Watching the Yankees lose last night reminded me of my golf game so far this season. One of the most important parts of golf is hitting a good tee shot. Even as an 8-handicapper, I have struggled mightily so far with the driver. The other aspects of my game have been pretty decent—ball striking, chipping and putting—but without a good start, those skills are worthless.
It’s been the same way with the Yankees. Their starters (my driver) have been downright awful against the Red Sox this season. With a 7.01 ERA in seven losses, I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say that the two numbers have some correlation.
It’s amazing how the this analogy continues to work as it goes deeper. My strengths in golf are similar to the strengths of the Yankees. Take my good short game as an example. Chipping and putting are the last steps to each hole, so it’s the same thing as closing a game in baseball. Just like my short game, the Yankees are very good at closing too. Mariano Rivera is one of the top closers of all time—not to say I have one of the best short games of all time—and he is having another good season.
The last analogy is my ball striking compared to the Yankees offense. Both are key components to their respective sports, and we are both good at them. One of the best stats to judge ball striking is how many greens in regulation (GIR) you hit. On a really good day, I’ll hit up to 13 GIR, but I’ll hit as low as 4-5 on a bad day. Obviously, the best judge of a good offense in baseball is how may runs the team scores. The Yankees will score four runs or less on a bad day and will score over 10 on a good day. I think it’s pretty cool how close my number of GIR and the Yankees’ number of runs per game compare to each other.
