GBraves & More

Surprised to see a four-man MLB umpiring crew work the Gwinnett game Saturday night. Usually they have three man crews. Dana Demuth was behind the plate, Brian Whitson at first, and Jim Joyce at third. When Joyce made a call that went against the GBraves I hollered “Blue – you’ll never make the show!” Doubt he heard me, though.

David Carpenter threw a lot of pitches in the first, to only three batters. The leadoff hitter reached on an error by the third baseman, that should’ve been ruled a hit. Kameron Lowe came on in the second and was shelled. Gave up eight runs in 2-2/3 innings.

Todd Cunningham ranged back to the centerfield fence, leaped, and took a home run away from a Charlotte Knight to end the fifth inning. One of several nice plays by Cunningham. Terdo made several nice scoops at first. Constanza’s defense was shaky in left, but he overcame misjudgements with his speed. No Bethancourt, of course.  Charlotte made at least four errors, mostly from infielders throwing to odd bases: (1) first-baseman throwing to second, (2) pitcher throwing to third, (3) third-baseman throwing home, and (4) catcher throwing to first.

The rains came in the bottom of the sixth, so I made for the exit to beat the traffic jam. Took Hwy 20 west for thirty miles to pick up M at a party in Canton. His friend from church rode back with M and spent the night. Will was at a bachelors party in Johns Creek.

Not as big a fuss when the Braves take four straight in Philadelphia as when the Phillies win four straight here. Drove me crazy when BJ admired his fly ball to center, trotted to first, then turned on the jets to reach third. At least the Braves aren’t the only team to have fielding problems in the outfield.

Friday afternoon I called Ceil when I left work. Got home to find that she had taken Will and Anna shopping. Matthew spent the day at Six Flags.

Saturday morning I took M to meet his girlfriend. Her parents were throwing her a birthday party that afternoon/evening. Bought a nice pair of Pumas. Stopped by McDonalds at 10:45 and received two horrendous Egg McMuffins. Later I drove downtown to Coke headquarters for a focus group on those Freestyle machines you see in restaurants. Didn’t get to drink any Coke, though.  

Heard Rob Suggs re-joined SPdL. Sunday afternoon Ceil and I attended a parents meeting at PCC. The youngest Hargreaves daughter was baptized at the 5 pm service. Got stuck in a traffic jam on Piedmont on the way home. Later drove Anna back to PCC to get her car, showed her how to get to Atlantic Station, stopped by Kroger, and picked up M at Menchies Yogurt at the corner of Piedmont and Roswell.  

Matthew left for Tennessee this am. Chattanooga Aquarium and UT Knoxville. Threw a frisbee on the Vols baseball field.  Thanks to me, the family Matthew is vacationing with added the Wednesday night Tennessee Smokies game to their itinerary. They might go see The Cotton Patch Gospel in Asheville. He returns Friday night.

Interesting Oakland A’s article in Sports Illustrated, and a good column on Tony Gwynn.