Month: April 2024

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Very Easy Answer

Daily writing prompt
What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?
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This will be short and sweet and to the point but oh so true.

Waking up. Just good to know that I did not die in my sleep.

Playing Golf. It is all I have ever wanted to do and now I do it almost every day.

Staying Healthy. Another day when I have dodged the bullet of disease.

Consuming delicious food: I do the cooking and I am glad when something really turns out well.

Going to Bed knowing everyone is safe and healthy. Something I cannot control but I am grateful for all my blessings and hope that they will continue. Thanking the higher power.

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Pirates Morning Report: Gopher Ball Blues

Final Score: Pirates 1 Phillies 5

Why The Pirates Lost: No offense and the pitching gave up 3 home runs that accounted for all 5 Phillies runs. Each team had 7 hits and Pirates even added 2 walks. The difference was all of the Pirates hits were singles and well-spaced out. The Pirates were only retired in order twice. They had chances to get an inning going but there was no 2 out lightening in this game. They struck out 14 times with Andrew McCutchen and Michael Taylor leading the way with 3 each. All of McCutchen’s were called third strikes and at least Taylor got a hit in the 9th which contributed to the Pirates only run. Jared Jones gave the Pirates their 7th quality start in a row giving up 1 run in 6 innings, but the 7th inning did him in, giving up a 2-run homer to Brandon Marsh allowing the Phillies to take a 3-0 lead. Colin Holderman came in to relieve Jones and promptly gave up another 2-run home run, after another Pirate outfield miscommunication, which pretty much sealed the deal. The sad thing is the Pirates kept the Phillies stars pretty much in check. Scharber, Turner, Harper and Realmuto went 3 for 16 with 6 strikeouts. The Pirate record fell to 9-4 to put them in second place in the Central.

Key Moments Of The Game: It was the Pirates inability to get any type of offensive momentum. They were 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position and left 8 men on base. On the other hand, Phillies only had 3 ABs with runners in scoring position and got a home run to drive in 2 runs. They only left 2 men on base. Oh, the power of the long ball. The home runs of spring training for the Pirates when they led all teams, has gone the way of most things in spring training down into the deep abyss. The Pirates are still below average in home runs hit this year. Six more road games to go.

Next Game: Tonight, Phillies in Philadelphia. Barry (Was That Last Start A Fluke) Falter will take the mound for the Pirates hoping to break the 2-game losing streak. With Falter starting tonight this emphasizes Greg Brown’s point the last time Falter started, the Pirates are trying to win games. This eases by beating heart to know this. The Pirates are going to face another left hander in Christopher Sanchez. As I have written before, we all know that offense is a sometime thing, but hopefully this is not the start of a Pirate offensive slump. The last 2 games they have scored 4 runs. It still will be interesting to see how Falter does tonight. Will he be able to keep the ball inside the fences? Should be the key to victory.

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To Go My Own Way

Daily writing prompt
Describe something you learned in high school.
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The most important thing I learned in high school was how to handle peer pressure. I am not going into specifics but there were many things my high school friends wanted me to do that I refused to do. It was interesting to see their reaction. Many of them took it personally. The reason I refused to some of the things was because they were illegal. Most of time the reason I did not do something was because I simply did not want to. The other reaction to refusing to do something is that you are afraid to do it. I call it pulling out the fear card. They think by calling you chicken or a coward or whatever, that this will goad you into doing it. What is really humorous about that thinking is that these people don’t realize how much courage it takes to say no. Some people never say no. Even though this did have a tendency to isolate me many times and did curb my social abilities, I have never regretted those decisions. They made me a much stronger person and gave me the ability to make my own decisions and do what I really wanted to with my life, no matter how scary it was. It has contributed heavily to the fact that I have not really kept in touch with any of the people I grew up with. It still does not change the fact that in their own warped way they made me into a stronger and much happier person. See, assholes are not all bad.

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Pirates Morning Report: Trouble With The Curve.

Final Score: Pirates 3 Tigers 5

Why The Pirates Lost: There were 3 reasons the Pirates lost this game, taking them in order. The lineup card. Why you do not start your most dynamic player in a day game against a right-handed pitcher I have no freaking idea. In this day and age line up cards are made by committee supposedly with the analytic department contributing. You are not playing baseball today. I think this is called rest. I cannot think of one rational reason that Oneil Cruz was not on the field. Secondly, the Tigers to their credit played some unbelievably defense yesterday. It saved them at least 3 to 4 runs. The ninth inning failure. There is no question David Bednar dug is own grave with his control issues but the 3 hits that he gave up went out at the scorching speeds of 75, 53, which gave the Tigers the lead, and 90 MPH. Bednar’s obvious problem was his curve ball. SO WHY IN THE HELL DO YOU KEEP THROWING IT? THIS ISN’T A SPRING TRAINING GAME. Just live and die with you fast ball that day. Who is calling those pitches? You cannot control how the Tigers play defense, but you can control who you put on the field and what pitches you throw. They booed Bednar as he walked off the field, but this loss was clearly on the Pirate management team. It was a shame because it wasted the best pitching performance of the year by Martin Perez and a 2-home run game by Edward Olivares. Perez gave up 1 run on 6 hits, did not walk anybody and struck out 7 going 8 strong innings. This dropped his ERA below 2 for the season.

Key Moment Of The Game: It came in the bottom of the 5th with Pirates leading 2-1. Alika (I Don’t Know Why I Started Either) Williams led off with a single on a 99 MPH liner to left. Jared Triolo hit a 104 MPH ground ball that the Tiger 2nd basement, Colt Keith made a great grab, spun and threw Williams out at second. One out later Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a 102 MPH deep line drive to wall in left that Riley Greene leaped up and grabbed saving a home run. All of the Pirates balls were hit almost 10 to 50 MPH harder than any of the balls that the Tigers hit in the 9th inning. No question, this is hard defeat to swallow, especially with a tough road trip looming. but the Pirates will just have to move on. All we can hope for is that the Pirate management team doesn’t think that Oneil Cruz needs 3 days rest for his prematurely aging 25 year old body.

Next Game: Tomorrow, Phillies in Philadelphia. Jared Jones will make his third start of the year hoping to extend the quality start streak to 7 games. The sad thing is the Pirates are just 4-2 during the streak. The Pirates will play 4 in Philadelphia and 3 in New York against the Mets. If the Pirates can have a 3-4 road trip, I will consider it a success. A lot of this will depend on how much rest this aging young team will need. The management team is burning the midnight oil trying to figure this out. If I was them, I would concentrate more on pitch selection.

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Pirates Morning Report: A Team Win

Final Score: Pirates 7 Tigers 4

Why The Pirates Won: Mitch Keller gave the Pirates their 5th straight quality start. He was not great but there were encouraging signs. In 6 innings he struck out 9, gave up 2 runs on 5 hits, while walking 3 but 2 of those were in the first inning. He had the swing and miss pitch going, which is a very good sign. The offense came alive with 3 slumping hitters contributing heavily. Andrew McCutchen, Jack Suwinski, and Bryan Reynolds all had 2 hits each with Reynolds hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the 6th. Conner (The Signing Of The Decade) Joe and Jared Triolo each had 2 hits and 2 RBI’s. Joey Bart singled in 2 runs in the 3rd. He should continue to catch at least until he cools off. Henry Davis needs to chill for a while. The bullpen did get nicked up a little but hung tough when it had to. Aroldis Chapman came in the top of the 8th with runners on 2nd and 3rd, only one out, and struck out both batters to end the threat. Aren’t you glad the Pirates did not sign Baez. Ryder Ryan came into the top of the 9th and got touched up for one run on 2 hits, but you felt that the game was never in doubt, especially when Chapman got out of that jam. It was the best chance the Tiger had to make a game of it. This was a total team win with everyone contributing.

Key moment Of The Game: The bottom of the 3rd inning, the Pirates were leading 3-1 having just scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 2nd. With one out Jack Suwinski singled. McCutchen flew out to right field for the 2nd out. Rowdy Tellez got hit by a pitch and Connor Joe walked to load the bases. Jared Triolo took the first pitched and drilled a single to centerfield to knock in 2 runs, giving the Pirates a 5-1 lead. The 2 out lightening was back, and you had a real good feeling about this game. That feeling turned out to be true, even though the Tigers made it a little interesting, the Pirates had a solid win to go 9-2.

Next Game: This afternoon, Tigers in Pittsburgh. We will see if Martin Perez can keep the starting rotation’s streak of quality starts alive today. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the definition of a quality start, it is going 6 innings and giving up 3 runs or less. I do not know who came up with this, but to show you how times have changed if Warren Spahn or Juan Marichal went only 6 innings and gave up 3 runs people would wonder what was wrong with them. The Pirate pitchers during this streak have done a little more than the quality start only allowing 2 runs at the most during the streak. The worst the Pirates will do on this homestand is 3-2 which is acceptable, but it would be nice to go 4-1 because a tough road trip lies ahead.

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Pirates Morning Report: Orioles Bulletin Board: Throwing Practice 10 AM Today.

Final Score: Pirates 3 Orioles 2

Why The Pirates Won: This is an easy one. The Orioles committed 2 throwing errors that led to all of the Pirate’s scoring. The Pirates needed some hitting to set up the runs, but the bottom line was the Pirates scored 3 runs on 3 singles. What is ironic is that the Orioles flashed some pretty impressive leather in the outfield and the infield in the last 2 games. Unfortunately, they had trouble throwing the ball after some of these spectacular plays were made. The rotation is definitely picking up as Marco Gonzales gave the Pirates their 4th straight quality start. He went 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits, striking out 4 and not giving up a walk. The Pirate pitching staff has not given up a walk in 2 out of the last 3 games. Over the last 3 innings the bullpen of Contreras and Hernandez shut out the Orioles on just one hit. The bats were quiet for most of the game as the Pirates only got 7 hits with 6 being singles. Henry Davis although hitless again, did get a crucial sacrifice fly to drive in a run in the bottom of the 5th. The Pirates won the series and improved their record to 8-2. Thank you, Orioles.

Key Moment Of The Game: It was the bottom of the 9th with Pirates trailing 2-1. The inning started with 2 singles, one by Ke’Bryan Hayes and the other by Jack (I Can’t Believe I Got A Hit) Suwinski to put runners on 1st and 3rd with nobody out. Conner Joe walked to load the bases. Rowdy Tellez hit a ground ball to the first baseman and the throw beat Hayes by a mile, but the home plate umpire ruled the runner safe. It is hard to say what happened there. Is the home plate umpire related to Greg Brown. Did he think it was not a force out and the runner needed to be tagged. No matter, instant replay came to the rescue, with the horrible call being overturned to leave the bases loaded with one out. You just had to have that sinking feeling that the Pirates were going to go scoreless with the bases loaded and nobody out for the second consecutive game. This time it was going to cost them the game. Sure enough, Edward Olivares hit a ball up the middle that Gunnar Henderson made a diving stop, touch the bag with his glove and gunned the throw to first to double up Olivares and end the game. Except for one thing, he threw the ball about 5 yards to the left of the bag, and it went into the stands to send both runners home to end the game, giving the Pirates an unbelievable 3-2 win. As Bob Prince use to say, how sweet it is. God, I miss him.

Next Game: Tonight, the Tigers in Pittsburgh. Now that he has seen how it is done, maybe Mitch Keller can keep the quality start streak going for the rotation. Even though it has only been 10 games, it has been one hell of a start to the season. The Pirates have won 3 extra innings games and one 9th inning walk off. In the beginning it was the offense and bullpen and now the rotation is carrying the team. The 3-2 homestand seems like it can be done. Bring those Tigers on baby.

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Fictional Detective

Daily writing prompt
If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?
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I would want to be Phillip Marlowe, Lou Archer, Harry Callahan or Harry Bosch. I have always like police or detective stories. The only thing I would not like to happen is getting hit on the head so much. Don’t you get a big kick out of the hero always getting hit in the back of the head and knocked unconscious, only to be fine so many minutes or hours later. Never has to go the hospital, getting hit in the head with a blunt instrument just the right amount to be rendered unconscious but not killed or suffer some permanent brain damage. The other thing that is so stupid is that the detective winds up getting captured and is held at gunpoint but is never killed. There is always some excuse. The boss wants to see what he knows. Why? Just kill the poor bastard. We can’t do it here; we need to go someplace out of the way. Just kill him and take the body to that out of the way place. Somehow the detective talks the flunky out of killing him because he should not have to go to jail for something the boss wants done. You really don’t think this is the flunky’s first rodeo, do you? He has probably killed about 20 people already. Whatever crazy idea these Hollywood writers come up with, it is really just plain stupid. Yes, I do want to be a fictional detective, but I want to be one that is way smarter than any criminal type could be. I would never let these guys get the drop on me. I would be the one to shoot first and then ask questions later. I like the idea of being that loner, who cannot be bought. Just getting by in an old stuffy office waiting for the next case to keep me from going to the homeless shelter. There have been lots of great movies and series about police and private detectives. I would play any of them as long as I do not get hit the head. I am already loony enough.

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Pirates Morning Report: Shocking Win, Almost Turned Into A Shocking Loss.

Final Score: Pirates 5 Orioles 4 in 11 innings

Why The Pirates Won: Before we get into that, Greg Brown open the game by stating that the Pirates are trying to win games. This was in response to the criticism made by many, including yours truly, of starting Barry (1 hit) Falter. After Brown made this statement, the Pirates did everything they could to try and lose this game but failed. Yesterday I stated, after I wrote that I did not understand why they would start Falter, that he would probably pitch a 1 hitter over 7 innings. He wound up pitching a one hitter over 6 innings and did not come out for the 7th, even though he had thrown only 78 pitches. The bullpen had a bad game for the 2nd time in a row when they could not protect a 3-0 lead over the last 3 innings. The Pirates offense scored 3 runs in the 2nd, with 2 of them scoring on Joey Bart’s home run on his first AB as a Pirate. I was right when I wrote they should give Henry Davis a rest. The Pirates had many other opportunities to add on in this game but did not. In a nutshell they were 3 for 16 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base. So, how in the hell did they win this game? First, Barry Falter did pitch a great game, against a very good lineup. Eleven of the 18 outs were either pop outs or fly outs. Even the hit he gave up was a pop up that should have been caught. He walked one and struck out one. After not wanting him to pitch at all, I had to wonder why they took him out after 6 innings. Luis Ortiz did another fantastic job in extra innings and Josh Fleming got his designated left-handed batter out to end the 11th inning. Oneil Cruz walked it off in the bottom of the 11th with a sharp single to right giving the Pirates a 5-4 thrilling win to set up the rubber match today.

The Key Moments Of The Game: There were all the Pirates missed scoring opportunities. Bottom of the 3rd, 1st and 2nd nobody out, did not score. Bottom of the 4th, 2nd and 3rd one out, did not score. Bottom of the 6th, 1st and 2nd with one out, did not score. Bottom of the 8th, 1st and 2nd, one out did not score. Bottom of the 10th, bases loaded nobody out, did not score. It’s a good thing the Pirates won this game. Another big moment of the game came in the top of the 6th. Falter had miraculously thrown a no-hitter through 5 innings. Jorge Mateo led off the 6th by hitting another big pop up out toward short centerfield and 2nd base. Suwinski and Alika Williams let the ball drop between them for a double. Right there you thought the flood gates might open. However, Falter buckled down and got the next 3 outs easily, 2 pop outs and a ground out. I thought he would be out for the 7th, but I also thought he should have not started at all. I was wrong on both counts. If the Pirates would have lost, it certainly would not have been Barry’s fault. See I just can’t help myself. Neither can the Pirates and they are 7-2

Next Game: This afternoon, the Orioles in Pittsburgh. Falter’s performance may be inspiration for the rest of the rotation figuring if he can do it anybody can do it. We will see how Marco Gonzales does this afternoon. This team could be easily 5-4 or even 4-5 but Greg Brown has assured us that the Pirates are trying to win games. I wonder if the other 29 teams are trying to win games also. Well, maybe not the Marlins. Maybe Brown should go announce for the Marlins so he can set them straight. It sure would be nice to win the series today.

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Pirates Morning Report: We’re Not In Miami Anymore

Final Score: Pirates 2 Orioles 5

Why The Pirates Lost: The two strongest parts of the team thus far fell flat on their face in the home opener. The offense for the 2nd time in 3 games could not do much. Only 3 of the 9 starters were able to get hits. Oneil Cruz had a big game going 3 for 4 with a home run. The Pirates scored their other run on a solo home run by Jared Triolo. The rest of the offense had a really bad day as Henry Davis struck out 3 times, with McCutchen, Tellez and Suwinski striking out twice each. It’s time to give Davis a rest. The bullpen chose to have its worse game of the year at the home opener. In 3 innings the bullpen gave up 3 runs on 6 hits. It was a shame because it wasted the second quality start in row, this time by Jared Jones. In 6 innings, he gave up two long balls, accounting for 2 runs on 6 hits, striking out 7, while issuing no walks. It was a very solid performance but with no offense and an ineffective bullpen Jones went down to his first loss of the year. The Pirates got a look at what a truly great team can do. Hopefully they took a lot of notes. You can’t play the Marlins all the time.

Key Moments Of The Game: They came in the bottom of the first and the bottom of the third. In the first the Pirates had 1st and 2nd with one out and in the 3rd, it was 1st and 3rd with one out. The Orioles had botched a tag play in the 3rd when Cruz should have not run from 2nd to 3rd on a roller along the third base line. The Oriole 3rd basement dropped the ball on the tag play and Cruz was safe at third. The Pirates failed to get any type of big hit in either inning. The culprits both times were Suwinski and McCutchen. In the 1st Suwinski struck out and McCutchen did hit the ball fairly hard but at the right fielder to end the first inning. In the 3rd when only a sacrifice fly was needed Suwinski popped out to 1st and McCutchen popped out to third. The Pirates really did not threaten the rest of the game. After the Triolo homer to lead off the 7th, the Pirates made 9 straight outs, including 6 strike outs. After the third inning the Pirates only had one base runner. Pittsburgh meet the best team in the American League.

Next Game: This afternoon, Orioles in Pittsburgh. Well, Barry Falter is starting today. This is so upsetting to me that I don’t even want to make fun of his last name. You have to wonder what management is thinking. This guy was not all that good last year, did not have a great spring training and in his first start got racked for 6 runs in 4 innings giving up 2 home runs. This against the Marlins to boot. There are plenty of other options on this team, that this guy should not be starting. It is just like giving away game 2 to the Orioles. After writing all of that, Falter will probably go out and throw a 1 hitter for 7 innings. That would be so nice if he did, but I will be shocked if that happens. The Pirates will have to score at least 8 runs to win this game. I would be absolutely thrilled to be wrong. We will know in less than 12 hours.

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I Think That Is Called Volunteering

Daily writing prompt
What job would you do for free?
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I know what the gist of this prompt is. A job that you love so much you would do it for free. That is not the way the world works. Second how would you know what job you would do for free. Think about that. How many jobs have you had. If you really never did a particular job, how would you know you would do it for free. Has everybody been lucky enough to find the job that they love so much that they would do it for free. I think not. Until you actually do a job, you never really know if you are going to like it, let alone love it. Many people when they retire do volunteer work. Some people that have jobs do volunteer work in other areas other than their job. Even if they are retired, they usually only volunteer for a few hours a week. Does that mean that if they would decide to do that as their job, they would do it for free. Doesn’t the word job imply that you are going to be compensated. The word volunteer means that you are doing it for free because you want to not because you have to. People have to work. I loved my career as a veterinarian, but I would have never done it for free. Why? Because it was too damn tough. There have been Presidents of the United States that did not take their salaries. They did that job for free. How does that seem to be working out. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately that is not the way the human psyche works. When you do something that is considered a job you want to get paid for it and many times damn well. Where you here about loving your job the most, is in the world of sports. You will hear an athlete say how much he or she loves the game they are playing. Because these are considered games and the word play is used often when talking about sports, they are not looked at as jobs. In reality they are jobs and the people that are doing these jobs are most of the time paid extremely well. What would be nice, is that we would all do our jobs for free and get equal shares of all the revenues that is created by our economy. Wow, I would have worked for free then. Gross national product divided by 350 million people. That is way too simple to work.