Friday Fajardos

Hector Fajardo only pitched two games for your Pittsburgh Pirates in 1991, and then was added in the trade that brought Steve Beuchele back to the Bucs. Fajardo had his contract purchased by the Pirates from the Mexico City Red Devils in 1989, and had off-season surgery to remove bone chips from his arm before the '91 season, which drastically improved his fastball velocity.

Fajardo never lived up to his potential after his trade to the Rangers in '91, battling injuries throughout his short-lived career, only to end up retiring after the '94 season. Although his nickname was "Senor Lluvia" or "Rain Man" because of the amount of his expected starts that ended up being rained out. And, as you can see, he got to share a baseball card with the only one-armed man to throw a no-hitter; Jim Abbott.

The Pens got the led out last night, beating up the Isles to the tune of 7-3. I woke up this morning only to find out that the official scorer took Sid's second goal away from him and gave it to Billy G. and thus put Sid right back at 49 goals for the season. I'm sure Steigy nearly passed out when he heard that; I love Bibsy and Steigy, but the latter's obsession with the Kid has gone to a whole other level this season.

It wasn't the cleanest of games; the Pens continued their propensity of giving up a quick goal immediately following a goal scored, and Matt Moulson continues to haunt our dreams of a quality winger let go. But all in all, a pretty solid performance against a team that's been playing quite well of late. Although despite the Isles strong play of late, I couldn't help thinking that the schedule maker giving us the league's worst team (by last years standings) for the last game of the Igloo was similar to how Shady Side would always play Springdale on Boys Basketball Senior Night. JS.

Recaps here, here, and here. I'm gonna try and put a post up about my own Igloo memories, but figured I can't force it, so in due time.

The Pirates lost yesterday in not so good fashion. Although EHL caught this little beauty from the Pirates website, talk about optimism. I already talked about this game, but on a brighter side, the Pirates minor league affiliates began play last night. You can follow these through the PBC blog at the PPG (which you will have to pay for soon) or you can follow it at BUCCO Fans (who does a thorough job and focuses on prospects and the draft better than any other Pirate fan site).

A few things I was excited to see from last night's minor leaguers; Robbie Grossman hitting a HR and not striking out, Pedro's HR, Bryan Morris' solid start, Jordy Mercer and Chase D'Arnuad collecting a few hits and walks, and Starling Marte and Tony Sanchez continuing their solid play at high-A ball.

Jeremy Farrell's two home run, seven RBI performance was impressive, but he's really a non-prospect at this point; he's in high-A ball and will be playing his age-23 season, unless he continues to mash the ball, which would be completely unexpected given his low power numbers as a professional so far (6 HR in 541 PA), then it's best not to get too excited about him.

I'll have more to say as the season progresses, but the one thing about being a Pirate fan is the chance to pay just as much attention to the minors as to the majors; because usually the big club just ain't that much fun to follow.

WHYGAVS has a good roundup of the reaction to the Pirates batting the pitcher eighth. Think outside the box people. The FSN guys had Huntington on during the game yesterday and this topic came up, and obviously, Bob Walk couldn't wrap his mind around it, but it was funny nonetheless hearing NH try and explain it to him like he was a kindergartner.

Pittsburgh Lumber Co. has their official final win projection; right where I'm thinking; 74-78.

The day of reckoning for Big Ben and the Steelers is on Monday. Wake me up when this nightmare is over.

It's a few days old, but if you didn't see Arjen Robben's wonder goal against Man U, Jebus. Though I'm not a big Bayern fan, I'll probably pull for them the rest of the way.

Also, I will be attending the Altoona Curve game on Sunday with the tall guy just to get a glimpse of Stephen Strasburg. I'll also be paying close attention to a few of the Bucco prospects, but really, it's all about Stras. I'll try to take some good pictures.

Oh, yeah. About that Tiger/Nike commercial. At first I had that "what type of drugs do you have to be on to get this?" reaction; even as an English major that should love this type of bizarre combination, I still didn't get it. But the more I think about it, the more I love it as an advertisement; it gets people talking about both Tiger and Nike, which is what it comes down to. But it also adds a compelling Earl narrative that brings Tiger Incorporated back to the basics of what Nike sold in the first place: a unique American story. It's brilliant.