Hottest Team in Baseball

The Braves have now won nine of their last 12 games, ever since adopting Tiger Woods as their mascot. They’re the hottest team in baseball. They just demoted Newcomb and Wright so they can figure out how to not walk so many batters, and put closer Viscaino on the disabled list. Tuki came in Saturday night and earned a spot in the rotation. Soon they’ll be adding back Folty, Minter, and McCann. Everyone is hitting except Ender, and he’s batting eighth when he’s not being platooned. Both the starters and relievers have improved, and GM AA is negotiating with Kimbrel, who’s asking for too much money but recently dropped his price. But some fans still aren’t satisfied.    

Interesting interview with Hank Aaron during the ESPN broadcast, especially when they mistook Sam Jethroe as The Hammer. The announcers asked Aaron the question – did his approach at the plate change when he got two strikes? Surely they knew Hank had never struck out one hundred times in any season. He and ARod agreed that you gotta make contact to win. ARod pointed out how Acuna’s strikeout rate is over half that of Andruw Jones. When ESPN was interviewing Aaron a fan complained on social media that the interview was interfering with his ability to hear and see the game. Everyone else told him to get a life.

 

Not sure but perhaps Markakis got fooled by the pitch – expected curveball away but got a fastball in. Not sure. But deGrom is one of the best pitchers in baseball. Markakis did homer in both Saturday and Sunday’s wins.

 

Joel Norman was in Boston this weekend. He had bought a Red Sox ticket. When he got to Fenway Park on Saturday for the game, he realized the ticket had been for Friday night’s game. He managed to get a ticket for Sunday’s game instead.  

Friday night after work C and I went to Pizzeria Lucca in Roswell. The parking lot was jammed, and it was hard finding a place to sit. C had her glass of wine. Watched some Braves and I forget what else.

 

Saturday morning small group. Ceil met a friend for breakfast. Came home and fixed quesadillas out of leftover beans and rice. I always add a little BBQ sauce to add a little zing. At 1 pm I drove Ceil down near 285 & 75 to the Scott Antique Market, a place Ceil likes to go every now and then. Pretty much a glorified flea market. Run out of two old Target/Kmart/Richway stores. Looked like lots of stuff I used to have in my grandfather’s house on Hillpine. Like a great big thrift store, except with higher prices. I walked around and took pictures of interesting things. Very few bobbleheads but a few old sports things, and some old magazines and newspapers.

 

Drove back thru downtown. Mistake. Big traffic jam. Should’ve taken 285 around the west wide, like I had come. Ceil had the Maters playing on her phone the whole way back. Got home and we both made popcorn, me in my hot air popper and C on the stove the old school way. Watched the Masters until it ended, and later the Braves and Hallmark.

 

There was a crowd at JFBC on Sunday. At least plenty of cars in the lot. Decent crowd in my Sunday School class. Afterward Ceil went ahead to the service and I got into a conversation with my other friend Reid and our longtime friend Steve, who has just started coming to our class. We’ve all gotten to the point in our lives where we have concerns about our health and job security. Talked so long that afterward I went back and pulled the car around to pick up C after the service.

Drove straight home and turned on the Masters. Will watched at his apartment (above). Molinari, Finau, and Woods were on the 12th tee. Watched the rest of the tourney and a good chunk of the replay. Cool how Ricky Fowler has started the tradition of sticking around to congratulate the winner of each golf tournament. Other players are joining him. As Woods approached the clubhouse he was greeted by Fowler, Justin Thomas, Koepka, Ian Poulter, Bubba Watson, and Bernhard Langer. Several of those young guys I think live near Tiger in Jupiter Florida, and regularly practice with him during off weeks. Classy that Jack Nicklaus took time to send his congratulations, thought Tiger will often send congrats to young champions as well. Peyton Manning is another athlete who takes time to write letters of best wishes.     

 

Jack is probably the greatest athlete across all sports. Not only did he set the standard on the course but off it as well. Always put his family first. Won with grace, not by bragging. Humble. At 79 he’s still a voice of reason for the sport, liked and respected by all. No skeletons in his closet.

 

This was Woods first Masters win in 14 years. The last time he won Will was only 11 years old. His golf-playing cousin was only ten. They don’t even remember his era of dominance, or the Tiger Slam. They just remember that he was a sensation, the fist pumps. Young Rachel at work didn’t know about the tiger headcover he’s had his entire career. Of course, the Michael Jordan era was before their time as well. That being said, Jack Nicklaus was really before my time. I’d see Jack on the cover of Sports Illustrated when I was I high school and college, but I really didn’t follow golf until the late 80’s.

 

Cleaned upstairs and did laundry. Fixed bean and rive quesadillas for lunch and later for dinner. Watched the Braves and Hallmark Channel.    

 

Saw where the Philadelphia player got fined for checking his cell phone while on the bench.  He was probably following the Masters.