Hallelujah! ... Flozell The Hotel is here; training camp and MLB trade deadline day, too

It's about time.

It sure was a long, torturous off-season for Steelers' fans, and it's been a long, hot summer for Pirates' fans.

As entertaining as the Pirates' season has been, it is for all intents and purposes over. The Pirates now will be completely overshadowed by all news related to the Steelers. Even today's MLB Trading Deadline at 4 p.m. happens to coincide exactly with the reporting time for players to arrive at Latrobe.

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls expect little from the Pirates in the way of trades -- probably Andy LaRoche will get dealt, and a pitcher or two -- but, really, who cares?

We've got the Steelers to talk about -- and, thankfully, something other than the ritual unloading of expensive vehicles. Flozell "The Hotel" Adams is on board to help the offensive line, and that is a good thing. They certainly need the help, and we all need something to talk about.

Let the fun begin.

EL TORO!!

It's a rare pleasure to watch a bonafide slugger announce his arrival on the national scene with the kind of explosive impact Pedro Alvarez did this week. And it's only Thursday!

Alvarez blew up this week with back-to-back games featuring two home runs apiece, including a grand slam Tuesday night. He's slammed seven home runs over his past 14 games.

Finally, Pirates fans have a genuine slugger to call their own.

That means we can expect Alvarez to continue this two-homer-per-game pace for the rest of the season, right?

Actually, Pirates' fans would gladly take what Alvarez has been doing most of July: steady improvement with patience and a discerning eye at the plate, backed by a lightning-quick swing packed with power to all fields. His swing is so quick and powerful, in fact, it evokes memories of another left-handed slugger of Pirate yore, The Cobra. Only, perhaps, with hints of more consistent power -- and Parker hit 339 home runs in his career -- but's it's way early in Alvarez's budding career, so let's not start making those comparisons just yet.

It's not too early for long-suffering Pirates fans, though. Now this is something Pirates fans can get legitimately excited about. And in a good way.

Alvarez has hit well, extremely well, all month. Since June 27, he's gotten on base every game except one. All that good hitting, however, was done sort of quietly in the fog and miasma of continued Pirates' bungling, follies, ineptitude and, well, losing.

No more quiet. His two home runs for the grand slam among his two the previous night vaulted him inevitably into the national baseball consciousness. Now, media outlets across the country are leading their nominal coverage of games involving the Pirates with statements like the AP's, "Prized Pittsburgh rookie Pedro Alvarez ... " and "Rookie slugging sensation Pedro Alvarez ... "

That's what a bonafide slugger will do for you.

Just as importantly, Alvarez's hitting this month appears to be contagious, as he seems to have sparked other Pirates bats to come alive, as improbable as that seemed only a couple of weeks ago. Last night, the Bucs tallied 18 hits, their third game in the last five with 17 hits or more. Also during the past five games, four of which they won, the Pirates are batting .372 as a team.

Fifteen runs scored last night, 11 runs the night before, nine runs last Saturday, 12 runs the night before ... what's going on here?

Pedro Alvarez, that's what. He's put this team on his shoulders, or at least provided a much-needed lift -- and a desperately needed spark of excitement and ray of hope for long-suffering Pirates' fans.

Baseball is fun again. Let's enjoy it while we can.

More Pirates Clownishness

The Pirates reverted to their old ways last night. Held to one run, although they got reasonably good pitching.

They still have not had a four-game win streak all year.

The frustrating and maddening thing about Monday night's game was manager John Russell's lineup. Why was Ryan Doumit the starting catcher?

On Friday, rookie Eric Kratz arrived from Indianapolis. On Saturday night, he started, played spotless defense and got his first two hits. On Sunday, before the game, general manager Neal Huntington said on his radio show that Kratz would start against left-handers -- not all, but Huntington indicated Kratz would see plenty of starts vs. lefties, against whom he'd battted .346 in AAA. Also on Sunday, Doumit started the afternoon game, vs. a right-hander. So far, so good, and two big wins in the process.

Then, on Monday, with Milwaukee starting a left-hander, Chris Capuano -- who hadn't won a game in his previous 19 starts spanning three years, by the way -- who's in the lineup? Doumit.

And Doumit, predictably, went 0-4 with two strikeouts and four left on base, and he grounded into a double play. One of his strikeouts came in the ninth inning with two runners on board. And the Pirates scored only one run in a 3-1 loss.

Why was Doumit in the lineup instead of Kratz? It makes no sense. Doumit played vs. a right-hander on Sunday, so it's not like Kratz would have started three games in a row.

None of it makes sense. It's maddening. Frustrating.

But that's what it is to be a Pirates' fan.

No wonder Doumit says in his promo spot on Fox SportsNet (FSN), "Here's a foul tip: Watch the Pirates on FSN."

He got the "foul tip" part right.

The $10 Million Question

The inexorable march of the calendar continues relentlessly and, with it, the daily panoply of sunrise and sunset.

It's the easy days of summer, but for Pirates owner Bob Nutting, the chirping of cicadas in the receding evening turns into a thudding tic-tick-Tick-TICK of the clock in the dark of night. It's early, but startlingly later than he might think.

Time to start paying attention to serious business. Here at Joey Porter's Pit Bulls, we can play around. Our focus this spring and summer has been on the Steelers' off-season travails, but even more so on the Pirates' amazing seriocomedy of errors, follies and foibles.

This won't be a negative write-up, however. What's to feel negative about? Let's enjoy while we can the sort of fireworks and microbursts we saw over the weekend, when Bucco bats rapped 17 hits on Saturday night and 19 hits on Sunday afternoon.

Yet the clock ticks. Steelers training camp is on the near horizon (July 31, just a week from Friday), the baseball trading deadline looms (also a week from Friday), and a major deadline, Aug. 16, awaits the Pirates.

To say that Aug. 16 presents a "major deadline" for the Pirates is an understatement. August 16 actually represents a Major Crossroads for the future of the franchise. It will serve as a weathervane indicating whether the Pirates are serious about adding elite amateur talent and betting the future of the team on the successful scouting and development of young players.

The Pirates have until Aug. 16 to sign the players they selected in MLB's amateur draft in early June. If the Pirates sign their top two picks, fireballing high-school righthanders Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie, it will go a long way to affirming the organization is serious about obtaining and developing top talent -- whether or not they eventually pan out or flame out.

Although general manager Neal Huntington and president Frank Coonelly will be left to do the explaining, one way or another, it will be the Pittsburgh Baseball Club's owner, Bob Nutting, who will have final say on these deals.

We're guessing Nutting would like to have back the $10 million or so that former GM Dave Littlefield festooned upon washed-up pitcher Matt Morris. Nutting no doubt would also like to have back the approximately $10 million in sunk costs that current GM Neal Huntington slid across the table to the now-departed Aki Iwamura, Ramon Vasquez and somebody else already forgotten.

Ten million dollars is the number in question because that's what it's going to take, approximately, to sign Taillion and Allie, plus (we think) some considerable bit more for top Mexican pitching prospect Luis Heredia.

Ten Million Dollars.

Not so much money in the great scheme of things. Or it could be everything.

It's about the future. It's really about the choices the front office makes -- and how they spend their money: Continue to spend $10 million on the likes of Matt Morris? ... or some mix-and-match combination of fringe veterans? Or, put $10 million on the table to back your roll-of-the-dice on three young pitchers who may or may not develop, who may or may not get injured, and who may or may not anchor a future starting rotation that is unlikely at any point to attract top-of-the-line starters via free agency or even trades.

It's a major bet. In a way, however, the Bucs have already staked their position simply by drafting Taillon and Allie, and having gone this far with Heredia. Really, they have to sign these guys. If ya wanna play, ya gotta pay.

At this point, the burden of decision is all on Bob Nutting, Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington. How serious are they about turning this thing around? This will be a watershed moment in their reign. It will be their legacy, for better or worse. It will define the franchise in years ahead and for years to come.

At stake is $10 million or so -- probably some considerable amount more, when all is said and done. But that's not all that's at stake. The direction of the franchise is at stake and, with it, public perception of that direction.

The clock is ticking: Less than a month to go.

Hot Fun In the Summertime

"That's the first multi-run home run since, like, 14 B.C.!," exclaimed Buccos broadcaster Steve Blass after Garrett Jones golfed a Roy Oswalt pitch for a two-run homer and a 4-0 Pirates lead over the Astros Sunday at PNC Park.

Indeed, it had been more than 1,000 at-bats since a Pirate had hit a home run with a runner on base. Which is unbelievable on the face of it, but be that as it may ...

Baseball sure is a lot of fun to play and watch when your team is winning. It's happened too rarely in Pittsburgh this season, but the past two games -- Saturday night before a sellout Fireworks crowd and on this sunny Sunday afternoon -- the Pirates actually played well.

Good to see. We'll take what we can get and look forward to the heat wave continuing.

Photo picked up from Leading Us Absurd, which offers this terrific write-up on the all-time great dynamo band that was Sly and the Family Stone, creators of the hit song, "Hot Fun in the Summertime."

Home and Away

Tonight begins the second half of the season for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Whoopee!

In many ways, it is a fresh start, a clean break, from the disastrous first half. Running up to this week's All-Star break, the Pirates posted a record of 30-58, second-worst in major league baseball.

Let's put that behind us. The break provided a welcome respite and a chance anew to look forward: "Let's see what the kids can do! The pieces are coming together!"

In many ways, the mathematically inaccurate "second half" of the 2010 season represents an extended audition for many players. It's tempting to call it an "extended spring training" -- but it's July 16, for crying out loud; and, really, wasn't the first half of the season an extended spring training, miserable as it was? After all, the team apparently had to work out many kinks (base running, hitting, fielding, pitching), and also had to resolve numerous many roster issues, including the entire starting infield, two outfield positions and the starting rotation. Those are the kinds of things you work on in spring training.

Well, here we are.

Questions remain: Have the Racing Peirogies learned their lesson about voicing opinions on Facebook? Will team president Frank Coonelly ever speak without forked tongue? Will the Buccos outpace the Baltimore Orioles for MLB's worst record to "earn" the overall first draft pick in next year's amateur player draft? Will the Pirates lose more than 100 (105? 110?) games? Will they post the worst record since the 1953 Pirates (the infamous "Rickey Dinks")? Will general manager Neal Huntington make still more negative-return, futile, fruitless trades?

Will anybody pay much attention?

On its home page, the Post-Gazette now prominently displays an online countdown to Steelers training camp ("There are only 14 days until players report," the Post-Gazette Web site intones on its "News" home page, positioned just below "Breaking News"). Just in case you lost count and wanted to reschedule your summer vacation trip to Stone Harbor or Ocean City.

For the Pirates, that sort of diverted attention may be unfortunate but not unexpected. In Pittsburgh, some people would consider the start of training camp the end of the baseball season.

This year, training camp begins on July 31, which also happens to be baseball's non-waiver trade deadline. For most baseball fans, there's usually a lot of interest in potential deadline deals.

This year, however, even if the Pirates make a deal on July 31 (and Frank Coonelly says not to expect much, for what that's worth), it will be overshadowed by the buzz over the start of Steelers' training camp, and all that goes with it ... the local stations' breathless top-of-the-news coverage following every move, nuance and quote: From the arrival of players in outrageously expensive, tricked-out vehicles; through the annual unloading of mega-sized flat-screen televisions; to the message on James Harrison's tee-shirt; and, this year, the howling doggerel "analyzing" the effect of scumbaggio Ben Roethlisberger's suspension.

The Pirates? Well, at least Joey Porter's Pit Bulls will be paying attention, even as our attention drifts inevitably toward football.

That's because this year's edition of the Pirates is amazing. Utterly fascinating -- mostly for the wrong reasons, bizarre reasons, even -- but fascinating none the less.

The road record, for one thing. Tonight, the Pirates open a long homestand. And that's a good thing, because their record at home (19-20) stands in stark contrast to their record on the road (11-38). Eleven wins. Thirty-eight losses.

That's amazing.

Truly. Amazing. It prompts us to ask once again, as we have done so often this season with respect to the Pirates: "How does a major league team even do that?"

We want the Pirates to succeed. We really do. The players seem to be trying hard. You'd like to feel optimistic, and spring is always a time for hope and optimism. It's mid-July, but who are we to quibble?

The Pirates have many storylines. The team stories are one thing -- if only in a sort of mordantly fascinating kind of way -- but quite a few of the individual players offer compelling reasons to watch, as well.

One of those is newly arrived catcher Erik Kratz (pictured above, speaking to the MLB Network about his call-up), the well-traveled 30-year-old rookie who seems eminently easy to root for.

Read why, in the more-than-excellent write-up over at The Green Weenie.

Photo Credit: Danny Wild, MLB.com

Nothing to See Here, Just Keep Walking

Is it any surprise the Steelers extended Mike Tomlin's contract? No.

Non-story. They even allowed it to become known to the public! See, Pirates President Frank Coonelly, that's how you do it. You're allowed to let people know about contract extensions given to your most visible and public-facing people like John Russell, manager of the Pirates, and Neal Huntington, general manager.

No word on exactly when the Steelers and Tomlin came to terms on the three-year extension, but surely it wasn't eight months previously, as was the case with the Pirates.

Whether you like Tomlin and have confidence in him as head coach of the Steelers -- and we do -- there is much to be said for stability and continuity. The Steelers have enjoyed enviable success with just three head coaches in 41 years. Other franchises, clearly, have not.

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls have been watching the NFL Network's broadcast of last season's "Hard Knocks," which originally aired on HBO. Interesting viewing. "Hard Knocks" provides a behind-the-scenes look at an NFL team's training camp. Last season, it was the Cincinnati Bengals, who were coming off a 4-12 season after which the rehiring of head coach Marvin Lewis and his entire coaching staff was very much in question.

We all know what happened next: The Bengals turned things around. They won the division. They beat the Steelers twice; they beat the Ravens twice; they beat the Browns twice. They forged an identity as a physical team with a hard-running offense and a tough, talented defense. They infused young talent at key spots on the defensive line and at linebacker. Both young cornerbacks, Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall, emerged as shut-down corners and showed they could start right now for the Steelers, and we'd be happy to have them. Those two comprise one of the best young corner tandems in the NFL (you'd have to include the Jets in that conversation, and the Dolphins, too -- but not the Steelers, unfortunately).

How this relates to the Steelers extending Mike Tomln's contract is this: The Bengals, who have long had all kinds of turmoil and changeover in their organization, finally showed commitment to some semblance of stability by sticking with Marvin Lewis, although there must have been much sentiment among the fan base -- and some discussion in the front office -- to start anew. Again.

Their faith in Lewis was rewarded, and in watching "Hard Knocks," you can see why. Lewis knows what he's doing. What makes this series fascinating is the view into the Bengals operations: the organizational decision-making processes; the candid look at negotiations with the agent for holdout first-round pick Andre Smith; the fringe players battling for roster spots; how roster decisions and player cuts are handled; how Lewis sets the tone; and, perhaps most interestingly, how the assistant coaches conduct their positional group meetings and interact with their guys -- several of whom have had notorious run-ins with the law. If anything, the Bengals' assistant coaches are the unsung heroes of that turnaround season. Very impressive.

The point is simply that there's a lot to be said for continuity. It's best for all involved with the Steelers that there be no lingering questions about Tomlin's contract status entering the season. It would be stupid to make him hang out there, twisting in the wind, like the Pirates did with Russell and Huntington. But, that's the Pirates. These are the Steelers.

It's going to be a challenging, difficult and rocky season in any case. The Bengals and Ravens have every reason to feel confident they've leap-frogged the Steelers. Weaknesses that plagued last year's Steelers' team remain unresolved until proven otherwise -- and those include the secondary, the offensive line and the special teams.

The off-season tumult further complicates everything -- exponentially.

The Roethlisberger situation certainly doesn't help. That's the biggest thing, obviously. Thanks, Ben. Scum.
Plus, Santonio Holmes is gone, Willie Colon is done, and the Steelers have a new offensive line coach, as well as a new special teams coach. Hines Ward isn't getting any younger, nor are the core starters on the defensive line. The last thing this team needs is any more uncertainty, and that includes the head coach.

Especially the head coach.

Big Boss Man

Say what you will about George Steinbrenner, the man knew how to steal the spotlight.

Born on the Fourth of July, Steinbrenner died on the day of the 2010 All-Star game.

It was if he chose to become the lead story on what otherwise would be a full day of agonizingly nauseous non-stop coverage of the week's only sporting event now that the World Cup is over.

Today, Steinbrenner and his legacy became the lead story on all the networks and the subject of conversation among baseball afficinados and casual observers alike. Everybody knows the name "George Steinbrenner," even if only from watching his caricature on "Seinfeld."

Today, Steinbrenner one-upped MLB's "mid-summer classic," which in recent years has become a tiresome affair --an over-hyped, hum-drum stinker of talking-head slobbering and non-stop media babble.

It was if he said, "This would be a good day to die."

No doubt, Steinbrenner was a natural showman -- but he worked at it, too. P.T. Barnum had nothing on Steinbrenner. Yet, for all his bombast, volatility and histrionics (in his first 25 seasons as owner of the Yankees, he changed managers 20 times), it would be an understatement to merely acknowledge he was a shrewd businessman and a passionate team owner. If only G. Ogden Nutting, principal owner of the Pirates, were a fraction as shrewd and passionate as Steinbrenner. For all we know, Nutting barely has a pulse. As for passion, we don't see it.

No such reticence or coyness with Steinbrenner. If Lou Gehrig was the Pride of the Yankees, George Steinbrenner demanded pride of the Yankees. He bought the franchise at its nadir and through sheer force of oversized personality ... through individual willpower and brashness, through business acumen and even cartoonish buffoonery ... Steinbrenner not only restored the Yankees' luster as the nation's premier sports franchise, he restored the New York Yankees as a metaphor for America.

It's a matter of perspective. To some, they're the Evil Empire. To others, they're winners. Pure and simple. Champions. The marquee franchise, the one to watch, for all the right reasons, or for all the wrong reasons. Which do you see? ... the Bronx Zoo? ... or the 27 world championships?

We see it all. No other team stirs such passion, pro or con. Depending on your perspective, the Yankees are: Privileged. Powerful. Successful. Advantaged. Lucky. Blessed. An indomitable force. Any or all of the above.

In any case, you can't ignore them, nor could you ignore their boss: Steinbrenner.

The Boss.

Former outfielder Paul O'Neill, who joined the Yankees in a trade from Cincinnati, said the first thing he noticed upon going to New York was that "We had an owner who was as intense about winning as the 25 guys in the clubhouse. He set the tone, and it filtered on down to the rest of us. Winning was everything to him, and that passion became ingrained in the players."

As bellicose and obnoxious as Steinbrenner clearly was, he also very quietly helped untold numbers of people in need. A man of excess, he was excessively benevolent, but you never heard about most if his charitable contributions. "Quiet" would seem to be out of character, but Steinbrenner appears to have been a man of contradictions.

So ... for a man of outsize dimensions in nearly every facet of life, is it any surprise that it took "a massive heart attack" to finally take his life? George Steinbrenner was a giant who cast a very large shadow indeed.

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls would say, "Rest in Peace," but we're sure George Steinbrenner would have none of that. He'd want to be the center of attention. Forget the All-Star game; he'd want a big fuss made over him.

He's getting it, and it's well-deserved.

How do the Pittsburgh Pirates even do that?

"How does a major league team even do that?"

That's the recurring question this year for fans and observers of the Pittsburgh Pirates. After a while,you realize you've been asking this question a lot: How does a major league team even do that?

Never mind the "corporate management" and front-office shenanigans, mendacity, duplicity, tomfoolery, chicanery, lousy talent evaluation and sheer incompetence -- that's another subject entirely.

We're talking on-field hijinks here, the kind that would make the Marx Borthers and Three Stooges proud.

Nearly every game, it seems, it's something else: baserunning gaffes (two men stuck on third base, for example); the fielding calamities (too innumerable to recount), the scratch-your-head-defensive shifts; the puzzling, pointless and futile roster moves (Dana Eveland, among others); the chronically abysmal starting pitching, the historically anemic offense -- it just goes on and on.

• How does a major league team lose a one-run game when a batted ball hits your baserunner to end the game?
  
• How does a major league team lose two games in one series by scores of 20-0 and 17-3?
• How does a major league team team lose 17 consecutive games on the road?
  
• How does a major league team get shut out nine times by July 10?
  
• How does a major league team go 2-13 in interleague play?
  
• How does a team lose a potentially game-sealing run because a batted ball ricocheted off an umpire?
  
• How does a major league team's starting third baseman (Andy LaRoche) have only 11 RBIs by mid-June?
  
• How does a team have one of its corner outfielders (Lastings Milledge) have only two home runs by mid-July?
  
• How does a team go 6-20 in June?
  
• How does a team commit more errors (four) in one game than the opponent, Oakland, scored runs (three) in yet another loss?
  
• How does a team have more errors (six) in a game than hits (five) in another loss (again to Oakland)?
  
• How does a team surrender 17 runs to an opponent (Texas) that also stranded 13 runners on base?
  
• And how does a team go more than a month -- spanning 30 games and 971 at-bats -- without hitting a home run with a runner on base?

Seriously, how does a major league team even do that? Any of it?? Let alone, all of it???

Now, with last night's loss in Milwaukee, the Pirates have a five-game losing streak. Keeping in mind the Bucs have yet to win four games in a row all season, the Pirates since June 6 have had:

1. a 12-game losing streak
2. a six-game losing streak
3. a five-game losing streak

Since June 6! How does a major league team even do that?

Let's re-visit that for a moment: From June 6 through July 10, the Pirates have compiled losing streaks of 12, six and five games.

HOW DOES A MAJOR LEAGUE TEAM EVEN DO THAT?

At Least We Don't Live in Cleveland

The "kinder, gentler" Joey Porter's Pit Bulls can take only so much. Following a wondrously disastrous June, we figured it was time to cut the Pirates a break. Look on the bright side, we said. So what if they were losing? They had brought up some of the young guys, and even had won five of seven games before embarking on their current road trip.

So much for optimism.

They promptly lost all three games to the dreadful Astros, and then, last night, lost in Milwaukee, 5-4, to put them 26 games under .500 for the season. The story of last night's loss was the collapse of the bullpen. As happens so often with this year's edition of the Pirates, however, there's always something else, shall we say, unique in the way they find a way to lose.

There were baserunning gaffes, of course, with Jose Tabata caught stealing and picked off, as well as a fielding error, by Ryan Doumit, plus the eight runners the team left on base. No, those sorts of things are neither unique or even unusual.

What was unique in this particular loss was something that happened in truly "only the Pirates" fashion.

As described by the Post-Gazette's Dejan Kovacevic, the Pirates "lost an apparent run in the eighth to lousy luck: Two outs after Garrett Jones doubled, Milledge grounded sharply up the middle, and it looked to be an RBI single that would have put the Pirates ahead, 5-2. But it ricocheted off the foot of second base umpire Chris Guccione and, by rule, Jones had to return to second even though Milledge got the single."

Only the Pirates. Unbelievable, but we're getting used to this sort of thing. We've come to expect it.

Then, just to pile on, there's the current edition of Sports Illustrated with a lengthy article titled, "Not a Pretty Picture," which describes the Pirates as "the most futile franchise in sports."

Whatever. One could make the case for the Detroit Lions, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Cleveland Browns, the Cleveland Cavaliers (ouch!) or anything else related to Cleveland, but at this point why quibble? G. Ogden Nutting, Frank Coonelly, Neal Huntington, et al, have created this mess, this laughingstock of a franchise, and we have to live with it (until Steelers season).

Maybe we're just being cranky.

Maybe we should look on the bright side: At least we don't live in Cleveland. Just like LeBron James -- right, Clevelanders?

Photo Credit: Benny Sieu, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Random Recommended Link:
Check out The Society to Preserve Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka,
St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church, Millvale, Pa.

A Happy Fourth of July Indeed

Fun day at PNC Park yesterday -- even, presumably, for the many Phillies fans attending, and even they were cool. It was actually nice to have them visit our fair city --there was no Santa Claus to boo, after all, and they were on their best behavior. And the Pirates won -- their fifth win in seven games.

So, a good day all around.

A perfect summer day, in fact, with entertaining baseball, an upbeat crowd, and a feeling of festive holiday fun. PNC Park and the city skyline looked gorgeous, as usual, the fragrant aroma of fried foods filled the air, and the Pirates won with a come-from-behind, six-run rally in the seventh inning and some fine bullpen work from new All-Star Evan Meek, Joel Hanrahan and Octavio Dotel.

The Pirates showed many promising signs of better things to come, hopefully.

With the Pirates looking at a 5-2 deficit and third baseman Pedro Alvarez walking to the plate to lead off the bottom of the seventh, this particular fan attending the game growled hopefully, "Now let's get back in it." Pedro obliged affirmatively, promptly belting a low line-drive home run carried with sudden impact and rapid velocity just to the right of the Heinz sign in straightaway center field. It was good to see, and another indication that Alvarez will be just fine, coming as it did following a lasered liner to right field earlier in the game and Alaverez's first major league home run the previous night.

This second home run was fairly no doubt, with the only question momentarily being whether the rope of a line drive would maintain enough height to clear the wall approximately 400 feet away. It did, and the Bucs were on their way.

The "Ryan Express" (Ryan Doumit and Ryan Church) followed with a single and double, respectively. After a pitching change, pinch-hitter Delwyn Young delivered a flare double down the left-field line to tie the game. Jose Tabata and Neil Walker then reached base before Garrett Jones emphatically rapped a line-drive single to bring both runners home and put the game out of reach. The bullpen sealed the deal, and everyone went home happy ... to walk the dog, spend time with family and friends, grill some food, share some laughs, ooh-and-ahh at the evening's fireworks, and then blow some stuff up.

Random thoughts:

• Congratulations to Evan Meek on being named to the All-Star team. Meek deserves it. Obviously, Andrew McCutchen could easily have been named to the team, too, and deservedly so.

• Garret Jones quietly plays a very solid first base, defensively. Jones started a nifty double play yesterday and handled several tricky throws. This is routine stuff for Jones, and maybe it's time he gets some credit for his defense, not that anyone notices slick defense at first base. Only brutal defense at first base gets noticed. But Jones provides a steady, reliable glove at first, and that's a good thing for an infield with rookies starting at second and third base.

• The numbers don't show it yet, but Jose Tabata and Pedro Alvarez look like they belong. Both players are starting to hit, and both should be fine.

June is gone. Forget about it, or consider it a life lesson. Sometimes you have to hit bottom to bounce back. The second half of the season is underway. Better days are here, and better days are ahead. This team has a long way to go, but it will be a fun to watch the rest of the way.

Coda Sez ...

Happy Independence Day!!!

As for last night's Pirates' loss, 12-4, to the Phillies, fuh-ged-about-t! It ain't nuthin'! We'll get 'em today, fellas!!

Sure, they'd won three in a row entering last night's game, but the Bucs haven't won four games in a row all season -- so why worry about it? There's plenty-a-time left!

It's a beautiful day for a ballgame! Jeff Karstens goes for the Bucs today vs. tomato can Joe Blanton. First pitch: 1:35 p.m., PNC Park.

The Pirates have a lot going for them this year. They're tied for the major league lead with eight wins when they score two or fewer runs. There's that. And, as pointed out today in the Post=Gazette, "Of the Pirates' 29 wins, 23 have come by two or fewer runs, the highest such ratio in Major League Baseball."

There's plenty to celebrate this Fourth of July! A Pirates win today, for one thing, sure as fireworks! ... and then, let's burn some meat on the grill, set off some explosions and blow some stuff up!!

“Thus may the 4th of July, that glorious and ever memorable day, be celebrated through America, by the sons of freedom, from age to age till time shall be no more.”
-- The Virginia Gazette, following the first Independence Day celebration, 1777, in Philadelphia, which included fireworks, cannons and toasts.

"Red necks, white socks and Blue Ribbon beer!!!"

It's the Fourth of July!!!!

Happy Birthday America!

For your edification, here is some more information about this most American of holidays, including ...

Some interesting tidbits and factoids about Independence Day/Fourth of July, courtesy of the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette in Indiana. It notes that ...

"A popular e-mail that has circulated more than a decade on the Internet, often titled 'The Price They Paid,' seeks to explain 'what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence.' Unfortunately, much of the information is wrong, exaggerated or misleading.

"For example, the e-mail states that '9 of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.' In actuality, according to snopes.com, which researches the veracity of Web rumors, although nine signers did die during the war, none died from wounds or hardships inflicted by the British. One, Button Gwinnett of Georgia, died in a duel with a fellow U.S. officer."

Also, courtesy of The Billings Gazette in Montana: "What You May Not Know About Independence Day May Surprise You"

It's a Miracle in Milledgeville!

Ignore that photo above. It's from June, and that's ancient history. It's July now, and better days are here already!

Exhibit A: Lastings Milledge actually made a diving catch last night. So what if he's missed a ton of diving attempts this season. He made one last night, and it was a key play -- an ESPN highlight play no less -- in the Pirates' 2-0 (?!!) win (?!!) over the Phillies (???!).

It brought to mind his wondrous catch June 5, when he belly-flopped on the warning track in left field to make the diving catch for the snow-coned third out with the bases loaded in the ninth inning of a thrilling win over the San Francisco Giants -- and how's that for a run-on sentence?

Yes, last night, Lastings Milledge actually got a reasonably good break on the ball off the bat, took a straight-line path to the anticipated arrival point, launched into one of his patented belly-flop dives, and -- in a hold-your-breath moment -- actually came up with the ball secure in his glove. He looked as surprised as we were for a moment, but there it is. He made the catch, so give him credit.

For all the guff we give him, Joey Porter's Pit Bulls like Lastings Milledge. We want him to do well and to have fun doing it. As much as we've expressed wonder and dismay at his defensive follies, especially his uncanny ability to make diving attempts but come up just short ... we do like Milledge. We wish he'd hit for more power and play a better defensive game, but hey, look on the bright side: His average has been on the upswing for nearly a month, and now he's made another diving catch. It's all good.

Perhaps we fans could do something more to show support for Lastings Milledge. How about this -- Display a banner in a section of the right-field stands declaring it "Milledgeville."

No? Bad idea? Oh, that's right, that whole Ben Roethlisberger episode of Law & Order set in Milledgeville, Ga.

Okay, on second thought, scratch that ... maybe the Pirates' PR department can come up with something. Oh, never mind -- bad idea.