had a winning season since.

When the Pirates lose their 82nd game this season, they will set a record for consecutive losing seasons, surpassing the 1933-48 Philadelphia Phillies. Their 80th loss — and eighth in a row — came Friday, 14-7, and it hurt from the start. The St. Louis Cardinals’ Skip Schumaker smashed the first pitch off the center-field wall for a double. He went to third on a wild pitch and scored when the Pirates’ catcher, Ryan Doumit, threw away a chopper for a three-base error.

Four Cardinals homers followed, including one by Albert Pujols, the kind of star the Pirates have missed since Barry Bonds left after the 1992 playoffs.

“We feel the impact of the streak,” said Neal Huntington, the Pirates’ general manager. “It’s a reality of us doing business. We see it, we feel it, we hear it. But our evaluators and instructors should be insulated from the 17 years. Hopefully, we’re able to continue moving forward to put this team in a position to win for many years, and not try to break the streak one year and then figure something out after that.”

When the streak began, Huntington was two years out of Amherst College, editing video for the Montreal Expos in a cramped scouting office at Olympic Stadium. Only one person fit in the room, so Huntington would move when the Expos’ pitching coach, Joe Kerrigan, studied his tapes.

Now Kerrigan is Huntington’s pitching coach, part of a new regime trying to revive the tradition of Honus Wagner, Clemente and Willie Stargell. The principal owner Bob Nutting took over in 2007, hiring Frank Coonelly from the commissioner’s office as president and hiring Huntington from the Cleveland Indians.

“The days of Band-Aids and patching and filling have been over for two years,” Coonelly said. “And while we recognize that some of the trades we have made are unpopular, our sole motivation is to give the Pirate fans what they truly deserve, and that’s a winner.”

The Pirates’ best accomplishment since 1992 is the building of PNC Park, a nine-year-old jewel that has never hosted a pennant race. A decade of wasted drafts and alarmingly poor judgment is to blame.

The general managers for the first 15 years, Cam Bonifay and Dave Littlefield, made some good deals. In 1998, Bonifay acquired the slugger Brian Giles from Cleveland for reliever Ricardo Rincon. Five years later, Littlefield peddled Giles to San Diego for Jason Bay.

But mostly, the Pirates invested their limited funds on fading veterans like Jeromy Burnitz, Pat Meares and Matt Morris. At least Derek Bell, the outfielder who owned a yacht, inspired a memorable punch line. After playing one halfhearted season of a two-year, $9.75 million contract, Bell was said to be the perfect pirate: he lives on a boat and steals money.

“Previous administrations were trying to win for the day,” said Joe Sharek of Sewickley, Pa., a season-ticket holder since 1992. “They would sign these veterans trying to get that one last contract. It appeared that they didn’t put much emphasis on the farm system. The difference now is they’re building for the future. They’re not concerned about trying to stop this record, which is smart.”

The Pirates have traded 10 veterans since June. The first to go was the All-Star center fielder Nate McLouth, 27, who had signed a three-year contract extension in February.

“Everybody was like, ‘What’s going on?’ ” said outfielder Eric Hinske, who was shipped to the Yankees soon after. “Nobody had any idea in the clubhouse what was happening, because he was the face of the organization.”

The trades kept coming through July, overhauling the major league roster and flooding the bereft farm system. When the purge was finished, the Pirates were left with the youngest team in the majors, and Huntington held a clubhouse meeting.

“Neal kept talking about trying to build a team that is constantly competing for championships,” said starter Ross Ohlendorf, who came from the Yankees last season and was 11-9 entering Saturday. “He wanted to let us know he was putting us in position to have a better team going forward. It’s exciting to play in a place like that.”

Others seem more skeptical, including the rookie center fielder Andrew McCutchen, whose speed and power have eased the sting of losing McLouth.

“Hopefully we can be able to play with this young team for years to come, and not have to worry about losing people when trade deadlines come,” McCutchen said. “Hopefully, if anything, we can be gaining people, not losing people.”

Keith Srakocic/Associated Press

Andrew McCutchen taking his warm-up swings before another sparse crowd at PNC Park, where the Pirates are mired in failure.

That is part of the plan, the Pirates insist, though they admit roster turnover is inevitable. The goal, Coonelly said, is to develop stars, keep them as long as possible and have replacements ready.

The Pirates have plowed money and manpower into that effort, spending $5 million to build an academy in the Dominican Republic. Of the 21 full-time scouts employed at the start of the 2007 season, just 13 remain and 18 have been added. The team has nine full-time international scouts, up from three in 2007, and a new scouting director and farm director.

In the 2007 draft, the Pirates passed on the acclaimed catcher Matt Wieters, who signed for $6 million with Baltimore. The Pirates spent just $4.2 million on all of their choices that year, a figure that jumped to $9.8 million in 2008 and $8.9 million this year.

In each of the last two seasons, the Pirates have ranked among the top 10 in spending in the draft. Coonelly, in his previous job, had implored teams to stay within bonus guidelines established by Major League Baseball.

Now, he authorizes the Pirates to go higher. After signing their first-round pick, catcher Tony Sanchez, for a market-price $2.5 million bonus, the Pirates splurged on picks in the later rounds. Coonelly readily names them and makes no apologies.

“I have a much different job now, and my focus now is building a winner in Pittsburgh,” Coonelly said, adding later: “In the larger context, is $1 million for Zach Von Rosenberg or Colton Cain more wisely spent than $10 million a year for four years for a .500 pitcher on the free-agent market? We choose to invest our dollars in the draft and in the international market, because we think there’s better value there.”

Coonelly said there was no excuse to fail in Pittsburgh, especially with successful small-market models in Minnesota, Tampa Bay and Oakland. The Pirates’ manager, John Russell, spent eight seasons as a minor league manager for the Twins, guiding a steady flow of talent to the majors.

Most of the Pirates’ best prospects are still in the minors, including third baseman Pedro Alvarez, pitchers Tim Alderson and Brad Lincoln, and outfielder Jose Tabata. Someday, those players may lift the Pirates over .500 and beyond. Until they do, they must live with the ignominy of the streak.

“We can’t say it’s not us,” Russell said. “We’re a part of it and we have to accept it. At the same time, we can’t let that dictate what we do and we can’t look for the quick fix. Just stay the course. Most of our fan base understands it’ll turn around. It’s hollow words until it does. But we’ll get there.”

Ohlendorf's historic inning wasted in Pirates' 2-1 loss

Starter strikes out side on nine pitches, but St. Louis' Pujols wins it in 10th

Sunday, September 06, 2009
By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

It had been long expected that the Pirates might make history this weekend, but who thought it would be something to relish?

Ross Ohlendorf, in the team's most riveting pitching performance in recent memory, struck out a career-high 11 last night at PNC Park, including the fanning of all three St. Louis batters on the minimum nine pitches in the seventh inning of ... well, OK, so it turned out a 2-1, 10-inning victory for the Cardinals.

As first baseman Steve Pearce would put it, "After what Ross did, it's amazing that we lost that game."

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Pitcher Ross Ohlendorf held St. Louis to one unearned run over eight innings

It probably was, given that Ohlendorf held St. Louis to one unearned run over eight innings, but Albert Pujols' pinch-hit home run off Matt Capps in the 10th extended the Pirates' losing streak to a season-high nine and pulled them within one loss of 82. Thus, the record 17th consecutive losing season can be clinched this afternoon.

Still, the highlight last night was the history made by Ohlendorf with his immaculate inning, as it is commonly called:

• It was only the 43rd in Major League Baseball history, 40 different pitchers having done it. The three to have done it twice: Sandy Koufax, Lefty Grove and Nolan Ryan.

• It was the second this year, the other by the New York Yankees' A.J. Burnett, June 20 against the Florida Marlins in Miami.

• And it was the second in the Pirates' 123 years, the other by reliever Jeff Robinson, Sept. 7, 1987, against the Cubs in Chicago.

Ohlendorf's was one part fantastic, two parts filthy ...

Khalil Greene swung through all three sliders he saw. The third hit the dirt, forcing catcher Ryan Doumit to throw to first.

Julio Lugo looked at a fastball and slider, then swung through a dirty slider. Again, Doumit had to throw to first.

Finally, Jason LaRue looked at a slider, swung through a slider and swung over another dirty curve. Doumit did the rest.

The crowd of 27,071 stood and roared, and Ohlendorf and Doumit discussed the feat shortly after reaching the dugout, but neither knew the scope of it until afterward.

"That's pretty cool," Ohlendorf said. "It actually crossed my mind after about the fifth pitch because I don't think I've ever done that. Ryan did a great job. I threw a lot of sliders that bounced tonight, and he did a great job of knocking them down."

"Nine pitches, three Ks? That's pretty special," Doumit said. "And the thing with Ross is, he's getting better every time out. He's starting to look like that guy you can really rely on to take the ball every fifth day."

No one would dispute it: Ohlendorf is 11-9 with a 3.97 ERA, but it should be underscored that he has a 2.70 ERA since the All-Star break, after which he and pitching coach Joe Kerrigan altered his delivery to throw more over-the-top and, in the process, restored the velocity that had been mostly missing since he was acquired from the Yankees last summer.

The confidence has made a clear comeback, too, judging by Ohlendorf pounding the zone for 77 strikes out of 103 pitches.

"I felt really good about how I was throwing," Ohlendorf said. "Probably my best all year."

Probably?

The 11 strikeouts were the Pirates' most since Ian Snell did likewise April 3, 2007, in Houston.

"Ross was outstanding," manager John Russell said. "It's just a shame that the first balk called against him all year works against him."

That and more, actually.

Pearce blistered a ball in the fourth that looked to be a two-run double, but left fielder Rick Ankiel made a superb running catch. The Pirates settled for one run that inning.

"Unbelievable," Pearce said.

Ohlendorf's unearned run came in the sixth, when Skip Schumaker singled, took second on the balk, third on a flyout, then scored when third baseman Andy LaRoche muffed a difficult bouncer to his left. The score was 1-1.

"If I make that play -- and I should -- Ross wins this game," LaRoche said.

The Pirates left bases loaded in the ninth, part of an 0-for-6 output with runners in scoring position, and St. Louis manager Tony La Russa made them pay in the 10th.

St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols(notes) (5) follows through on a tenth-inning solo-home run off Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Matt Capps(notes) in a baseball game in Pittsburgh Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009. The Cardinals won 2-1. (AP)

La Russa acknowledged afterward that he rested his biggest bats, Pujols and Matt Holliday, in part to load up left-handers against Ohlendorf -- "This guy's been pitching very well, and you saw it again tonight," La Russa said -- but now Pujols would lead off the 10th against Capps.

Capps got ahead, 1-2, but the fastball that followed -- which was supposed to be down but stayed at belt level -- was belted by Pujols it into the visitors' bullpen for his 44th home run.

"If that pitch is down, it's a grounder to short," Capps said. "But it wasn't, and ... I'm not the first person Albert's done that to."

Paul Maholm will try to avoid being a historical footnote today.

Catch more on the Pirates at the PG's PBC Blog. Dejan Kovacevic can be reached at dkovacevic@post-gazette.com.

First published on September 6, 2009 at 12:00 am

Steelers defense tries to match superlative 2008 season

By Scott Brown, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Sunday, September 6, 2009

Reuters Pictures

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner is sacked by Pittsburgh defensive end Brett Keisel (99) in the second quarter during the NFL's Super Bowl XLIII football game in Tampa, Florida, February 1, 2009.

It probably wasn't as stirring as his annual reading of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" at the Steelers' holiday party. But defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau no doubt had his players' attention the first night of training camp when he addressed the 2009 season.

His message? The Steelers' defense has an encore in it even if it may be unrealistic to think it can be better statistically this season than in 2008 when it finished first in the NFL in scoring, rushing and total defense.

"Coach LeBeau told us when we first met, 'People say you finished first in a lot of categories. There's really nowhere to go but down,'" veteran defensive end Brett Keisel said. "But he thinks we can get better, and that's what we're trying to do. If each of us gets better then we should be a better defense."

Such a prospect should have opposing offensive coordinators reaching for Maalox, as well as extra game film of the Steelers in an attempt to solve a defense that allowed just 223 points (13.9 per game) last season.

What makes their job as daunting as ever is that in an era of salary-cap restrictions and fluid rosters, the Steelers' defense returns largely intact.

It lost just two starters from last season, and the Steelers may have upgraded at right inside linebacker with Lawrence Timmons, who has future star etched all over him, taking over for the departed Larry Foote.

William Gay replaces Bryant McFadden at right cornerback. But Gay made such strides in his second year that by the end of the 2008 season he and McFadden, who signed with the Arizona Cardinals last March, were rotating anyway.

"Our defense is unique because it starts from the top," said Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who practices against the first-team defense on a regular basis. "Coach LeBeau is unique. It really helps us because it gives us looks we may never see."

Soft spots hard to find

Asking LaMarr Woodley the best way to attack the Steelers' defense probably isn't advised in the week leading up to a game. But in early August, with the start of the regular season still more than a month away, the outside linebacker seemed willing to oblige his inquisitors outside of the cafeteria at St. Vincent College.

Woodley, however, couldn't come up with any answers, even with his knowledge of the Steelers' personnel as well as the inner workings of LeBeau's mind.

"I guess you've got to get us with a trick play every now and then," Woodley said.

He paused and then added, "Well, we don't even fall for those."

The vulnerability of the Steelers' defense is not unlike the proverbial needle in a haystack: There is a chance it can be found, but only if there is enough time.

Complicating such a proposition is the pass rush led by Woodley and James Harrison. The two combined for 27 1/2 sacks last season, and Harrison proved to be particularly hard to block on the way to NFL Defensive Player of the Year Honors.

Getty Images

TAMPA, FL - FEBRUARY 01: James Harrison #92 of the Pittsburgh Steelers lines up on defense during Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

When asked if he expects opposing offenses to make adjustments when it comes to the relentless Harrison, Steelers linebackers coach Keith Butler said, "I'd approach him a different way. I'd have approached him a different way last year after I looked at the film."

The presence of Woodley opposite Harrison makes teams think twice about constantly double-teaming the latter. And as confounding as LeBeau's schemes can be — he continually keeps quarterbacks guessing as to where the extra player is coming from in his famed zone blitzes -- what makes the Steelers' defense just as formidable is the physicality that has long been its signature.

"Run the ball, we're going to hit you," Woodley said. "Pass the ball, we're going to hit you. I never get tired of hitting quarterbacks."

Key is in the Cards?

The Cardinals may have provided a blueprint for countering the Steelers last February when Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald and Co. had the NFL's No. 1 defense on its heels, particularly in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLIII.

Warner and Fitzgerald hooked up for pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, and the offense had to bail out the defense in the final minutes of a riveting game that ended with the Steelers claiming a sixth Lombardi Trophy.

The Cardinals employed quick drops by Warner, who finished with 377 yards passing and three touchdowns, to neutralize the Steelers' pass rush. And they exploited the Steelers down the field with Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, perhaps the top wide receivers duo in the NFL.

"That's always the success I had when I played against 3-4 defenses," said former NFL quarterback Warren Moon, who is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. "Spreading them out, getting those linebackers in space where they may have to cover people and then get rid of the ball quickly.

"I don't think (the Steelers') linebackers are great cover guys. They're great pass rushers, they're great tacklers, great pursuers to the football. But I think if you can spread them out, that's not something they want to do with that 3-4 front."

The problem for most teams is they don't have a passing attack as potent as the one Arizona trotted out against the Steelers. Also, LeBeau is a master innovator who spent the offseason making changes to counter the expected adjustments teams will make against the Steelers in 2009.

"We're always going to have some different looks, some different combinations, something that's not in their film laboratory," said LeBeau, who is entering his 51st NFL season as a player or coach. "They'll have to see it and analyze it from 2009."

Opposing teams "are going to score"

No matter how much opposing coaches analyze the Steelers' defense, it is next to impossible to account for All-Pro strong safety Troy Polamalu, who lines up just about everywhere on the field except directly over center.

And the Steelers' front three of Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton and Keisel regularly controls the line of scrimmage. That allows what is arguably the top linebacking corps in the NFL to roam free and make plays.

That is not to say the Steelers' defense is impenetrable.

Getty Images

With seconds remaining in Super Bowl XLIII, the pass by quarterback Kurt Warner (front) of the Arizona Cardinals is thwarted by LaMarr Woodley (R) of the Pittsburgh Steelers on February 1, 2009 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The Steelers edged the Cardinals 27-23 for a record sixth Super Bowl title.

It is vulnerable to the pass when a seasoned quarterback gets time to throw, and age is encroaching on a unit with six starters that will be 30 years of age or older at some point during the season.

Also, the losses of Foote and McFadden may have compromised the depth, to some degree, that the Steelers had on defense a year ago.

"People are going to score points," starting free safety Ryan Clark said. "These other guys get paid, too. We just play hard, run to the ball and hit. Obviously we don't have the best players because not many of us go to the Pro Bowl."

Clark's tongue-in-cheek comment referred to the number (three) of Steelers defensive players who were voted to the Pro Bowl last season, which didn't reflect how dominant the unit was.

But one of the more overlooked reasons for the Steelers' success on defense is how coach Mike Tomlin and LeBeau have the players buying into the system — and checking their egos at the tunnel before they take the field for games.

"We talk about how hard we play and knowing where we're supposed to be," LeBeau said. "It's never Steelers beating Steelers. We're going to make them beat us."

Or try, anyway.

Logan has earned roster spot with Steelers

Friday, September 04, 2009
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- What was Steelers coach Mike Tomlin thinking last night? Putting Stefan Logan back into the game after his 80-yard punt return for a touchdown against the Carolina Panthers? To run an end-around play in the second quarter, return a kickoff to start the third quarter and play some at wide receiver in the second half? You've got to be kidding. Did Tomlin send Ben Roethlisberger back in on a night when the only real objective was to get the stars out of this truly meaningless, final exhibition game healthy? Troy Polamalu?

Of course not.

Tomlin is awfully lucky Logan didn't break a leg or pull a hamstring. So are the Steelers, who beat the Panthers, 21-10.

Who ever would have guessed that any of us would be worried about Logan's health at this late stage of the NFL preseason?


Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Steelers punt returner Stefan Logan hurdles past Panthers punter Jason Baker on his way to a touchdown in the first quarter at Bank of America Stadium Charlotte last night.

OK, the comparisons to Big Ben and Polamalu are a wild exaggeration. Please, hold the e-mails. No one is suggesting Logan will be as valuable to the Steelers this season. But that doesn't change the fact that he earned -- absolutely earned -- the right to play a key role for the defending Super Bowl champions as the kickoff and punt returner. You'll see plenty of him when the curtain goes up on the regular season Thursday night and the Steelers say hello to the Tennessee Titans at Heinz Field. If there were any lingering doubts about that before last night -- and there shouldn't have been -- they were eliminated when he lugged the pig all the way to the house for that touchdown.

Logan is, simply, the greatest story of this exhibition season.

"That's the beauty of the National Football League," Tomlin said. "There are a lot of stories of guys seizing the moment, an opportunity. It's a beautiful thing. I'm happy for him."

It's amazing, really. When Logan signed as a long-shot free agent from the Canadian Football League in mid-February, hardly anyone in Pittsburgh noticed. We still were basking in the Super Bowl win against the Arizona Cardinals (no one wanted that party to end), were worried about Penguins coach Michel Therrien keeping his job (he didn't) and were wondering if Pitt could make a deep run in the NCAA tournament (the Panthers did). Stefan Who?

Now we know.

It's Stefan Logan, thank you very much.

Perhaps we should call him Mr. Logan after the way he took his opportunity and ran with it.

"I don't make those decisions," Tomlin said of which players make his team and which ones don't. "They make the decisions for me. He was determined to make the decision for me. I appreciate it."

What's really cool about that is Logan appears -- I use that word because he still hasn't returned a kick in an NFL game that counts -- to have strengthened one of two Steelers weaknesses from their magical Super Bowl season. (The return of healthy punter Daniel Sepulveda takes care of the other.) They really didn't have much of a kickoff return man -- Gary Russell, Najeh Davenport, etc. -- and weren't at all interested in having rising-star wide receiver Santonio Holmes running back punts again. The sad truth? They really haven't had any kind of a return game since Antwaan Randle El left after the 2005 Super Bowl season.

Rookie draft choices Mike Wallace and Joe Burnett got first cracks at the jobs. Wallace did OK as a kickoff return man, Burnett not so well as the punt returner because of fumbles in each of the first two exhibition games.

Logan, meanwhile, merely was lights out.

It didn't start that way. Logan had trouble catching the ball early in training camp, which is why he didn't get to return any kicks in the exhibition opener against the Cardinals. It didn't help him that he's a man without a position -- not a running back or a wide receiver, exactly -- although he looked pretty good when he ran 14 yards on that end-around and 13 yards on a reverse in the third quarter.

When Tomlin finally gave Logan his shot as the return man in the second exhibition game against the Washington Redskins, this much seemed certain: It would be his only shot if he failed.

You know what happened next.

"I wanted to make a point," Logan said. "I wanted to stand out. When your number is called, you've got to make a play. When I heard 41 called, I got so excited."

I'm not sure the Redskins still have tackled Logan. That night, he had kickoff returns of 60 and 45 yards and punt returns of 18 and 15 yards.

You bet that opened Tomlin's eyes. But he still wanted to see more. Logan showed it to him in the third exhibition game against the Buffalo Bills with punt returns of 17, 13 and 27 yards.
Welcome to Pittsburgh, Mr. Logan!

That 80-yard return last night was a nice bonus, wasn't it?

I'm just glad the man got out of the game in one piece along with Roethlisberger, Polamalu and the other stars.

You want to know a little secret?

So is Tomlin.

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com. More articles by this author
First published on September 4, 2009 at 12:00 am

Jones turns into 'Legend' in 55 games

'You see what he's doing now. Play a full season, he might hit 30 home runs, you know?'

Friday, September 04, 2009
By Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Pirates outfielder/first baseman Garrett Jones has become a candidate for the National League's rookie of the year award.

This time last year, the man now known as The Legend had one last swing, one last hope.

He remained stuck for a fourth summer in Class AAA, finishing the first few September days that were his last at home in Frontier Field, polishing off a brilliant career as a Rochester Red Wings fan favorite. It was a curtain call. And it was an audition.

"Maybe somebody else would see me, and I'd get an opportunity with their team," Garrett Jones recalled.

Sept. 2, 2008, in their International League season finale, he strode to the plate with a tie game, the usual public-address introduction for most of the home versions of his 1,940 Red Wings at-bats -- Garrett Joooooooooooones -- and a fidgety crowd of 11,374, because most everyone there knew it was his closing Rochester bow. He promptly stroked a walk-off, three-run homer to beat rival Buffalo and walked away. "Very cool," Rochester announcer Josh Whetzel called the moment.

Sept. 2, 2009, in an otherwise humdrum National League Central affair, he strode to the plate with a one-run, early innings deficit and stroked the 10,000th homer in Pirates history, with 11,541 on hand in Great American Ball Park. He had to trade an autographed baseball and bat to get back the artifact, yet another career first for Jones. "It's fitting that Garrett got it," said fellow Pirates rookie and Pittsburgh native Neil Walker, "because he's been swinging the bat well, he's been looking great at the plate and he's been hitting the ball far."

Now he is a 28-year-old candidate for National League Rookie of the Year, an everyday outfielder-first baseman hitting 18 homers in just 55 games since his July 1 Pirates debut and a burgeoning Legend, as online followers dubbed him. With two walk-off homers and a piece of franchise homer history in his scant Pirates portfolio, his tale borders on baseball fiction. A homer-bashing hero from western New York? Wasn't that "The Natural?"

"Aw, shoot, I'm having fun watching him, dude," Cincinnati's Darnell McDonald added. "Especially the ball he hit in the river out there."

McDonald was referring to a Jones bash against the Reds Aug. 21 at PNC Park, long before Jones came to McDonald's end of the Ohio River and clubbed Pirates franchise homers No. 9,999 and No. 10,000 Tuesday and Wednesday. McDonald has deep, minor league-system roots with Jones. He batted No. 3 in Rochester's lineup last year just ahead of Jones. An eight-year veteran of Class AAA, an even longer stint than Jones, McDonald also played against him for a career.

Despite the vast difference one year has made for Jones, McDonald sees a common storyline.

"The first half of [last] season, I didn't know where Garrett was," McDonald began. "The second half, he was swinging it like he's swinging it now. I've never seen anyone as hot as he was then and is now. See, that's what I know he can do. I was hitting in front of him there. To see him in the second half [last year], he was hitting balls all over the field -- and he didn't get called up. The way he was swinging it, I thought he would.

"You see what he's doing now. Play a full season, he might hit 30 home runs, you know?"

Jones remembered going into the 2008 International League all-star break "around .220 with nine homers. I saved my season. And that saved me a chance for this year. That's the funny thing about baseball. I mean, you're going to have cold streaks, you're going to have hot streaks. It's just a matter of staying positive through the tough times."

The 6-foot-4, 245-pound quiet giant from Tinley Park, Ill., knew plenty of those times. Flaming out after parts of four summers in the low minors with the Atlanta Braves, who drafted him in the14th round in 1999, Jones signed with the Minnesota Twins in May 2002 and started all over again. In three seasons he climbed to Class AAA Rochester, though he could never grasp that final rung. He spent 31 games amid three separate call-ups with the Twins in 2007, mashing all of two home runs in 77 at-bats, or one every 38.5, and batting just .208.

Look at him now: 18 homers in 214 at-bats, or one every eight, and a .294 batting average with 34 RBIs (a dozen of his homers have been solos), 14 doubles and -- get this -- nine stolen bases in 10 attempts. He has a higher on-base percentage, .363, and slugging percentage, .621, than at any time in his 10 1/2-season, minor league journey, and there is a reason. After signing with the Pirates two days after Christmas, Jones has worked on putting the ball in play to all fields and cutting down his strikeout totals.

A few big league blemishes remain, though. He possesses a .136 average with runners in scoring position, though it balloons to .313 with two out. He is batting just .271 in lefty-friendly PNC Park. He is dogged still by wonders about his age, his minor league tenure, his legendary nine-week flourish.

"There's always skepticism," Pirates manager John Russell said. "I don't think we saw it as much as people tried to lean on us, whether it was the media or people saying, 'He can't last ... there's something wrong, because he hasn't been in the big leagues.' You go back to spring training, what he did, the consistency that we saw, the low-maintenance swing, the strength -- we thought he could be consistent.

"He'll go through stretches like any power-hitter does, where it doesn't quite click for you. But he's been able to fight through that. He's adjusted to the league as they've adjusted to him. Andrew [McCutchen] has done the same thing."

The other rookie McCutchen, pitcher Daniel, who played with him in Indianapolis this year and against him previously, used to wonder the same thing as Pirates fans now: Why wasn't Jones in the majors before?

"That's what we said ... we were wondering why he doesn't have more [service] time," Daniel McCutchen said. "Even with speed he has for his size. In Indy, he had 15 infield hits. An all-around good player. Personally, I don't think it's a fluke. He's a professional hitter."

This time last year, the Twins no longer wanted him. They had made that clear earlier, in spring training, when they placed him on waivers. Problem was, no other major league team claimed him, either. No other team wanted him. Until the Pirates came along at Christmas.

"Ah, you can't ask for anything more," Jones said. "To get a chance to play every day, that's all you can ask for. It's up to you as a player to take advantage of that opportunity and try not to let it pass you by. Give everything you got, when you get that chance.

"Only got one month left in the season. Trying to finish strong and help the team win. I'll sit back, kind of soak it in a little bit more, once the season is over. Then get prepared for next season."

This time next year... ?

Chuck Finder can be reached at cfinder@post-gazette.com.
First published on September 4, 2009 at 12:00 am

Jones delivers franchise's 10,000th homer

Reds 5, Pirates 3

Thursday, September 03, 2009
By Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/


Al Behrman/Associated Press

Pirates first baseman Garrett Jones is congratulated by third base coach Tony Beasley after Jones hit a solo home run off Reds pitcher Homer Bailey in the second inning of yesterday's game in Cincinnati. Jones' home run was the Pirates'' 10,000th in franchise history.

CINCINNATI -- On the occasion of the 132nd game of the 123rd season of the Pirates Baseball Club, history came to pass that the franchise's 10,000th home run would be struck.

It figured.

The Reds' starting pitcher yesterday afternoon was named, appropriately enough, Homer Bailey.

Garrett Jones, whose major league breakthrough began June 30, scrawled his name in Pirates lore with that blow, his 18th home run in 55 games as a Pirates player. His 13th solo shot came on a second-pitch fastball to open the second inning of a 5-3 loss against the Cincinnati Reds, and it traveled an estimated 375 feet before landing in the right-field bleachers of Great American Ball Park.

"That's a big number," the 28-year-old rookie said of the 10,000 homers.

And there were plenty of other big Pirates numbers to go along with it.

• So ended a four-game sweep by Cincinnati, marking the 12th time this season the Pirates have been broomed. Cincinnati's previous sweep of the visiting Pirates came Aug. 14-17, 1975.

• So continued a seven-game losing streak, their second-longest slump in a season in which they already have compiled two eight-game slides.

• So continued an 11-game road losing streak that also encompasses defeats in 16 of their past 17, 21 of 23 and 24 of 27 away from home.

• So closer they creeped -- the Tragic Number is 3 -- to a 17th consecutive losing season that will be the longest all time among America's major professional sports.

Reds and Pirates officials had to engineer a trade, an autographed ball and bat, to pry the historic homer ball from the clutches of the fan among the announced crowd of 11,541 who snagged it in the right-field bleachers. Such a swap was yet another first for Jones.

Yet even for the Pirates' myth-in-progress at the plate, it was not enough to secure a victory.

"It's a tremendous honor," Jones said in little more than a whisper from inside perhaps the most-hushed Pirates clubhouse -- except for an expletive screamed by Joel Hanrahan -- perhaps this season.

"It feels good to get it. But it'd feel a lot better if we would've gotten the win."

Zach Duke (10-13) lost for the fourth time in his past five decisions and seventh in his past nine.

The difference this time came after the Pirates grabbed a rare lead of late in the top of the sixth inning.

But, in the bottom of the sixth, Duke allowed a leadoff homer to Drew Stubbs -- who hit three of his season's four against the Pirates this series.

Worse, Duke followed with three hits and two unearned runs that all started with an error by Pine-Richland High's Neil Walker in his major league starting debut.

In that half inning, the Pirates' 3-2 lead transformed into a 5-3 Cincinnati advantage, one the Pirates could not overcome.

Cincinnati's relievers continued to shut down the Pirates, who struck out 14 times in nine innings against them, scratching out just one run and four hits in that time.


Al Behrman/Associated Press

Pirates first baseman Garrett Jones fields a ground ball hit by Reds first baseman Joey Votto for an out in the fourth inning.

Now, the losing road show that is the Pirates return home to PNC Park, where they are a glimmering 35-29 before entertaining St. Louis and Chicago starting tomorrow.

Their numbers away from the North Shore? The worst in the majors: 18-50.

This from the club that started the season by winning five of their first nine on the road.

They have meandered to 13-46 since, a .220 winning percentage.

"Nope," second baseman Delwyn Young said when asked if he realized the Pirates' road losing streak had reached 11.

"I mean, look at most of the ballclubs. There are, I don't know, five teams that have a winning record on the road?"

There were eight entering the games last night, and just two in the entire American League.

"It's not like we're doing anything out of the ordinary," Young added.

Well, even the club last season managed to win road games with greater regularity than these post-April Pirates (28-53). Same for the 100-loss teams of 2001 (24-57), 1985 (22-59) and even the 1952 edition considered the franchise's worst all time (19-58).

True, such a disparity in play can be ascribed to youth, this club averaging 26.4 years of age that ranks as the third-youngest Pirates team in the past half-century.

But these same kids who won seven of nine games on the previous homestand, including two final-at-bat rallies against the world champion Philadelphia Phillies, seemingly have not come close to matching those efforts in any of the seven consecutive road losses that ensued.

Or the four before that.

Or the 13 of 16 ...

"Wish we could put a finger on it," Duke said of the road woes, "so we can change it."

3

THE TRAGIC NUMBER

Number of losses that will clinch the Pirates 17th consecutive losing season. Games remaining: 30


Chuck Finder can be reached at cfinder@post-gazette.com.
First published on September 3, 2009 at 12:00 am

Russell earns respect for Doumit benching

Tuesday, September 01, 2009
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

I'm not suggesting for one second that John Russell ever will become the manager that Jim Leyland was with the Pirates. Leyland is the best I've seen here. But much as Leyland earned respect by publicly confronting petulant outfielder Barry Bonds at spring training in 1991, Russell scored big points with me by publicly rebuking pouty catcher Ryan Doumit last week.

Getty Images
DENVER - AUGUST 13: (L-R) First base coach Perry Hill, bench coach Gary Varsho and manager John Russell of the Pittsburgh Pirates look on from the dugout against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on August 13, 2009 in Denver, Colorado.

Clearly, it was his finest moment as a manager. You might argue that isn't saying much considering the Pirates were 67-95 last season under Russell and were 53-76 this season going into the nightcap of a doubleheader in Cincinnati last night. I still say it's significant.

If Russell did anything wrong, he waited too long to shake Doumit back to reality. For the most part, Doumit has acted like a baby since Pirates general manager Neal Huntington completed his midsummer purge by trading Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez and John Grabow in late July. Doumit made it clear he wasn't happy with the deals even though the team, as then constructed, wasn't going anywhere, in large part, because he missed two months with yet another injury and wasn't doing squat when he did play. His dismay with management would carry a lot more clout if he actually was, you know, doing something -- anything -- to help the team win.

Not to be critical.

In the beginning, Doumit's sulking was barely tolerable. It's always hard to say goodbye to teammates and good friends. But by last week, Doumit's act had become embarrassing. It was long past the time he stopped acting like a child and started acting like a professional. Forget that the Pirates are paying him $2.35 million this season and deserve a lot better from him. His teammates -- new or otherwise -- deserve better.

It's hard to say what made Russell finally blow his cork Friday night. It might have been the fact that Doumit didn't go hard after a popup and didn't run hard to first base after hitting a fly ball. More likely, it was those plays in combination with watching Doumit mope for the better part of a month. In any case, Russell yanked him out of the middle of the game in Milwaukee and also benched him the next night.

I'm thinking Russell deserves our applause.

It's never easy to call out a player and embarrass him in front of the fans, but this was something Russell had to do, just as Leyland had to get in Bonds' face when he acted like a jerk in a contract huff and was disrespectful to coach Bill Virdon in front of the rest of the players.
If a manager allows that kind of poison to spread for long in his clubhouse, his team will be destroyed.

It's nice to think Russell's actions will awaken Doumit. We can hope, right? I've long been a big Doumit fan. I heartily endorsed the Pirates' decision to build around him and sign him to a three-year contract extension that will pay him $3.55 million next season and $5.1 million in 2010. I think he can be a big part of their future. I'm thrilled the organization apparently will keep him at catcher. He would be just another first baseman or outfielder. But a switch-hitting catcher with a little pop in his bat? A guy like that can be invaluable.

You wouldn't know it, of course, based on the season Doumit is having. It's pretty safe to say his rotten attitude is just as much because of his lousy production as it is because of the trades. He was hitting .215 through the 4-3 loss to the Reds in the first game yesterday, .165 with three home runs and just six RBIs in 85 at-bats since Huntington's deals. That's why I'm not quite ready to accuse Doumit of quitting on the Pirates to force a trade. You know, the way Manny Ramirez did with the Boston Red Sox last season. I'm clinging to the belief he's a better teammate than that.

But Doumit needs to be right, mentally as much as physically. He needs to understand what a real pro is. It's a guy who shows up and plays hard every night. Anything less is disrespectful to his teammates. More than that, it's disrespectful to the game that has made so many so wealthy, Doumit among them.

If Russell's kick in the fanny hastens that understanding for Doumit, it long will be remembered as a well-placed, well-timed kick.

I don't know if Huntington's moves will make the Pirates a winner or not. I have my doubts. But I do agree with him that he wasn't breaking up the '27 Yankees. There's also a freshness -- an air of excitement -- about the young players he has brought in. Many are getting their first chance in the big leagues and want to show they belong. If their talent ever catches up to their enthusiasm, the Pirates will have a chance.

But those young players and the franchise need more from Doumit to have their best chance at success. They need him to be a part of the solution after 17 consecutive years of losing. The last thing they need is for him to be another problem to overcome.

Applaud Russell?

How about a standing ovation?

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com. More articles by this author
First published on September 1, 2009 at 12:00 am