Pirates @ Phillies Liveblog

The Pirates play their final two spring games in Philadelphia. Wouldn't it be great if they played each other more in the REGULAR season? The game is on FSN and is also free online at MLB.tv for those of you out of the Pittsburgh market. We are doing one last liveblog before things count. Join us below. Go Bucs!

Missing in Action

It is often a tradition at Mellon Arena for fans to wait outside by the parking lot and wait for the team to arrive. Unfortunately, many are still waiting. The Pittsburgh Penguins lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning Wednesday night 2-0 in a game where their offense was non-existant and their defense flawed as well. The team looked as if they were uninterested at times, and this lack of motivation and effort combined with a strong game from the playoff-desperate Lightning was only a recipe for disaster for the Pens. Mike Smith faced only 27 shots from the Pens, and many of those were not realistic scoring chances. On the other hand, Fleury saw only 17 shots, but many of them were on breakaways and powerplays, including an extremely impressive wrist shot from young phenom Steven Stamkos late in the first to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead. "NHL Pest" Steve Downie would score the second for Tampa very early in the second, and that would be all the scoring for the rest of the game. The Pens looked the polar opposite from their strong weekend performance, where they were crisp and had a jump in their step. Not only was there a lack of scoring, but this was a rather chippy game that included a scary hit from behind on Ruslan Fedotanko and a long fight between Bill Guerin and Lightning enforcer Zenon Konopka. (yes, his name IS Zenon) It was a frustrating performance for the Pens, who were again without Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar. Dan Bylsma, who was visably irritated throughout the game, called a players only meeting after the game perhaps to address the issues that so frequently plagued the Pens tonight. The important thing for Pittsburgh is that they find a way to put this one behind them and move on to the rest of their schedule. They have only five games remaining, the next being Saturday afternoon at home against the 9th place Atlanta Thrashers.

Pens, Letang Agree On Extension

Pittsburgh has signed defenseman Kris Letang to a four-year contract extension. ESPN is reporting that the deal is worth $3.5 million per year. Letang, who is only 22 years old, was to become a restricted free agent. Now let's get Matt Cooke signed. Go Pens!

Dispelling the Steeler Myth

There has always been a special aura about the Steelers, that they do things the right way. In many cases this may be true. They don't usually overpay guys, but they do give their players every opportunity to succeed. The Rooney's treat their guys great and in many cases that is probably returned in the form of on-field performance and loyalty.

There is also a myth that has run rampant amongst Steelers fans, and the media in particular though. This myth is that the Steelers only work with players of the highest quality and top notch character. I think it's about time this myth gets laid to rest.

Ben Roethlisberger's travails have been well documented by now so they basically go without saying. The guy is immature, and from most accounts just a flat out jackass when it comes to decision making and how he treats people.

Santonio Holmes had big questions about his character and maturity coming out of Ohio St. and these questions, at least in my mind, still need answered. He has been caught with illegal drugs in his possession, and now is accused of assaulting a woman at a night club with a glass full of liquor.

Jeff Reed is another one who seems to like his alcohol a bit too much. In addition to being the first tough guy I know of to take on and beat up a paper towel dispenser at Sheetz, he has been charged with resisting arrest, public drunkenness, disorderly conduct and assault. Maybe he should have a few shots before taking the field so he can find the beer muscles to get in front of the guy with the ball during returns.

Then there is James Harrison who was accused of slapping around his girlfriend.

These are all core, key guys. The Steelers front office is about winning first, not great PR. Sure they like the image but the bigger image is the 6 Lombardi's on display. They only have a zero tolerance for guys like Cedric Wilson and Gary Russell. When it comes down to brass tacks the Steelers are about winning, and that's probably how it should be.

Can we please just stop saying how high class our team is, because they aren't.

Welcome to the Sidney Crosby Show

Seven games left in the season, division title on the line, and in a fight against a desperate Toronto team laying everything on the line: Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Sidney Crosby Show. He had two pivotal goals and one in the shootout to lead the Pens to a 5-4 shootout victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs Sunday afternoon at Mellon Arena. This, combined with a New Jersey loss to the Flyers, gives the Penguins a two point lead in the Atlantic Division with only 6 games remaining. (Devils have 7) It was a game of "cat and mouse" the entire game with each team exchanging goals all the way until the shootout. Tyler Kennedy put the Pens on the board first with an important goal midway through the first to tie the game up after Colton Orr of the Leafs scored earlier in the game. Kennedy's goal came after Mike Rupp managed to box out two Leafs defenders in the corner boards and pass the puck out to an open Kennedy for the score. The pattern would continue when Phil Kessel managed to put a long wrist shot past Fleury to give Toronto a 2-1 lead and the majority of the momentum. It was up to the captain to turn things around, and he wasted little time doing so. His first goal of the game came after Brooks Orpik wristed a long shot on J S Giguere and Crosby was there to dig out the rebound and poke it home for the score. Just over 3 minutes later, Crosby would score yet again after taking a pass from Orpik in the offensive zone and beating Giguere just over his blocker to put the Pens up 3-2. Unfortunately for the Pens, however, there was still some work to be done. The Leafs managed to tie it and take the lead on a pair of goals from Carl Gunnarsson and Tyler Bozak in the second and third periods respectively. It appeared for a long time that this would be the way things would end until the Pens changed all that with 2:48 to go in the third. Jordan Leopold slapped a shot towards Giguere ,but instead of a routine save being made, Matt Cooke jumped in front of it and made an extraordinary deflection between his legs to tie the game up and eventually send it into overtime. It looked like the Pens would pull it off at the end of overtime as they got a 4 on 3 powerplay in the final minutes, but a few acrobatic saves from Giguere kept it tied and sent the game into a shootout. Crosby cemented his status as first star of the game by beating Giguere high side to give the Pens the shootout lead. Pascal Dupuis also scored in the shootout and Fleury stopped both attempts thrown his way by Kessel and Nikolai Kulemin. Despite allowing 4 goals, it was a strong performance by Fleury, who made 25 saves and picked up his 35th win of the season. Crosby also had a good stats night getting his 47th goal of the season putting him ahead of Alexander Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos for the league lead. Crosby's performance was extremely important considering the absence of co-star Evgeni Malkin, who missed his 4th straight game and 6th out of the last 7. Sergei Gonchar also was absent due to illness, missing his 3rd straight. Another individual performance worth noting was that of Brooks Orpik, who recorded 3 assists and was a +1 for the game. This win capped off an important weekend for the Pens, who got 4 out a possible 4 points, clinched the playoffs, and seized the division lead from the Devils. The Pens will hope to keep their momentum going on Wednesday, when young superstar Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning come into town.