Tag: Frustration

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Nice Blowout Win But Pirates Gain No Ground.

Final Score: Pirates 9 White Sox 3

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirate bats came alive, scoring 9 runs on 18 hits and 3 walks. They had 5 doubles and a home run by Rafael Flores Jr. They got off to a great start with the first seven batters getting on base and scoring 5 runs in the first inning. They did this against Sean Burke, who had an ERA of 3.20 going into the game. That is an ERA lower than any Pirate starter by a long way. Ashcraft has the lowest at 3.65. They scored 2 more runs in the 2nd inning, chasing Burke. Bubba Chandler knew how to pitch with that big lead, going 6 innings, giving up 2 runs, 4 hits, striking out 8, and — hold on to your hats — did not walk a batter. The bullpen gave up a run over the last 3 innings. I question using Yohan Ramirez for the 9th in such a blowout, but what the hell, no Pirate game is ever going to be perfect with Don Kelly managing. Once again, the bad news is the Pirates got no closer to the wild card. Both the Padres and Diamondbacks won with exciting one-run wins. The Diamondbacks gave up a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 9th to blow a 2-0 lead. They came back to win the game 5-3 in 11 innings. The Padres trailed the Nationals 4-1 going into the bottom of the 8th but put a 4 spot on the board to win 5-4. The Pirates are still 5.5 games out of the wild card. They did leap over both the Cardinals and the Marlins. There are 17 games left.

The Key Moments Of The Game: After scoring only 3 runs in the last 3 games getting off to such a great start was huge. Chandler challenged the White Sox hitters by pounding the zone and retired the first 12 batters he faced. I do not see how the road trip could have gotten off to a better start. It was good to see Konnor Griffin get 2 hits and a walk. Spencer Horwitz had 2 hits and 3 RBI’s. Overall, a great win. Now if the Padres and the Diamondbacks can only tank.

Next Game: Tonight, White Sox in Chicago. With only 17 games left there is no room for error. It is another bullpen game for the Pirates tonight. The bullpen games have been very successful for the Pirates. The only negative is the Pirates have a pre-game plan and will not vary from it no matter how a particular pitcher is doing. The Pirates must keep winning and hope. At least they are making it interesting. Stay tuned.

Posted on

Golf Diary:

The Round: Played Mt Lebanon Score: 81 Greens In Reg: 6 Putts: 32

The Good: Pretty much nothing. Did hit a few good drives but that was about it.

The Bad: The iron game did regress as I hit almost all of my irons fat. The putting was mediocre and another 4 putt for the second round in a row. The short game had its ups and downs instead of getting up and down. All in all, it was a back to the drawing board round but we will see what the weekend brings.

The Luck Of The Round: No bad luck here I just stunk.

Next Round: Black Hawk on Sunday.

Posted on

Golf: Frustration

My last post was about frustration in general. This post is about what has frustrated me the most in my life, and that is golf. There is nothing, that even comes a close second. I have been playing golf since I was 8 years old, beginning in 1958. There were two years, 1964 and 1995, where I did not play at all. There have been years that I have played very little golf, due to other commitments. Since 1996 I have played regularly, at least 2 to 3 times per week. Since 2010, I have played at least 100 rounds every year. When I tell people this, they will comment that I should be able to play well, playing that often. If you are playing badly, it doesn’t make any difference how often you play, you are just playing badly often. The game has many ups and downs, which can be expected in any endeavor, but golf takes this to an extreme. What makes golf so frustrating? Let me count the ways.

Golf has many unique qualities, when compared with other sports, and I have written about them before. These unique qualities do contribute to some of the frustrations, but they are far from being the most frustrating thing about the game. The biggest frustration with golf, is how much your game changes from day to day. If I drove a car, like I play golf, I would have an accident, about every third trip. Right now I am going through a down time in my game, which has developed, into what I call, a full blown slump. About 10 days ago, I had, out of the blue, one my best rounds of the year, which enabled me to shoot my age of 71. In fact, I was going to write a blog about this accomplishment, going into fine detail about the round. However, I slowly, but surely, got back to my slump levels, which dampened my desire to write about the round, which now seemed like such a fluke. The next day I shot 76, and then the following day ballooned to an 86. Last week, due to some unforeseen circumstances, I was only able to play two rounds, and did not break 80, either round. Naturally, I was doing some certain swing feelings, when I shot the 71, and I thought wow, this could be what is going to lead me out of this slump. Wrong yip master. This happens all the time. The other frustrating thing about golf is just hitting horrible shots, that should be easy. Missing short putts is another wonderful facet of the game. Not being able to perform at your normal level, when the round is more important, is mystifying and frustrating. Playing well for about 14 holes and then shooting terrible for the last 4 is just another fun part of the game. It does not help, that you see all the same problems and issues at the highest level of the game.

So, how do I deal with the frustrations of my golf game? I have tossed wedges into the woods, never to be found. I have thrown at least 100 balls into various lakes and woods. Slamming a clubhead into the ground seems to relieve a lot of stress. Swearing seems like a nice senseless thing to do. Trying to put my foot trough the bottom of a golf cart, when I hit the accelerator, was another method, that seemed to have some merit. Frustration was a big part of the reason I did not play in 1995, and I almost quit in 2010. I just read my blog about frustration, and I don’t seem to recommend any of these methods. Maybe I am going to have to rewrite that blog. Anybody who plays golf at any level, goes through exactly what I have been describing. It is the nature of the game. If the frustrations of the game are just too hard to overcome, then getting away from it for awhile, or permanently, is a viable solution. Even though I wrote previously, that seeing the greatest players in the world go through the same thing, does not help, but there is some comfort in the fact, that you are not alone. My recommendation to avoid frustration with your golf game, is truly the only way to handle the problem. Other than quitting, how is that accomplished? It is not easy, but I believe there are a couple of things you can do. Have no expectation for any round of golf. When you have that unexpected great round, be happy, and then forget about it. Be ready for the surprises that can happen in any round of golf, good or bad. If you are ready for anything, then whatever happens is not a surprise. Remember, there is a solution out there, we just haven’t found it, yet.