"The way I see it is I can't get too far ahead of myself," said Holland, who has allowed nine hits and three walks over the past 18 innings. "I know I've had two good games in a row, but I've just got to not worry too much about being consistent but having fun and taking care of business."
Holland has always been his own worst critic, and that played a role in his performances his first few seasons. He said that he has learned to take that criticism and do something positive with it.
"The harder you are on yourself, you're putting too much pressure on yourself and not performing like you should," said Holland, who retired the first 15 hitters Thursday. "It's just being more relax and saying, 'Yes, I did something wrong,' and learning from that mistake instead of dwelling on it."

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/07/15/3225072/rangers-holland-learning-to-manage.html#ixzz1SIjbbbgK

That was from Jeff Wilson. These are some very encouraging remarks from Holland. In a previous post I was mainly talking about the pride that comes along with success and sabotages future success and consistency, but now I see that Derek also seems to have been too hard on himself. I actually think that the highs and the lows usually go together, pride and despair are the two culprits (and maybe I should not have discussed one without mentioning the other). They can put us on a roller coaster of prideful highs and discouraging lows if we let them.

From a religious perspective pride and despair come from the same root which is putting oneself at the center instead of God. The creature must praise the Creator and find happiness in giving all of the glory to God realizing that the Lord gives and that the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord for he has our best interest in mind and does everything according to his loving plan for us. By regarding oneself as something akin to a worthless pile of shit one falls into despair. Despair comes from the same root as does pride because it puts the self in the center by rejecting God's love. God loves every person with an infinite love and has plans for our salvation if we cooperate with him, and regarding ourselves as unworthy of those plans is a rejection of God's authority and his love. Thus despair, just like pride, is a rejection of God's loving authority and a placement of the self over God, not because we are impressed with ourselves as with pride but because we are so down on ourselves that we reject the notion that God still loves us even in our sins, he still desires us to return to him so that he can save us.

How does all of this apply to baseball? Surely Holland hasn't fallen into self despair, right? I am not suggesting that he or anyone else has or did. I am just outlining this fundamental framework of the human experience that is universal. Everyone struggles with the highs and lows, getting too high on ourselves when we succeed and too low on ourselves when we fail, and pride and despair are the archetypes with which we study these experiences. That doesn't mean that we are always on cloud nine when we manifest some degree of pride or always in the gutter when we manifest some degree of despair. These are just archetypes for the study of human experience.

So while not getting too high on yourself is the medicinal cure for pride, not being too hard on yourself is the medicinal cure for despair or discouragement.

These rules apply in baseball just as they do in life in general. I want to add a disclaimer though. There are those very prideful players in the game of baseball that tend to succeed in spite of their pride. Humility is not always a quality of baseball success. Sometimes people develop a drive based on selfishness that provides them success. This sort of success is not the type I am hoping for in baseball or in life, but it is a reality for some people sometimes. God does not always hinder the prideful from having selfish success and the world is full of people who have success through pride and other tainted means. This isn't the sort of success anyone ought to be pursuing, and I think it is fundamentally opposed to the notion of team work. In other words, if baseball is a life activity that makes us better human beings as it should be, then we ought to be seeking how to succeed by way of humility and unselfishness. From the religious standpoint the first thing is to put God first by warding off pride and despair in any and all activities. I think baseball tends to force one to avoid the highs and lows associated with the ebbs and flows of success during a long season, and that is one reason I love the game so much, it is so much like life. So, as Derek said, its good to stay focused and to work hard when you have success and to not be too hard on yourself when you fail. Just accept your mistake in humility and get back to hard work and having fun.

I'm excited about Derek's pitching going forward as he really seems to be right on the ball with the good things he is saying about not being too hard on himself and not getting ahead of himself, and taking a big dose of fun with it all is probably the best thing you can do to relax yourself so that you can succeed and let good things happen without dwelling on any one thing too much. Now I will really feel bad if Derek is traded, regardless of whether he finds consistency right now or in the next couple years. He is only 24 after all.

Are you off your meds or something?

You know Joe, I can appreciate your faith. Even your Baseball bent of thought,
but your sermons really ought to wait for a Sunday Audience of mass. I can be
as faithful as some. I still query thoughts of why the Old Man would allow someone
as authentic a human as Mr. Stone slip from grip, as his son viewed the event. Why
he allows a wretch as I, to continue... saving me from many grips close to a cats life.
Please, don't answer. It's a riddle I venture into personally & inquisitively. I certainly don't
poke through puffy clouds looking up for answers, or in peek-a-boo of his presence.
It's all very personal to me... maybe many, even most. There's a time & a place- turn, turn.
God Bless You, but amen

No one has to read if they don't want to. But if you do thanks for reading. Baseball is really about life as much as anything is. Baseball is one of those life activities just like other forms of recreation and of work. Therefore, the religious applies to it. Life isn't religious over here and baseball over there and something over here. Life is not fragmented, shattered into many different pieces. It is unified. The same people who play baseball have families, go to Church (at least some anyways), vote in elections, et al. So while my post was mostly religious the point was that religious applies to baseball and baseball to religion.

My post here was certainly not meant as condescension to anyone but rather as discussion. It might not be welcome to some and that is fine. Avert your eyes if need be and thanks for reading if you do.

"Are you off your meds or something?"

LOL

I didnt say that to be mean...I hope you don't take it as such. It's just that you are all over the map lately. This is VERY different than your post about Holland just 7 days ago. And the new trend of mixing religion in (with profanity) is confusing (I am a very devout Christian). I get what you're trying to say Im just not sure why. You seem to be thinking awefully deep today and I understand that this forum can be an outlet....I don't really follow, but I will do my best not to judge.

And I'm not opposed to profanity, I excell in it. I just don't think it helps get the religious point across. This is just such a slippery slope for a baseball forum....throw me a rope, i need to get off

To be honest Joe, NO, I did not read your biblical interpretation of God & Baseball.
I come here for Baseball Revelations. I did read your Baseball/Holland analogy, of sort.
I am positively sure that Baseball is the Old Man's favorite sporting event. Possibly his
mental therapy, with drama & comedic escapades for giggly entertainment too.

I started to sign off as Son of Elijah, which I am... but questioned whether Elijah had a son.
I immediately picked the nearest Bible, in Wikipedia and read all about Elijah the Prophet.
I'm not kidding, I really did. I never knew he was the guy in the big chair, watching me get
circumcised. To think he was also responsible for the taming of Lilith and allowing my
Mother to sing me to sleep with wonderful Lilithby's (Lullaby, as we know them). I grew
into Baseball, soon there after. Old Grand Pa Asa and his Cardinals... yes, Bible & Baseball-
Unite... eventually.

Adam,

Even the inspired Word sometimes mixes in a little vulgar language for emphasis from time to time, just ask St. Paul.

Philippians 3:8
Context
NET ©
More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things – indeed, I regard them as DUNG! 1 – that I may gain Christ,

NET © Notes
1 tn The word here translated “dung” was often used in Greek as a vulgar term for fecal matter. As such it would most likely have had a certain shock value for the readers. This may well be Paul’s meaning here, especially since the context is about what the flesh produces.

http://classic.net.bible.org/verse.php?book=phi&chapter=3&verse=8

As far as this post being different than my previous one I think this is a more full assessment while the last was focusing on pride almost exclusively. I said at the beginning of the post that I probably shouldn't have mentioned pride without talking about discouragement as they usually come as two sides of the same coin. So I don't think my first post was opposed to this one, it was just focused on one aspect while this one is focused on two aspects for a more full assessment.