Baseball's Back

Lots going on with the Braves. A little bit different with the cardboard cutouts. Players were going into the stands to take selfies with the cutouts. Freddie had one with a cutout of his son. Markakis is back. Can’t hurt, especially with the DH. Earlier this week Freddie DH’d so he wouldn’t have to play on the Astroturf. Gives Adams and Culbertson and Carmargo a chance to play more regularly, and have a better defense out on the field. Everyone will be a little more rested, especially with the grueling stretch of 20 games in 20 days.

Was watching the pregame Wednesday night. Glavine and Soroka playing hockey. A story about the Braves relationship with the Cherokee Indians. Hank Aaron. Dansby stole a base. Freddie got four hits. Braves fall behind, then come back to win, butting the ball in play instead of waiting for the home run. Great play by 3B Austin Riley to end the game. After a win the players aren’t hugging or high-fiving, but instead saluting each other. Looks like they’re all doing the tomahawk chop.  I’m watching more than usual.

As a member of the Cleveland Indians, the grandfather of current Braves leftfielder Marcell Ozuna (below) played in the 1954 World Series game when Willie mays made his great catch of Vic Wertz' deep fly ball.

Left work at five. Drove straight home. Was looking for cars with Anna. At 7:30 we drove out to Roswell to test drive a Nissan. Will look more tonight and hopefully get it figured out and bought by the end of the weekend. After Roswell we drove north on 92 past Windward to Midway to look at a Mazda. Place was closed by then but at least we got a feel for the dealership.

More car shopping Thursday night and tonight. Anna bought a 2018 Honda HR-V. Good to spend time with Anna, though car shopping stresses me out. Glad that’s over with. On to the next set of projects.

On the way home Wednesday night we drove through Taco Bell. Was almost ten by the time we got home. Didn’t get to bed until after 11 pm. Busy night. Dreamed I was at work cleaning up trash at my desk (must’ve been the Taco Bell). In real life I had recently gone through old files and thrown away a bunch of ten year old paperwork. In the dream my boss was there, talking on the phone. Another coworker was complimenting me, calling me a “Smoltz.”

What Happened to Red Lightning, Football’s Greatest Ball Boy?

https://fanbuzz.com/college-football/acc/florida-state/red-lightning-fsu/

BOBBY SHANTZ  [SABR Bio] was the first player to win a Gold Glove award while playing for the Yankees. Gold Glove for pitchers, won for all MLB in 1957. Next Yankees to win were in the following season: Norm Siebern won his only GG (as an outfielder) and Shantz repeated. Shantz was the first pitcher to win eight consecutive Gold Gloves, from 1957-1964. His last two were for the National League teams he pitched for. Only Greg Maddux (13), Jim Kaat (12) and Bob Gibson (9) won more consecutively. Shantz was the only pitcher to win the American League’s Most Valuable Player honor between Hal Newhouser and Denny McLain. Newhouser was the AL MVP in 1945 and McLain won in 1968. Shantz won the honor in 1952 for PHA by posting league-leading totals in wins (24) and WAR (9.4). He also led the league in win/loss %, WHIP, fewest walks per game and best strikeout to walks ratio.

The Buck & Kincade Classic

This morning Will played in the 680 the Fan Buck & Kincade Classic charity golf tournament at the Legacy Golf Links at Lake Lanier. Before the shotgun start hosts Buck Belue and John Kincade posted a short video on social media. That's Will on the putting green behind them.

Will shared a cart and played in the same foursome with 680 radio personality John Kincade, who usually plays bad cop to legendary UGA quarterback Buck Belue. Kincade has a weekend radio show on ESPN Radio, and has raised millions for cancer research through radiothons and tournaments like this.

Before the tourney Kincade and Belue spoke to the golfers.

Kincade is easy to hate because he's a yankee who loves his teams from Philly. He even had an Eagles golf bag.

Instead of playing with ringer golfers this year, Buck & Kincade honored first responders by opening up their foursomes to front line pandemic workers, and Will was chosen for his work in the ER.

Kincade tees off. Later on the radio John said they used his shot six times, which wasn't a good thing. Will admitted getting off to a shaky start, but later settled down and hit some good shots. Their team finished three under par, seven shots behind Belue's team.

That's hall of fame quarterback Joe Hamilton behind the Georgia Tech mask. Hamilton is a radio host on 680's sister station.

Kincade had nice things to say about Will,

both on the radio and on Twitter.

Out of Many, One

Drives me crazy how folk who work in the ministry say divisive things on social media. The issues of the day: covid, mask wearing, quarantines, riots, protests, police brutality, racial strife, politics, social media, etc - are all being used by Satan to divide and pit people against each other. Followers of Jesus are supposed to be all about being unified and speaking the truth in love. Our country's motto is E Pluribus Unum, meaning "out of many, one." Instead of coming together, evil forces are working to tear our country apart. So many are falling right into Satan's trap.   

 

Did you know that I love burgers and tater tots?

 

Hopefully Anna is getting a job at High Country Outfitters at Ansley Mall. She's still looking for a job in her field, but this will be more hours than she's getting at Madewell at Perimeter Mall. Anna is also doing freelance graphic design work for Grace Church in Athens. She just updated their website.

 

Tuesday evening Ceil was at her women's ministry on Delk Road. Anna went to eat with friends. I drove straight some. Fixed turkey and rice quesadillas. Cut the grass. Watched some of the Braves. Played on my laptop.

 

Matthew hung out with me and Ceil a little after picking up his dinner. He has a job interview at Trader Joes here in East Cobb at Pine Straw Plaza.

 

Forgot to watch Celebrity Jeopardy again. Charles Barkley will be on there sometime this week. Last night I was out cutting the grass. After the Braves game I watched a rerun of Holy Moly. Love that show.

 

The Miami Marlins had all their games this week postponed. No telling if MLB will be able to finish their season. Keeping my fingers crossed for college football, though it sounds like pro football is already starting to have problems.

 

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/mlb/miami-marlins/article244540212.html

WHITEY FORD  [SABR Bio] – this Hall of Fame mound artist pitched in four consecutive World Series openers. In fact, he did it twice! Starting pitcher in game one of World Series in 1955, 1956, 1957 & 1958 and then again in 1961*, 1962, 1963 & 1964, the eight starts done under three different managers. Besides these eight, Ford was the starting pitcher in 14 additional World Series games. He broke Babe Ruth's favorite pitching record.

 

- On 09-Oct-1916 WS in G 2, Ruth shutout BRO on for the final  13-1/3 innings.

- On 05-Sep-1918WS in G 1, he blanked the Cubs all game for  9.0 innings.

- On 09-Sep-1918WS in G 4, he blanked the Cubs for the first 7-1/3 innings.

 

With no World Series pitching assignments between these, Ruth had 29-2/3 consecutive innings totaled without allowing a single run, earned or otherwise. Ford eclipsed Ruth's mark of held by cobbling together.33-2/3 straight scoreless World Series innings, a mark that had by then stood for more than 40 years, like this:

 

- On 08-Oct-1960 WS in G 3, Ford shutout PIT for all 9.0 innings.

- On 12-Oct-1960 WS in G 6, he blanked PIT for all 9.0 innings.

- On 04-Oct-1961 WS in G 1, he blanked CIN for 9.0 innings.

- On 08-Oct-1961 WS in G 4, he blanked CIN for the first 5.0 innings.

- On 04-Oct-1962WS in G 1, he blanked SFG for the first 1-2/3 innings.

 

Without postseason work besides these, Ford had 33-2/3 innings. The consecutive unscored-upon World Series innings was a record Ruth was said to have treasured more than he did his 60 HR in a year. Both marks fell in 1961. Ford also holds the current record for most complete-game shutouts for his franchise. He spun 45 career shutouts for his only Major League team, the Yankees. Red Ruffing and Mel Stottlemyre, (with 40 apiece) had the next most among Yankee pitchers.

 

* Ford was named MVP of the 1961 WS. Mickey Mantle said that this was the strongest team he ever played on.

 

NFL Hall of Famers "who may not have earned it", by GamedayNews.com. This post is garbage. Click bait. Starts off "Fans don't take the Football Hall of Fame quite as seriously…" Not sure why they can't get the HOF name right. Some choices are more obvious (Namath, Griese) than others (Sayers). Very flawed reasoning. Surely the kid who compiled this saw hardly any of these guys play (even on film!), and has little knowledge of their careers.

 

The selection process for the PFHOF is more rigorous than baseball or any other hall of fame. There are dozens of worthy candidates who will never get in. Players who earned team of the decade status. While the stats for the players below may not stand up to players who played years later, rules changes have led to more explosive offenses that when many of these players played. Each were selected for the HOF for worthy reasons.   

 

Troy Aikman, Marcus Allen, Jerome Bettis, Terry Bradshaw, Harry Carson, Cris Carter, Dave Casper, Curley Culp, Terrell Davis, Fred Dean, Richard Dent, Dan Dierdorf, Tony Dungy, Frank Gatski, Bob Griese, Russ Grimm, Ray Guy, Dan Hampton, Chris Hanburger, Bob Hayes, Paul Hornung, Jerry Jones, Dick LeBeau, Marv Levy, John Mackey, Curtis Martin, Art Monk, Warren Moon, Joe Namath, John Riggins, Charlie Sanders, Gale Sayers, OJ Simpson, John Stallworth, Jan Stenerud, Lynn Swann, Andre Tippett, YA Tittle, Roger Wehrli, and Rayfield Wright. Slam dunks in bold.

 

https://www.gamedaynews.com/football/nfl-hall-of-famers-who-might-not-have-earned-it/?utm_source=tb&utm_medium=msn-defaulthomepage-tb&utm_term=NFL+Hall+of+Famers+Who+Don%27t+Deserve+to+Be+in+Canton-https%3A%2F%2Fwfmulti.wpengine.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F08%2F626234148-72368.jpg%3Fwidth%3D1200%26height%3D628&utm_content=2916317194&utm_campaign=5615960-tb&utm_source=tb&edge=1 

Bad Folty

Folty’s second straight bad outing (third if you count last year's final playoff game), and he’s kicked off the team for the rest of the year. Poor kid looks emaciated. Can't get his fastball up to 90 mph. The Braves can trade him or keep him in the minors for next year. Maybe they’ll trade him to the Marlins. My take: Cares too much about the shoes. Spikes. Socks (above: never seen floppy socks on a baseball player). Fast cars. Folty has a beautiful young family. Hope he's saving for retirement.

 

AJC beatwriter Gabe Burns stoked the fires of the Twitterverse by saying all of a sudden the Braves have a shortage of pitching after focusing their rebuild on pitching, but that’s really not the case. I just said yesterday how they’d already lost free agent starting pitchers Felix Hernandez and Cole Hamels, so now the Braves are down three starting pitchers. Still, Soroka, Fried, Newcomb, and Kyle Wright form a great nucleus.

 

Some say the Braves should go for broke, make trades, and mortgage the future to win the World Series this year. Crazy talk. The season could end immediately at any time. Young Pache, Waters, and all those other phenoms will be taking the place of Ozuna, Inciarte, Duvall, Markakis, and others for the next 10-15 years.

 

Dansby hit a home run to straightaway center field last night.

 

Since I stare at my phone too much already, yesterday with all the Braves Twitter trolls already out in force tweeting out ridiculous opinions, I started unfollowing accounts of people I really have zero use reading their bogus opinions and retweets.  

 

Braves lineup of the future:

RF Acuna

2B Albies

1B Freeman

3B Riley

LF Waters

DH Adams or Camargo

SS Swanson

C Contreras or Langeliers

CF Pache

 

SP Soroka

SP Fried

SP Newcomb

SP Wright

 

Usually I edit my repost of the SABR question of the day to make it more readable, but these questions, hints, and answers had me amazed at the similarity of the correct answer to one of baseball’s immortals.

 

Question: whose baseball uniform number 3 has possibly been worn by more fans than any other jersey?

Hint: although originally a pitcher, his greatest seasons were amassed as one of baseball’s most prolific sluggers

Hint: his chosen lifestyle, although emulated/admired by many, has been matched by few.

Hint: the father of just a single daughter, official birth records have confirmed that he had several other children.

Hint: he posted a career OPS of just over .800 in the stadium bearing his name.

Who is this? Answer at the bottom.

 

Monday: Ceil cooked Mexican for supper. All the fixins. Anna made the guacamole and M made cheese dip.  Forgot to bring leftovers for lunch this morning so I stopped by Taco Bell for a breakfast burrito, and will eat peanut butter crackers for lunch.

 

LISTENING

 

Understanding What Is Happening in America: A Christian Response. Long, but easy to understand. Required reading, including:

 

“…the self-righteous types filling the ranks of Democrats, BLM, Antifa, and the radical Left in general, themselves wronged by no one and possessed by a hateful, secular, utopian ideology absent any notion of grace, see themselves as the embodiment of retribution and national reckoning. They are determined to keep America’s sins—both real and imagined—ever before her, reminding her, flogging her, as a means of reducing us all to a pathetic national guilt that will be leveraged for evil purposes. Don’t fall for it.”

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__larryalextaunton.com_2020_07_understanding-2Dwhat-2Dis-2Dhappening-2Din-2Damerica-2Da-2Dchristian-2Dresponse_&d=DwIFAg&c=UXihhqr7vvdA-hrKyTiC1Q&r=wMWwaEbn9nr4zXI4p6CDP7FGwn1DrBd77MJElrWsP6U&m=_RU_QrU6xagbXuPqEeFMBP98mamoZG19NkoLyBhGPDU&s=HFSl0jsHAXoRvdvx6ds8MNEt5sdCem1oBF7bT-rmreg&e=

 

A good Denison column on Cancel Culture. Guess I better start being careful about what I post.

 

https://www.denisonforum.org/resources/what-does-the-bible-say-about-cancel-culture/?utm_medium=email&_hsmi=91982947&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--GnwKxlAhAAfl9GKnGi6Uuwl8VgrkyRAzD9fMJ3VrQEnQ919EBM-bSQRv2jPT6S18hwlqDK9VW-IgXfEO7twgaaZn7EA&utm_content=91970549&utm_source=hs_email

 

Joel Rosenberg reports: When Americans vote in November to elect the President, Senate and House of Representatives, the future of religious freedom is going to be a major issue on the ballot.

The next President is likely to have at least one, and possibly two, seats to fill on the Supreme Court. Will they be filled by liberals or conservatives? The freedom of Christians, Jews, Muslims and others to maintain their Constitutional rights to freely practice their faith increasingly appears to hang in the balance.

Consider the latest outrageous decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. It denied a Calvary Chapel evangelical church in Nevada to have more than 50 people meet together for worship and Bible teaching, even though gambling casinos in the state are allowed to welcome many more than 50 people into their establishments. How is that possible?

"A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court denied a rural Nevada church's request late Friday to strike down as unconstitutional a 50-person cap on worship services as part of the state's ongoing response to the coronavirus," reported the Associated Press. 

"In a 5-4 decision, the high court refused to grant the request from the Christian church east of Reno to be subjected to the same COVID-19 restrictions in Nevada that allow casinos, restaurants and other businesses to operate at 50% of capacity with proper social distancing," noted the AP. "Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley argued that the hard cap on religious gatherings was an unconstitutional violation of its parishioners' First Amendment rights to express and exercise their beliefs."

Four brave Justices dissented from the ridiculous decision, siding with the Calvary Chapel. They included Gorsuch, Alito, Thomas and Kavanaugh. Justice Alito was absolutely right when he wrote, "The Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion. It says nothing about the freedom to play craps, or blackjack, [or] feed tokens into a slot machine."

Likewise, Justice Gorsuch was dead on correct when he wrote, "The world we inhabit today, with a pandemic upon us, poses unusual challenges. But there is no world in which the Constitution permits Nevada to favor Caesar Palace over Calvary Chapel."

https://flashtrafficblog.epicentermedia.net/2020/07/25/outrageous-supreme-court-denies-calvary-chapel-church-in-nevada-its-constitutional-rights-in-5-4-decision-religious-freedom-increasingly-at-risk/

 

Irish? Scottish? Get a mask in your family’s signature plaid.

 

https://www.atlantakilts.com/tartans/acrylic

 

My to do list: take Vitamin D and calcium tablets. Also fish oil. Birthday clubs to join: Marlowes, La Madeline, Aunt Annies Pretzels. Best Buy often has good deals, flash sales. Need to get on their email list. Looking for a wi fi extender / booster with multiple access points: Plumnet, Sinology, Erros.

 

Answer: DALE MURPHY [SABR Bio]

- Murphy played for 15 seasons for the ATL, who fashioned themselves as “America’s Team” in part thanks to Ted Turner’s pioneering WTBS cable television network. Their nationwide fan base helped popularize their stars—none more than Murphy. His uniform #3 continues to be seen in many quarters.

- Pitched and caught in youth baseball and in American Legion ball. Started his professional career behind the dish before transforming himself into a Gold Glove centerfielder.

- A devout member of the Mormon Church, Murphy and his wife, Nancy have 7 sons and a daughter.

- He posted a .819 OPS mark when his team played there at Jack Murphy Stadium against the host Padres 1981-93. The venue had been called San Diego Stadium 1976-80.

The Lake House

Thursday I stayed busy on into the evening. Scrapbooked several pages in my 2020 calendar. Finished watching the Source Code. Watered flowers. Folded laundry. Washed dishes. Straightened the house. Saw a foot long copperhead on the driveway, that got away before I could kill it.

Stayed busy Friday morning, though I did sleep past 8:30 am. Cleaned upstairs. Packed for my trip. Did more dishes. Watered the flowers. Packed a bobblehead. Hopped in Matthew’s Jeep to take it to the post office. Notices the gas gauge was on empty. Checked the Jeep’s computer to see how many miles to empty: zero. Went straight to the gas station. Put in almost 21 gallons, way more than ever before.

Reid picked me up at 12:30, then we picked up Lee and headed north on 575, past the outlets, through Elijay and Blue Ridge then east to Lake Nottely. Met up with Steve at his cabin after 3 pm.

Sat around and talked. Eventually we pulled out the grill, fired it up, and cooked salmon and chicken. Microwaved rice and mixed vegetables to complete the meal. Ate out on the screen porch overlooking the lake. Talked on into the evening.

I slept past eight. We drove into Blairsville for breakfast at The Sawmill Place, a large farm to table country restaurant run by Christians. I ordered a pancake, two fried eggs, and bacon. Great pancake. Plenty of room for distancing. Drove through the small Blairsville town square before returning to the cabin.

Talked some more. Light lunch of leftover chicken and salmon, chips,  potato salad, and cole slaw. Took the boat out on the lake.

Reid and Lee tried to ski, but the boat was too small and loaded down. Not sure why.

Sat out in the middle of the lake, enjoying the views, other boats, and the breeze. The boat had a top to block the sun.

Drove back to Blairsville to eat at The Flying Trout Restaurant, located in the Copperhead Lodge in a biker vacation community. Loud live music out on the deck, so we ate inside. Not many customers for a Saturday night, so there was plenty of spacing. As at breakfast, the staff wore masks. A great meal. I had the Smokehouse Stack sandwich: slow-cooked brisket, pork belly, pepper jack, bourbon BBQ sauce, topped with toasted tobacco onions on an average stout beer bun. Also wonderful sweet potato tater tots.

Later back at the cabin Lee had a snack, but I was stuffed. Sat around the unlit fireplace under the cool ceiling fans and talked more.      

 

Over the course of the weekend we discussed many topics: catching up on family news, how Steve found his lake house, the upcoming elections, racial injustice, the protests and riots, church news, and even how current events fit into end times theology – a subject Steve is fascinated with. Several signs may be falling into place that could signal the seven year tribulation: a possible peace accord in the Middle East (though today fires erupted on the Israel/Lebanon border).

 

https://flashtrafficblog.epicentermedia.net/2020/07/27/breaking-fire-fight-erupts-on-israeli-lebanon-border-idf-thwarts-hezbollah-infiltration-attempt-heres-the-latest-please-pray/

 

The 15th century Prophecy of the Popes foretells that the current pope will be the last, and a perfect Red Heifer may be in place to herald the building of the third temple. According to prophecy this must happen before Christ’s return.

 

https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986

Slept until 8 am, then joined early-risers Lee and Steve on the screen porch. I wasn’t hungry, so we waited until sleepyhead Reid joined us after ten to forage for breakfast. Later we took turns riding the jet ski, though I didn’t set any speed records. Three of us would sit in the shade of the boat while the fourth jet skied. At 3:30 we started packing, and by 4:30 we were on the road home.

I was worn out from the weekend, my head still bobbing from being in the boat. C and Barney had returned from SC. M had tripped to NC to camp, but was back making a grocery store run. C cooked spaghetti (below) and we watched the Braves. Later Anna arrived in time to spend the night. This morning she took me to work, and headed to Athens for a work meeting at Grace Athens Church. She picked me up on her way back this afternoon.

Could the Braves go all the way? If so, they'll have to do it without Nick Markakis, Felix Hernandez Cole Hamels, or Yasiel Puig.  McCann, Donaldson, and Teheran didn’t return from last year’s team. Missing time early so far this year is closer Will Smith, last year’s closer Mark Melancon, Johan Carmargo, both catchers: Tyler Flowers & D’Arnold - not good, but the Braves took 2 of 3 from Mets. Must be Dansby’s new striped sock pattern.

Batters who led their league in walks and strikeouts in the same season...

 

BBs… Ks   Year League

011.... 21...1875.NA Herman Dehlman

170.... 93...1923.AL Babe Ruth

142.... 81...1924.AL Ruth

137.... 89...1927.AL Ruth

137.... 87...1928.AL Ruth

105.... 84...1930.NL Hack Wilson

110...107...1939.NL Dolph Camilli

129...120...1958.AL Mickey Mantle

128...148...1983.NL Mike Schmidt

141.... 90...1985.NL Dale Murphy

127...171...1999.AL Jim Thome

129...140...2003.AL Jason Giambi

111...197...2008.AL Jack Cust

105.. 222...2012.AL Adam Dunn

127...208...2017.AL Aaron Judge