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Monday, September 07, 2015

The Week Before Football

The Braves traded Jonny Gomes – he of the .223 batting average, 66 strikeouts, 28 walks, and 43 hits. His fabled clubhouse presence seemingly hasn’t helped much during the current losing streak. With Gomes’ contract expiring at the end of this season, the Braves now have a minor league prospect instead of nothing in return.
 
Yet fans complain – mostly out of ignorance of the Braves rebuilding plan and the business of baseball in general. Drew admitted as much – he had no idea why the Braves would trade the worst hitter on the team (whose contract is expiring) and keep the best hitter (Markakis) and pitcher (Miller), the two main building blocks for long term success (both with contracts under team control for several years). People are quick to voice their own opinion but slow to first listen and read the reasoning behind such deals.  
 
Gomes the Pitcher: Might’ve been good comic relief considering the tough streak the Braves have been on lately. Gomes said he tipped his cap to the Yankee dugout to signify that he knew this was a serious regular season game. Not sure if his contribution this season – both on the field and off – has come close to the contribution Ichiro has given the Marlins. And who pitched the end of yesterday’s game? They should’ve put Gomes in again.
 
Considering the Yankees payroll is three times the Braves payroll, New York should’ve beaten Atlanta like they did. Bad joke: perhaps that guy who fell from the upper deck was so distraught over the Braves record that he jumped. Actually, those fans frustrated over of the team’s losing streak made me think of this fictional analogy:
 
Put my car in the shop. All last year it ran poorly. Mechanic is replacing and upgrading the entire vehicle from head to toe. Long term project. The mechanic made it clear that the renovation would take over a year. Mechanic has the car all torn up working up on. What makes me mad id that he’s had the car for two months now, and only once in the last two weeks has the car been able to run. I’m beginning the think this mechanic is an idiot.
 
I guess many people don’t follow the Braves closely enough to know what’s going on with the rebuild. In 2013 they complained about Uggla and BJ striking out and now they’re complaining about the bullpen, forgetting about the Grilli injury and trades to position the team for success in 2017.
 
St Louis recently sent reliever Mitch Harris down to AAA Memphis. His fiancé Mandi worked in my new department, but she just proffered her resignation.
 
Typical weekend. Worked until 6:30 Friday evening. Ceil and M cooked pizza. Watched the Braves and The Middle.
 
Saturday I cleaned upstairs, then drove M to Peachtree Corners for his all-day band practice. I came back and shoveled wood chips. Picked M back up later that night.
 
Watched the new “Driven” episode profiling Georgia Tech’s 1990 National Championship team. It came on at 11:30 pm and I stayed up to watch it.
 
Matthew went with Ceil and me to JFBC Sunday morning. Afterwards I got gas and drove M up to Cumming. On the way home I stopped by three thrift stores. Packaged four more eBay shipments and took them to the Post Office on the way up to get M. Arrived early so I walked a few laps around that Avenue shopping center up there.   
 
Monday: Worked past 6:30. Stopped for gas on the way home. M had pizza when he got home from school and wasn’t hungry for the hot wings C had fixed. C grilled chicken for us to have a taco salad. M might’ve has a late night snack as well. Afterward I worked on the computer and cleaned the kitchen. C went to bed early.
 
Monday night’s dream: 11 Alive had auditions for a new shows. Hundreds applied. Since I hadn’t filled out the elaborate application I stood in back next to the producer, hoping to impress her with my jokes. The red haired flower girl from Kroger was there. They wanted young kids who could dance. Later I learned they were also looking for writers, which was more up my alley. Then I woke up. The End.
 
Tuesday: No news on my end. Worked late. Supper was the uneaten leftovers from Monday night. Packaged an eBay shipment. Worked on computer. Watched some Braves and The Middle. Cleaned the kitchen.
 
Wednesday: Met C and M at Moes for dinner last night. C had I split a big burrito, which was better than ordering a small taco. Not much after that though. Watched The Middle and Modern Family and Blackish. No other news to speak of.
 
The new Robert Redford movie looks good: A Walk in the Woods, co-starring Nick Nolte. I read the book. Redford’s autobiography (which I just finished) mentioned that back in 2009 Redford wanted Paul Newman to co-star in the movie with him. Newman was directing a play and had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer, so it didn’t work out.
 
EBay: sold an authentic Brewers Prince Fielder BP jersey for three times what I paid for it.

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