Braves Outlast Reds

 I tried to not pay too much attention, or get my hopes up - especially as the innings ticked by. I knew the Braves best shot was for Fried to hold serve with Reds ace Trevor Bauer, and win late. Didn't realize it would be so late. Austin Riley made several great defensive plays.  

Decent crowd outside in The Battery, where I had watched a game a few weeks ago. IDEA: I should work from there tomorrow (I won't).

Max was on his game. ARod's ESPN announcing partner loved him some Trevor Bauer, but should have loved on Fried a little more.

Blooper was at his best.
Even the announcers talked about him.

 Last weekend Blooper was a jousting knight.

After this first round Wild Card Series, the Braves would have to advance through the NLDS and NLCS to get to the World Series.

Yesterday was National Coffee Day. My parents drank Chase & Sanborn coffee when I was little. Then my dad’s company Proctor & Gamble bought Folger’s Coffee, and my dad started selling it to grocery stores. My parents switched to Folgers and liked it better. We still have Folgers hats and race cars sitting around.

 

I never really liked coffee. Actually I don’t like it. From time to time I think I could get a cup and add lots of cream and sugar or other flavors, but I figure I already eat too much sugar. Coffee ice cream is just okay – good because it is ice cream but not great.

 

Ceil was always a coffee drinker. Will started drinking coffee in high school, and Anna and Matthew followed suit. We’ve had a coffee bean grinder for years. First it was beans from Starbucks, then Whole Foods Colombo Supremo, then Dunkin Donuts whole bean coffee, and now designer brands like Joel and Charles Norman’s Bellwood Coffee. As I type this Matthew is grinding coffee beans to brew himself a cup.

 

Various coffeemakers. In Athens Will bought this huge coffee brewing machine that went with him to Oklahoma, Augusta, and his Howell Mill apartment. When he bought a house he moved it there, but finally sold it. W&MC have a wall in their kitchen filled with hanging coffee mugs. In Athens W and A hung out at Two Story Coffee near Five Points. When Joel and Charles started their business Will helped them get set up, and has worked behind the counter on occasion. The Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee House in Roswell was a hangout for a while. I’d go each week for trivia – and buy a Diet Coke to drink.

 

As you know I have always loved soft drinks, from Diet Coke to Coke Zero to Diet Dr. Pepper to Diet Mtn Dew. Love me some Tab. Used to drink several 2 liter bottles a week. Used to be all I drank. Now I pretty much only drink a soft drink when I am eating out, which has been almost not at all these past several months. Took advantage of the open bar at the wedding not for the alcohol but for Diet Cokes. When we picked up takeout Thai food Friday night (not my favorite) I had to get a soft drink to wash it down.

 

I detest the taste of beer. Not a fan of wine either, or most other alcoholic beverages. I just don’t like the taste. In fact I hate the taste. The only exception may be frozen daiquiris, which I drink way too fast.

 

These days my bad habit is the little Kool-Aid type drinks you add to your 16 ounce water bottle, especially fruit punch. But I’ll add one packet to my 32 ounce bottle.

 

So much going on. Two big emergencies at work going on. Worked a little late last night since my computer is set up on the kitchen table, then was back at it an hour early this morning. Even skipped my morning conference call to keep working. Then I had to run Matthew to Roswell and back. Was still on the phone wheeling and dealing at 7 pm. One of those days. 

 

Yesterday: not too much. Ceil wasn’t hungry. She had soup for lunch, I had quesadillas. For supper I fixed a turkey sandwich.

 

Watch the debate? Ceil had it on but went to bed. I turned down the sound and listened to the end of my book “Where the Crawdads Sing.”

 

CARL HUBBELL [SABR Bio] is the only left-handed pitcher with a scoreless innings streak of more than 45. Hubbell’s streak of 45-1/3 scoreless innings was from 13-Jul to 01-Aug-1933.  Only right-handers Orel Hershiser (59 IP in 1988), Don Drysdale (58 in 1968), Walter Johnson (55-2/3 in 1913), Jack Coombs (53 in 1910), Bob Gibson (47 in 1968) and Zack Greinke (45-2/3 in 2015) have posted longer streaks. Hubbell is the only pitcher to win the National League MVP more than once. The BRTL All-Star was voted NL MVP in 1933 & 1936 besting, respectively, Hall of Famers Chuck Klein and Dizzy Dean. He did not have to wait five years after retiring before being elected to the Hall of Fame. Played last in 1943. Entered the Hall in 1947. The requirements to make the ballot for the Hall of Fame have changed throughout the years. The 1955 HOF election was the first to use the current 5-year waiting period.

 

Doesn’t seem like Trump wants to win. Guess that’s the way he always is. Not sure what his debate strategy was. For the most part Biden looked better. But how many people are still undecided? A thought: many voting Democrat aren’t huge Joe Biden fans, but are enthusiastic about the Vice Presidential candidate and issues supported by the party. Why can’t the same be said for those voting Republican?

 

I’ll try to not quote Jim Denison as much, but on Judge Barrett’s Christian organization People of Praise: “David French’s response is especially helpful. He quotes this New York Times description of the group in 2017: “Members of the group swear a lifelong oath of loyalty, called a covenant, to one another, and are assigned and are accountable to a personal adviser…First, many millions of American Christians see echoes of their lives in Judge Barrett’s story. And second, lots of folks really don’t understand both spiritual authority and spiritual community. The concerns about Barrett reflect in part the glaring gaps in religious knowledge in elite American media.” He’s precisely right.” 

 

_{https://www.denisonforum.org/columns/daily-article/amy-coney-barrett-and-the-people-of-praise-how-to-respond-when-critics-dont-understand-our-faith/}