THE BLACK-N-GOLD NEWS
PIRATES
Hot on the heals of a successful west coast road trip, our Pirates returned home for a crucial homestand at the friendly confines of PNC Park. PNC proved to be not-so-friendly as the homestand sucked out loud.
Speaking of sucking, RH Gerrit Cole continues to confuse Black-N-Gold Nation with his horrible performance this season. He was shellacked by the Miami Marlins in the 1st game of a big 3-game series last Friday night. The Bucs fell to the Fish 6-5.
Prior to Saturday's game, the Buccos placed 3B Jung Ho Kang on the 15 day DL with a shoulder injury that was suffered the night before. In his place, the Pirates recalled 1B/OF Josh Bell. You read that right. Josh Bell is finally free.
It didn't help matters. The Pirates lost again to Miami in a 3-1 decision. To add insult to injury, the Marlins took Sunday's game 3-2 to sweep their way out of Pittsburgh and overtake the Bucs in the wild card standings.
Some good news came on Monday afternoon. The team announced that INF David Freese was signed to a 2 year contract extension with a club option for 2019. Looks like our favorite Black-N-Gold Baseball Team will have a deep Freese for the next few years.
Unfortunately, Mr. Freese wasn't able to parlay that into a Pirates win. He ran them out of a 9th inning rally in game #1 of their series with the Astros. The Pirates losses mounted in the 3-1 contest. Any Pirates pitcher not named Cole has looked excellent, of late. It's the offense that was a black mark on this homestand. That wasn't the case in Tuesday's matchup with Houston. RH Ivan Nova tossed his 1st complete game in Black-N-Gold and 2 homers from OF Gregory Polanco led the offensive attack in a 7-1 victory. Things were finally looking up for the Bucs going into Wednesday's finale. Then, young Mr. Cole took the mound again. Cole's season of ineffectiveness continued in a 5-4 loss to Houston.
Last week, the Pirates were riding high and within reach of the 2nd wild card spot with a 5-1 road trip. This week, they returned home and played pitifully in a 1-5 stretch. It doesn't get any easier. The Pirates are in Milwaukee for 4 games against the Brewers. We all know about the Bucs woes at Miller Park. They were able to get off the schneid for this series, taking the 1st game in a 3-2 10-inning affair. Friday night's game found the Bucs in the win column again, 5-3. This one was powered by SS Jordy Mercer's 1st career grand slam, a day before his 30th birthday, no less. Congrats, Jordy! The Bucs made it 3 in a row over the Brewers with last night's come-from-behind 9-6 win.
Before yesterday's game, the Bucs announced that Cole will miss his scheduled start Monday in Chicago. He's been sent to Los Angeles to have his right elbow examined. Fingers crossed it's not ligament damage.
St Louie and Miami were both losers last night. The Pirates are now tied with the Marlins at 1.5 games back for the 2nd wild card spot.
From there they go to Wrigley to clash with the Cubs for 3 games beginning Monday. Time is running out. Make them count. You gotta win to get in. Let's Go Bucs!!!!!
STEELERS
Our Steelers made the news both on the field and off this past week.
LB James Harrison acquiesced and met with the NFL over bogus PED allegations. Deebo was going to meet with officials on August 29, then August 30, but it was changed to August 25. The meeting lasted about 45 minutes. No word on the outcome of this sit-down, thus far.
The Steelers played their interstate rivals, the Philly Eagles last Thursday night. They were shutout by Philly 17-0. Their preseason record is now 0-2. Again, we all know these games don't count, so please, don't press the Black-N-Gold Panic Button.
Good news for RB Le'Veon Bell. His suspension was appealed and reduced from 4 games to 3. Now lay off the weed.
Our favorite Black-N-Gold Football Team hosted a visit from a former player this week. Free agent CB Keenan Lewis was in town to see if he could again catch on with the Steelers. There was a rumor going around that he would, indeed, return to Pittsburgh but nothing is official, as of yet.
The Steelers did officially sign LB Vince Williams to a new contract. Vinny Vin received a 3 year deal.
Could the Steelers be making room to bring Lewis back into the fold? Either that or they're looking at locking up some of their own potential free agents as they've started restructuring contracts. Both T Marcus Gilbert and S Mike Mitchell had their deals re-done, creating about $7 million in cap space.
Friday night saw the Steelers go marching into New Orleans to face the Saints. It also saw many starters finally get some playing time. That strategy paid off. The Steelers won their 1st preseason game 27-14. DL Cam Heyward was a casualty of this game with a high ankle sprain. He expects that he'll be ready to go for the season opener. Time will tell.
The Steelers wrap up the exhibition games this Thursday in Carolina. The real games start on September 12, Monday Night Football when the Steelers kickoff the season in Washington. Let's Go Steelers!!!!!!
PENGUINS
It's still the Summer of Stanley but our Penguins managed to make some news this week. The Pens whiffed on free agent F Jimmy Vesey. The youngster decided to take his talents to the NY Rangers. However, our favorite Black-N-Gold Hockey Team did sign another college free agent this week, C Thomas Di Pauli from Notre Dame. His former teammate at ND, Pens F Bryan Rust had nothing but good things to say about the new Penguin. Welcome, Thomas!
And congrats to Pens C Sidney Crosby! Sid was named captain of Team Canada in the World Cup of Hockey. It's all fun and games so long as no one gets hurt. Stay healthy for when the games really count. Let's Go Pens!!!!
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