Lines along the Ohio River
The steel mills are all closed and Pittsburgh and word is there is not one business left in the city that has anything to do with the steel industry.
The smog is gone, the air is clean and they now run jet-skis up and down the Allegheny River just above where it meets the Monogahela and forms the Ohio River.
Pittsburgh is a different city now although the trams still run up the steep inclines to Mount Washington on the south bank of the Monogahela. Now they are part of the tourist industry rather than 100 years ago when they were used to transport the steel workers from their shanty homes above to the mills below.
"What do they feed you, all you men who are in Pittsburgh, " Michael Flynn asked Sean Thornton in the Quiet Man.
Steel, and pig-iron furnaces so hot a man forgets his fear of ****.
Pittsburgh is no longer that, and it is no longer other things as well, but the Ohio River still begins it's 941 mile trip to the Mississippi River from the Golden Triangle. They catch blue catfish on the Ohio and the 104-pounder caught in 1999 is still the world's record.
The river flows past Cincinnati and there was a time when the two cities on the Ohio River dominated the National League.
That was back in the 1970's when the Pirates were Family and the Big Red Machine ruled in Cincinnati. They met four times in the National League playoffs and the Reds won three times while the Pirates won once. Eight of the ten NLCS' of the decade included at least one of the two teams and they both won two World Series.
The Reds had Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan and Pete Rose and the Pirates had Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Al Oliver and Manny Sanguillen. Both teams starting pitching was average to decent but their bullpens were good and both teams could mash the baseball.
Then came free agency and both franchises sunk to the small market level. The Reds won the World Series in 1990 after beating the Pirates in the NLCS but there has been just one playoff appearance between the two teams in the last 14 years.
The Pirates have spent the past five years or more trying to build around pitching but most of their young arms end up under the knife and they are no closer to their goal than they were five years ago. The Reds are in desperate need of bullpen help and could use Clay Carroll and Pedro Borbon right now, probably more so than they could Rose or Bench.
Of course Pete Rose is banished from baseball, although if it were put to vote you might be surprised to see how many people would actually prefer Morgan to be banished from Sunday Night Baseball.
But that's anothe story entirely.
I think Joe Morgan is in another park watching another game than the one I see on my screen. How does the other guy in the booth keep from laughing at him?
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The Rangers have 24 more games to go until the All-Star Game. With their current winning percentage, assuming that they can keep this rate up and don't fall any further, then they will win 9 and lose 15. That will be a record of 32-57, 25 GAMES UNDER .500. CAN WE STILL TURN IT AROUND? DOES ANYONE THINK WE ARE GOING TO WIN MORE THAN 70 GAMES AT THE MOST? What is being done? At what point do we get rid of Washington? What a buffoon. It is obvious that the team doesn't like him and he can't manage. The things that are supposed to be his strengths, defense and players manager are non-existant. If these are his strengths how are his weaknesses doing? Give Wakamatsu a chance or Howe. It is EMBARASSING what is going on out on the field. DO SOMETHING AND DO IT NOW!!!
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Hey Morgan was a player. He is just part of the jockocracy that Howard Cosell spoke of. Athletes getting jobs that they weren't qualified for. In our case we have an owner, a GM, baseball players and a manager that got postions that they weren't qualified for. At least, Morgan waited til he left the field and went to the broadcast booth. There was no better second basemnan than him during his prime. If we are 25 under by the All-Star game then lets go for 50 games under by the end of the season. Lets go down as the worst team with the worst record with an owner, a GM and a Manager that did nothing but preach positivity. That way we can get the First pick in the draft next year, no matter, i heard he is a Boras client and wants a lot of money, so we will pass on him and take the best economically available player. Nostradamus predicted before the season, so you guys best listen. We are going to be bad for a long time. The chickens have come home to roost. The mistakes of the past are piling up on us fast and we have no one in the minors that can help us. Deal Young, Texiera, Otsuka, Millwood, Padilla, Blalock, deal them all. There are no untouchables, except our young pitchers.
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Pittsburgh sweeps Texas. The Pirates have a good manager and a good core of young players. What do we have? A bunch of clowns who wear uniforms and get paid a lot of money to deal with frustration. Just wait til it gets hot here and watch what these dogs are going to not do!!! Have some freaking pride in your work product!!!
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dgod I thought you were going to quite posting. GET SOME MONEY AND BUY THE RANGERS!
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Maybe for the first time this season, your game recap on the Rangers website of the second Pirates game had a not-so-subtle hint of frustration. I do not envy your position. I do enjoy the horribly awesome facts, though.
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I know my comments are going to ring hollow with the baseballers of today, but Free Agency has ruined the game. It lets the Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox buy whoever they choose. It has depleted farm systems, and the money spent in scouting, drafting, signing, educating, training, transporting, and nurturing these young men is simply GONE IN A FLASH of 3 or 4 years of development by a team. The players go where the dollars are...period. Would I do the same? Probably. But if the system let a team develop a player WITHOUT the option to leave via free agency, I'd buy a home in the community, get active in the kid's schools, support local projects, and be a bulwark, a mainstay in ONE community for a lifetime, where a player is revered, cherished, and looked up to by the little leaguers trying to get autographs and the mature adults who can identify with a guy becoming a local hero because he stayed in the community for his lifetime...unless he was traded, of course. Look at Yasztremski, Cal Ripken, etc...who stayed with their teams and flourished. This is not to say this insures the player of playoff successes or appearances, because most players don't get that privelege. HOWEVER, they become beloved in the city and community, develop fan loyalty and identification, and produces a much more stable baseball environment. People and fans generally do not like change. The players like the money, so I know I'm barking up the wrong tree or being idealistic....still, the kid in this middle-aged fellow, longs for a return to continuity in the game; a game which has lost so much luster with sports agents, big-time money, outfield billboard advertising, and selling of one's own soul. Oh, well, I pray at least a shred of sanity can return some day to the game we all love. I'm not holding my breath, but, there's always hope and prayer. Yes, I sincerely miss that game and what has been lost.
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Bingo great post. I have said this for years. Where are all the Yaz's? How much money does it take to make a man happy? That is the reason I love Pudge. He wanted to stay but Hicks threw all his money at a-rod. I don't care what a-rod does he will never be as great a player as Pudge. I love the game but there are too many parasites making money off it for it ever to return to the old days. If these players want our support then they need to give us a little loyality. Look at some of the crouds that are at the games. If we had a winning team you could probably have a hard time getting a good seat. I will watch the games good or bad because I love the game.
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