Man on Fire: Nate McLouth (who?)

Gone are the days of naming a “Player of the Week” and to hell with horse trailers, we at PGH only care about crowning this week’s Man on Fire. This award, inspired by John Creasy aka Creasy Bear, honors the one player that completely blacked-out, went apeshit on the field, taking no prisoners in the process, and transformed into a person that only Hollywood could do justice in retelling. This player is the one who was lifted to greater heights by anger, revenge, and an opportunity for redemption. How does this translate to sports? Think Drew Brees taking New Orleans (the team and city) on his back in 2006 after everyone doubted him.

OK, OK…..so we typically save our “Man on Fire” awards for football season. This may be the last time we get to throw an accolade or two at the Bucs so we’ll do it while we can. About a week ago a PGH reader contacted us and nominated Pittsburgh Pirate Nate McLouth for the prestigious MoF award. Our initial response was “the Pirates are in the middle of an error-filled losing streak and have lost consecutive games on HRs or Grand Slams in the 9th inning so you’ll get no Pirate love from us this week.” It just didn’t feel right to pat a guy on the back for some great individual play while his team was playing sloppy losing baseball.

Well, a week later Pirate lead off man Nate McLouth is 4th in Major League Baseball with a .400 batting average and has had some huge hits during this young season. Last night against the Dodgers, with the Pirates trailing by 1 with 2 outs in the 9th inning, he hit a 3 run HR to seal the win and extend the team’s winning streak. 99% of you don’t know who he is so we’ll link you to his Wiki page. 99% of you won’t click on that link so we’ll automatically re-route your browser to his Wiki page in 3…2…1…sike.