Kovacevic: Watson finally finds that 'flag'

Oct 21, 2017 • 12:00 am

6.1K

In March of 2015, as bags were being packed inside the Pirates' clubhouse in Bradenton, Tony Watson told me this: “Our No. 1 goal this year is a flag. This team, this group has done a lot of great things the past couple years, but you look out at those flags by the outfield at PNC, and we don’t have a year up there for us. We’d like to get that.”

That team did proceed to make the playoffs for a third consecutive year, but there's no flag for making the wild-card game or even for getting Johnny Cueto to drop the ball. And thus, PNC Park has yet to add a single marking of any kind since its construction.

No division title since 1992.

No National League pennant since 1979.

No World Series championship, of course, since that same year.

Well, Watson's about to embark on the best chance at one of his own, albeit with the pennant-winning Dodgers, following a decade in the Pittsburgh organization. He was drafted in 2007 by Dave Littlefield and Ed Creech -- what, you didn't think these current guys found a big-leaguer in the ninth round, did you? -- then spent the better part of seven seasons in the Pirates' pen, performing at an elite level for much of that.

It didn't all go well, especially after he took Mark Melancon's closing role. But I'd maintained throughout that time that it had everything to do with overuse -- he logged the most innings of any reliever in baseball over a five-year span -- and nothing to do with makeup.

As Watson told me himself when the Dodgers came to town after the trade, "We're so far up in the standings, so they can do some different things. They've told me here that all they want to do is keep me fresh for the playoffs. I'm not going to lie: It's nice. I feel really good."

Imagine the feeling now:

That's Watson whiffing the Cubs' Anthony Rizzo in Game 4 of the NLCS Wednesday night at Wrigley Field. It was a big situation, with a runner on second and a two-run lead, and he did it with fresh 94-mph heat, a radar reading seldom seen from him here this summer. And it wasn't a fluke: In six playoff appearances so far, including four perfect appearances in a five-day span in the NLCS, he's been scored upon only once and has an exceptional 0.90 WHIP.

Two nights ago, Watson and his new mates blew apart the Cubs, 11-1, in Game 5 to finish it.

As Watson told reporters in Los Angeles, "It just seemed like the champagne was never ending. The beers were never ending."

He's a good pitcher, a good man. Whether it's here or there, he's worthy of what awaits.

• No coach anywhere, much less one as smart as Mike Sullivan, would publicly confess to pursuing the two more certain points out of a back-to-back situation. But it couldn't be clearer now that this is the Penguins' approach, at least as it applies to using Matt Murray in the first game, Antti Niemi in the so-called 'tired game.'

That's worked in the past two, obviously, with the Penguins winning in Washington, then losing with Niemi in Tampa, and now winning in Sunrise and ... doing what with Niemi in Tampa tonight? But it's not a sustainable plan in the sense that Niemi can't just keep getting thrown out there to get shelled if the team's going to emerge from 19 of these back-to-back sets with something other than an 0-19 mark in the second half.

• Dear Lord, it's Charlie Morton against the Yankees tonight in Game 7. I can't even conceive of anything to say about that. Other than, of course, that nothing less than the weight of the free world is riding upon Charlie.

Let there be #ElectricStuff in Houston.

• Hm ... anyone remember that general feeling that Conor Sheary was expendable in the possible trade for a third-line center?

Nah, me neither.

• The grass isn't always greener, but that can be especially true in a place where there is no grass.

Rick Tocchet's Coyotes are 0-6-1 and, while that can't logically be blamed on a brand new head coach overseeing a young group, it also happens to be a gifted group. So while it's got to be encouraging that 19-year-old Clayton Keller's pumped home five of Arizona's 16 goals, the fact that Max Domi and Anthony Duclair have but a goal each ... combined with the fact that the market can't even support a winner ... yeah.

• Spent Friday at the Steelers' complex. Best vibe all year. By far. Much more on that in tomorrow's Grind.

• For today, I'll just offer this: Joe Haden's primary role since joining the Steelers' secondary has been that of bogeyman. Maybe because his coverage has been so tight, maybe because of the reputation he'd rightly built in Cleveland, but ever since his old pals went at him -- the Browns completed 6 of 8 passes on him in the opener -- Haden's basically been untested, with fewer than three passes thrown his way per game.

"No idea," he was telling me this week when I asked why he's not seeing the ball his way. "But it's got to be a good thing."

No doubt. But it's that much better that he's got three passes defensed to keep relative pace with his career average, and better still that he's established himself as a solid tackler within his 13.

He isn't just wrapping up. He's attacking:

His motivation?

"I'm not going back into that classroom," Haden said of Carnell Lake's teaching space, "and having all those young kids watching me miss tackles on film. No thanks."

WHAT’S BREWING

• It's Saturday, so it's Site Stuff day. No shortage of material this week.

• Our Christopher Carter appeared on 93.7 The Fan last night with Paul Zeise, and it was good stuff:

• One travel note to repeat for the weekend: Lance Lysowski has flown to North Carolina for the Pitt-Duke game. Although Chris Mueller is now on that beat, of course, the plane ticket was bought well in advance, so Lance will cover.

STEELERS TODAY

• Event: No team activities

PENGUINS TODAY

• Event: Game vs. Lightning

• Location: Tampa, Fla.

• Time: 7:08 p.m.

• Morning skate: None for Penguins

• Mike Sullivan availability: 5 p.m.

• Our coverage: Gajtka

PITT TODAY

• Event: Game at Duke

• Location: Durham, N.C.