Evening Quick Links

Some Quick Afternoon Links On Your Favorite 'Burgh Teams:

PIRATES
-As always, if you consider yourself a real Bucco fan (and I know the number dwindles by the day) you need to be checking out DK's PBC Blog on the post-gazette website, and especially check his Q&A which unfortunately is no longer a 4 time a week feature. Still, it's still excellent when it makes an appearance like it did this morning.
-ESPN and former SI writer Jeff Pearlma takes the Pirates to task a few days ago for the Yankees trade.
-Joe Starkey counters that with a thoughtful piece found here.
-With all of the roster moves and injuries John Russell (Good ol' JR) has had some issues filling out the lineup card, culminating with hitting Freddy Sanchez and his absymal OBP batting leadoff last night.
-Tomorrow (Wednesday the 6th) if you have some burning questions about the Pirates, feel free to pepper Bucco President Frank Coonelly with questions in his montly chat tomorrow.
-And lastly, we can officially wave goodbye to Yoslan Herrera, possibly forever. He was sent all the way down to AA Altoona, a sure sign that he is not expected back in the big leagues at any point this season, and judging by good ol' JR's reaction last night to Herrera, I can't imagine Yossie ever pitching for Russell again. And let's hope this doesn't need to another Brian Bullington scenario where JR flatly refuses to use Herrera if he is called up. If I were to guess, I'd say Herrera, though he is a starter, is not far from being designated for assignment, and likely will not survive the offseason with a spot on the 40-man roster.

STEELERS
-Chris Kemoeautu finally gets on the field, and let's hope he plays catch-up pretty quickly so he can gel enough for this line to protect Big Ben. Also in the Notebook. a rookie DB making an impact, some minor injuries, and a Big Snack update.
-Ed Bouchette touches all topics in his chat
-It didn't take long for silly fluff pieces on Steelers training camp to oust the Pirates from the front page of the Sports Section.
-AFC North blogger James Walker runs off Steelers thoughts for the Worldwide Leader. There's nothing groundbreaking here, but it's still worth a look just to see that the national perception is very similar to the local Yinzer perception.
-Check out a 5 burning questions thingy with Heath Miller where he gives mostly generic answers, although his hesitation to compare this team to the Super Bowl XL squad is noteworthy.
-There are a few notes in Peter King's MMQB column about the Steelers- specifically about Big "Zen" Roethlisberger and Big Snack. But, if you are a football fan in the least, you need to make this column a weekly stop, even if you do have to put up with PK's little stories that no one cares about.
-I couldn't find a link to accurately represent my point, but I just wanted to comment on the worries that Rashard Mendenhall can't handle the goal-line duties because of his failure in the short-yardage drill in camp. There really hasn't been much of this in print (hence no link), but last night I caught Ken Laird ranting about it on ESPN 1250 and Jim Colony mostly agreeing, saying they don't think that Rashard can handle it because of his failure in the first drill of that kind this camp. Uhmm... guys? For one thing, it's the first drill, Mendy probably barely knows the plays well enough at this point to execute properly, for another, the D knows that there will be no passes attempted, and that it will mostly be straightforward runs, meaning there are 11 men in the box, and lastly, that O-Line is still an utter mess right now with guys swapping out every other play. Why don't we wait until Week 1 before we panic about Rashard struggling in the red zone. Good Lord.

PENGUINS
Not a lot here obviously, but here goes anyway
-FINALLY!
-Check out Seth Rorabaugh's Empty Netters Blog
-So Sid the Kid still has a lot to learn? Is it possible to draft someone higher then first in our fantasy hockey draft? How soon can the Pens open negotiations for another contract extension for Sidney? Just two of the many burning questions here.

PANTHERS
-We've been here before (remember 2005 much?) but the expectations are high, and the players know it.
-A few notes from camp from the good people at Rivals.
Not much else out there right now Panther fans, but I'll keep looking.
Until then, just take a look here.