Larry Brown Sports

AJ Burnett is such a bad-ass. Even if the Pittsburgh Pirates don’t improve upon their recent misfortunes in 2013, their fans are lucky that Burnett is still anchoring the team’s staff. In order to remind the fans of how fortunate they are to have acquired Burnett, the Pirates are giving away the incredible t-shirts you see above before Friday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds.

Can you think of a better giveaway than that? Prizes like this team-branded waffle iron and this Coco Crisp bobblehead doll come close, but nothing beats a T-shirt that features Burnett rocking sunglasses and throwing up a BAMF hand signal. The dude has it all, and if you don’t believe me just check out this GIF that Getting Blanked passed along:

Are we done here? Game, set, match.

Fist pound to Big League Stew

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ late-season collapse may only represent a part of the franchise’s issues. A report published by the Pittsburgh Tribune late Thursday detailed some of the extremely questionable methods of player development the franchise is trying to establish, including putting players through Navy SEALs training, and encouraging a Hells Angels attitude.

According to the Tribune’s Dejan Kovacevic who was reporting based on distraught members of the Pirates organization contacting him, the team had several top minor league prospects participate in Navy SEALs-type training last weekend.

The activities reportedly included having players wake up at 5 a.m., do push-ups, sit-ups, crab walks, push truck tires, dive into sand piles, and run along the beach while carrying heavy polls. Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan reports that players engaged in hand-to-hand combat, and that one top prospect, pitcher Jameson Taillon, once injured his knee in that type of training. The Tribune says drill sergeants were putting the players through these activities and yelling at them the entire time.

As if that type of training weren’t already questionable enough for a baseball organization, a leaked internal email from the team’s assistant GM outlined a motorcycle gang outlaw attitude they want their players to have.

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Bad blood has developed between the Pirates and Reds over the course of the season, as a number of players have been hit by pitches and taken exception to it. Another incident occurred on Monday night when Brandon Phillips was hit by a pitch from Pittsburgh hurler Jared Hughes, resulting in a warning for both teams.

It is unclear whether or not he’s claiming it happened before or after he was hit, but Phillips wrote on his Twitter account after the game that a Pirates player made a racist comment toward him.

#RealTalk… Not really surprised by what I heard come outta another player’s mouth tonite but DAMN… Still PISSED bout that $h¡+!! #Racism

— Brandon Phillips (@DatDudeBP) September 11, 2012

Phillips gave no clarification and simply followed up with a tweet about how pleased he was to get the win in extra innings. While we hope it’s not true, it certainly wouldn’t be the first case of racism or cultural insensitivity that we’ve seen in professional sports. Rivalries exist and tempers are going to flare, but there’s no excuse for any player to bring race into a disagreement.

UPDATE: Phillips talked with Hughes and they both say there is no issue.

Photo credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

Don’t be alarmed folks, that black logo with a yellow “P” in the middle of it is not some foreign object — it’s just a Pittsburgh Pirates logo. I know we’re not used to seeing their flag fly above everyone else in the NL Central rung, but alas it’s true. Thanks to a win over the Astros Friday, the Pirates were in first place (by mere percentage points above St. Louis) the latest in the season since 1997. Yes, this is the same organization that hasn’t had a winning season since 1992, one we called a “hapless bunch” earlier this year.

So what’s different about this team? How have they been able to win? It’s been all pitching. While their offense has scored the fifth fewest runs in the National League this year, their team ERA is fifth best in the NL. Paul Maholm and Jeff Karstens have both thrown over 100 innings of sub-3.00 ERA ball while relievers Joel Hanrahan and Daniel McCutchen have been equally lights out in over 40 innings of work apiece. They only have one hitter with an OPS over .800 and it’s All-Star Andrew McCutchen, so it’s safe to say the 14-homer outfielder is carrying the offense.

Pittsburgh won’t last on top without getting more hitting, so that’s why we’re memorializing this accomplishment with a post. Savor the taste, Pirates fans — you guys are in first place in mid-July. Don’t expect to be back anytime too soon.

Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan has been one of the best relievers in baseball this year. He also has an inordinate amount of Pirates pride, and he doesn’t mind showing it off, even if it means getting his toes painted as he did Wednesday:

Hanrahan says he was on a double date with his wife and the Resops (Chris Resop is another reliever on the Pirates), and their first stop was to a nail shop for manicures and pedicures. He then tweeted out those photos which we saw at Busted Coverage. The right foot obviously is in Pirates colors but he told Fan Phooey that the left is purple and pink to support prostate and breast cancer awareness. I’d rag on Hanrahan a little more if a) he weren’t pitching lights out this year and b) if we hadn’t already seen this by two other prominent athletes.

Photo Credit: Joel Hanrahan’s twitter

Pittsburgh Pirates No. 2 prospect Tony Sanchez could make it in the UFC.  No, we have not seen him fight.  No, he doesn’t appear to be exceptionally big, tough, or insane.  He just likes to tweet and in the UFC you get paid for that type of thing.  Or, should I say, Sanchez liked to tweet.

According to CBSSports.com, the 22-year-old catcher deleted his Twitter account (@TSanchez26) at around 3:30 on Tuesday after writing, “See ya twitter. thanks to the fans for their support and continued support. Pittsburgh is the only goal and twitter is standing in my way.”  Although Pirates farm director Kyle Stark denied that the team told Sanchez to stop using Twitter, that tweet would certainly indicate he was given an ulterior motive.

As for the reasons why he either decided to or was encouraged to stop using Twitter, Sanchez has been a little too loose-lipped — or loose-fingered — with some of his tweets and had to apologize on several different occasions for it.  The first tweet he wrote that upset Stark had to do with throwing a party, and Sanchez later spoke to the Altoona Mirror and apologized for it.  Apparently he hadn’t learned his lesson.

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The Pirates haven’t had a winning season since 1992, giving the fans of Pittsburgh very little to pass the time between the Penguins and Steelers. We keep hoping that they’ll rebuild with good draft picks like Andrew McCutchen, but that appears to be unrealistic. Instead they’ve settled for being the laughingstock of baseball that’s perennially putting up fire sale signs in June. Given their apparent acceptance of losing, it’s odd to see members of their front office get so ticked off by negativity in the community.

WTAE in Pittsburgh via Ben Maller reports that two Pirates front office members called for a ban of Stroll Inn, a bar that offers a nickel off pitchers following Pirates losses. I don’t know how heavy of drinkers they are in Pittsburgh, but last I checked a nickel can’t even buy you a stick of gum, so this seems to be much more about the humor than the discount. Unsurprisingly, the same group that fired one of its pierogi racers for expressing negativity, is displeased with the bar.

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