Month: April 2026

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Pirates Morning Report: Four Down 88 To Go

Final Score: Pirates 5 Orioles 4

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates were able to bunch 4 of their six hits together in the bottom of the 2nd to score 4 runs. Konner Griffin, in his first major league at-bat, took an outside curveball and drilled it into left center field for a double to drive in the first run. A single by Triolo, a double by Henry (I Can’t Believe Either) Davis, and a single by Oneil Cruz put 3 more runs on the board. Mitch Keller pitched an erratic but effective six innings. He gave up 2 runs on 6 hits. He struck out 3 and walked 3. He threw 88 pitches. Yohan Ramirez came on in the 7th and really did not pitch that badly. He was the victim of some bad luck and a little wildness. He gave up a bloop single and a double that led to a run. He got a fly ball to center before walking a batter to put runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. Mason Montgomery came in and put out the fire. Griffin made a nice defensive play on a little dribbler to short that took a funny hop to get the second out. Montgomery struck out the next batter to end the inning. The Pirates scored what proved to be the deciding run without getting a hit. Two walks, a wild pitch, and a sacrifice fly gave them their 5th run. They needed that run when Gunnar Henderson hit a home run in the top of the 9th to make it 5-4. It was a nice opening day win for the Buccos.

Key Moment Of The Game: It came during Konner Griffin’s first at-bat. He kept swinging at sweepers that were outside the strike zone. He had a 1-2 count when he barely foul-tipped another outside pitch with the end of the bat. The Oriole catcher could not hold it, and Griffin had life. One more curve sweeper that was a little higher and just caught the outside of the plate was ripped into left center field. The Pirates ran the bases aggressively and scored 4 runs thanks to some Orioles’ offline throws. This was a game that the Orioles could have easily won.

Next Game: Today Orioles in Pittsburgh 4:05 PM. Carmen Mlodzinski will go for the Pirates. Baltimore will counter with Shane Baz, a former Pirate prospect who was given up in the Chris Archer trade. It will be interesting to see if Nick Gonzales will start tomorrow. I know we are still in small sample size mode, but Jared Triolo, even with 2 hits yesterday, has an OPS of .569. Nick Gonzales has a .764 OPS. Gonzales has 5 RBIs and Triolo 1. This team needs bats more than it needs gloves. One final thing: GET CRUZ OUT OF THAT LEAD-OFF SPOT. The Pirates put the anal in analytics.

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Golf: The Uniqueness Of Each Part Of Golf

As you play a round of golf, you are faced with different phases of the game. To divide them up, we have the driver, shots from the fairway, shots from the rough, less than full swing shots, special shots, sand shots, and putting. Seven different phases of the game that you encounter in every round of golf. What makes this important is that each phase has a unique quality. Because of this, a golfer cannot apply what they do in one phase to another phase. Certainly, there are some common ground elements that can be used, like keeping a good tempo, making sure you are aligned correctly, and a few other fundamental swing basics. One needs to be aware of these not-so-subtle differences in order to have success in getting around the golf course. I will start at the beginning and work my way through each part of the game you will run into as you play 18 holes of golf.

The Driver: What makes the driver unique is that it is the only club in the bag you are going to hit slightly on the upswing. Now I know you hear of pros hitting the so-called trap draw, and one can get away with hitting the driver slightly on the downswing, but if you want to get the most out of your driver, you will hit it slightly on the upswing. Also, what makes the driver unique is that you are not trying to hit it a particular distance. You are trying to hit it as far as you can, which can lead to swinging too hard at the ball, which can leak into the rest of your game. The driver is where tempo, rhythm, and balance are the most important. The driver is the one club that can set up your swing for the entire day. If you can keep your driver swing smooth and overcome the urge to KILL THE BALL, the rest of your game will fall into place. Even though you are not trying to hit the ball a particular distance, accuracy is still very important. The fairway is better than the rough, and the rough is better than the woods. Keeping your swing in control is most important with the driver.

Shots From The Fairway: These are the shots that you are going to hit the ball on a slightly descending blow. You must hit the ball before your swing reaches the bottom of the arc. As the clubs get shorter, the descending blow should increase. If you play public golf, you know that all fairways are not created equal. The shorter the grass, the ball will travel a little less distance for each club. The other thing that makes shots from the fairway unique is that now you are trying to hit the ball a certain distance. Even on par 5’s, you may want to hit your 2nd shot to a particular spot in order to make the 3rd shot easier. Trying to hit the ball a certain distance adds one element into what you are trying to achieve in a round of golf. Most golfers try to be way too precise when trying to accomplish this. The average length of a green from front to back is about 25 to 30 yards. That gives you a pretty good margin of error to get the ball on the green. This should be your thought process from 130 yards out and beyond. When you get closer, you can begin to think about where the pin is.

Shots From The Rough: This shot, even though the principle of hitting the ball is the same, is unique in two ways. First, the ball will fly further, and you will have less control over it. Depending on how the ball is lying and how deep the rough is, that will determine what club you will use. The worse the lie is, the more of a descending blow you will have to deliver to the ball. It is not a bad idea to literally think of the swing as a chop to get out of the rough. The main rule of thumb for hitting out of the rough is to lower your expectations and aim for the middle of the green and the fairway if this is a second shot on a par 5.

Less Than Full Swing Shots: This heading refers to short game shots that require less than a full swing, typically from under 80 yards to the green. These shots can be taken from both the fairway and rough, necessitating greater precision in distance and direction. For shots between 30 and 80 yards, you need a method to control distance. One way is to choke down on the club; the lower your grip is, the shorter the ball will travel, but this may lead to a lower trajectory that complicates shots over obstacles. Another method is to visualize a clock face, taking your left arm back to various positions (7, 8, 9, 10, or 11 o’clock) based on the distance you want to hit. This is known as the Dave Pelz method. Lastly, you can take a nearly full swing but slow down your pace depending on the distance, starting from your regular 100 MPH swing to 80, 60, and 40 MPH for shorter distances. Experimenting with these techniques will help you find what works best for you. Chipping and pitching around the green rely more on feel and practice, and you should aim to hit the ball with a descending strike, similar in principle for both fairway and rough, though with more control from the fairway.

Special Shots: These are the shots that you have to hit when you are on a severe slope, when in trouble, or in windy conditions. Essentially, this means dealing with slope or going high or low. This includes trying to curve the ball on purpose. There are many methods to try and do all of this. This is what makes this part of the game unique. Not everybody has the skill to work the ball. The most important of these is keeping the ball low. If you learn one basic thing in golf, it is to hit the low ball. There are many ways to do this. Find them on YouTube and pick one that will work for you. Playing from slopes requires certain changes from each situation. Ball above your feet; choke up on the club and aim to the right. Ball below your feet; bend over more, get closer to the ball, aim left, and take one more club. Downhill lie: take one less club, play the ball back in your stance, and aim left. Uphill lie: aim right, take one more club, and aim right. Make these adjustments, and you should hit reasonable shots from severe slopes.

Sand Shots: There are two kinds of sand shots: greenside sand shots and sand shots from the fairway. They are each unique. Greenside bunker shots are the only shot in golf that you don’t hit the ball. You hit approximately 2 inches behind the ball. Anytime you watch or read some instruction on greenside sand shots, they will talk about how easy they are. I guess this is some kind of psychological ploy to ease players’ anxiety over these shots. These are not easy shots. The PGA Tour average for getting up and down in two from the sand is 52% so far this season, which is what it was for 2025. Essentially, PGA Tour pros get up and down one out of two times. For us, the simple rule should be, when in the bunker, get it out of the bunker and onto the green. Again, there are lots of good instructions on YouTube, but don’t be fooled by the claim that these are easy shots. Hitting from fairway bunkers presents another problem. The basics are this: dig your feet into the sand, choke up on the club to compensate for the digging in, take at least one more club for the distance, and play it slightly further back in your stance to help with clean contact. Is that enough uniqueness for you?

Putting: Last but certainly not least, putting. What makes it unique is that it is the only shot in golf that does not get up in the air. Unless you hole out a shot from around the green or fairway, it is the way every hole finishes. Hogan said it was not even golf. I guess that makes it pretty unique. It usually has a unique grip. The club you use to putt with can be pretty unique. It can be even the longest club in your bag. It is probably the biggest reason people have quit playing golf: over their frustration with putting. It can save your game, making a long putt to save par. It can ruin your game when you miss a short putt after a great shot. Enough said.

There you have it. Every phase of golf and what you have to do and think in order to play to your best ability. It is the reason that golf is so hard. There are endless situations and problems in every round of golf. It makes it one of the most fascinating games man ever invented. I think the biggest problem for the average player is his lack of awareness of just how hard it is and then trying to get too much out of every shot. I will leave you with my one mantra: bogeys are not bad. Remember that the next time you play.

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Pirates Morning Report: Three Down 89 To Go

Final Score: Pirates 8 Reds 3

Why The Pirates Won: Despite a very strange lineup, the Pirate bats continued to score runs. No O’Hearn and no Lowe. I can see Lowe; he does have trouble against lefties. O’Hearn hits lefties better than righties. There is this thing today called a day off. I am not sure the Pirate management team knows what that means when a team has an off day. What it means to me is nobody is playing today and O’ Hearn did not need yesterday off. When you win, even stupidity is rewarded. Though the run total was the same, the Pirate pitching staff had a much better performance. Paul Skenes pitched 5 solid innings. Why just 5, I’ll never know, but maybe in the long run, it might be best. Skenes gave up 1 run on 3 hits. He struck out 5 and walked 2. He threw 77 pitches, but the Pirates felt he had thrown enough. Mason Montgomery gave up a 2-run homer after a walk, but the rest of the bullpen was superb. Isaac Mattson, Justin Lawrence, and Gregory Soto pitched the last 3 and 1/3 innings, giving up just one hit, no walks, and struck out 3. Soto looked a lot better than the game before. The Pirate offense put 8 runs on the board again with Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds hitting home runs for the 2nd consecutive game. The Pirates were clinging to a 4-3 lead going into the top of the 9th. They put 4 runs on the board, with Nick Gonzales and Bryan Reynolds getting the big hits and driving in 2 runs each. Those 9th-inning runs on the road are sure nice insurance.

The Key Moments Of The Game: In the first inning, the first two batters made outs. Bryan Reynolds singled to right. The struggling Marcel Ozuna worked a 6-pitch walk. Oneil Cruz hit a 2-1 knee-high curve out over the plate, 407 feet into the right field seats, to give the Pirates a quick 3-0 lead. This got the Pirates off to a fast start. Skenes had a good first inning, and the Pirates kept their early momentum going. After the Reds made it 4-3 in the 6th inning, the Pirate bullpen never really let the Reds put up much of a threat. The last 10 Reds batters all made outs. The Pirates had the big 9th inning for a series win.

Next Game: Tomorrow, the Orioles in Pittsburgh, at 4:12 PM. For the Pirates, it will be Mitch Keller starting the home opener. Let’s hope things go better for the home opener than they did for the opener of the season. Other than the first game’s disaster, the pitching has been pretty much spot on. They have not given up more than 3 runs in any of the last 5 games. The Pirates did finish the road trip 3-3, which is what you are supposed to do on the road. The Pirates are going to play 13 out of the next 16 games at home. We will see if the Pirates can get on a nice little run during this stretch.

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Pirates Morning Report: Two Down 90 To Go

Final Score: Pirates 8 Reds 3

Why The Pirates Won: The hitters won this one. The pitchers, even though they only gave up 3 runs, were shaky as hell. Bubba Chandler did not give up a hit but walked 6 batters in 4 and 1/3 innings. The Reds scored 1 run on a botched fly ball by Bryan Reynolds and O’Neil Cruz. All is forgiven when you hit 3 home runs between you and drive in 4 runs. The Pirates went long ball last night. Ryan O’Hearn got the big hit, a 3-run homer after 2 were out in the top of the 3rd to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead. Bryan Reynolds followed him with a homer to left. Cruz hit 2 home runs, one in the 4th and the other in the 9th to give some insurance runs. The way the Pirates pitched, it looked like they were going to need it. A little luck and some bad baserunning by the Reds helped keep them from making this a better game. Yohan Ramirez, who I did not think should make the team, continued to pitch great. Coming in with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 5th, he struck out Matt McClain and Elly De La Cruz to end the inning. It was the bottom of the 8th where things got interesting.

Key Moments Of The Game: Hunter Barco came out for his third inning of work in the bottom of the 8th and gave up two home runs. One was a real fluky by De La Cruz. He hit a high fly ball down the right field line that looked like it had to go foul. However, it just went over the fence about a foot inside the foul pole. That was followed by another opposite-field blast by Sal Stewart to make the score quickly 6-3. Don Kelly got ejected on a non-check swing call on Eugenio Suarez. Suarez then proceeded to get a single to right. Barco was replaced by Dennis Santana. He gave up a single to put runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs. Noelvi Marte popped out to short with no advancement by the runners. Nathaniel Lowe pinch-hit for catcher Jose Trevino. Lowe, after falling behind in the count 0-2, worked it out to 3 and 2. Lowe hit this very soft 59 MPH liner between 1st and 2nd. Brandon Lowe made a very nice diving catch and the runner was easily doubled off 1st to end the inning. It was a big base running blunder by the Reds. If there was ever a time for the Reds to really put the squeeze on this struggling Pirates team, this was the inning to do it. They essentially came up empty. Cruz hit another homer in the top of the 9th with a man on base to give the Pirates a little more breathing room. The way Gregory Soto pitched, I would not have wanted to see the inning unfold with only a 3-run lead. Soto gave up a leadoff single to Ke’Bryan Hayes. By the way, Hayes is batting 9th for the Reds, something he never did for the Pirates. After one out, Soto hit the next batter. He got the second out when Nick Gonzales made a nice play on a ground ball in the hole to force the runner out at third. Soto walked the next batter to load the bases. He struck out Suarez to end the game. The last two innings could have been disastrous for the Pirates.

Next Game: Today, the Reds in Cincinnati at 12:40. Paul Skenes goes today for the Pirates. Let’s hope he has better luck today. Nick Yorke started at 3rd base for the Pirates last night. He did not get a hit but hit a sacrifice fly to start the scoring. I will be surprised if Triolo is not in the lineup today, but we will see. After all the trials and tribulations of this early season, the Pirates have a chance for a .500 road trip. The Reds are sending Andrew Abbott to the mound. He had a nice opening day start. In 6 innings, he got touched up for 7 hits and a walk but did not give up a run. Hopefully, the Pirates will be able to ride Paul Skenes to a series win.