Braves: Time to Panic?

The way Braves fans complain about losses, you’d think they’d dance in the street after every win. Why don’t all the win-at-all-cost football fans who completely lose it when the Braves lose games 20 and 21 of a 162 game season also celebrate each win like the Braves just won the World Series? Lose two games and it’s the worst thing in the world. Win and it’s no big deal. I suppose winning is to be expected, not celebrated.

Why isn’t Freddie flipping over tables, these experts ask. Every team loses 60 games every year. Are they supposed to be flipping tables sixty times a year? The Braves had just returned from a winning road trip, then beat Arizona Friday night. Should they really panic after losing on Sunday? How many times did Chipper turn over tables in his long career? How many times in April, with three starters and a top reliever out?

It’s the GM’s fault. Snitker’s fault. Freeman’s fault. What about Ozuna? He’s hitting below the Mendoza line. Before he was signed, the fans were mad that he wasn’t re-signed as soon as the last season was over. You know Ozuna would bounce back when he wore the striped socks tonight (below). 

Fans are mad AA didn’t re-sign closer Melancon, but Melancon chose to sign for less money to be closer to home. Is that the Braves fault? Should the Braves have negotiated in the papers, so fans would realize they’d offered more than anyone else? I’m sure players would love that.

These same experts wanted a replacement for Austin Riley, who’s the hottest hitter not named Acuna. I refuse to live and die with every out, when there are 8,748 outs in a season. Does that make me any less of a fan? Do real Braves fans complain all the time? I am blocking Braves fans with ridiculous opinions.

Do these experts ever look at the standings? Only 4 teams in the National League have a better record in their last ten games than the Braves. No team in the NL East has a better record in the last ten games. The Braves are two games behind the first place Mets in the division, with 140 games to go. Is it really time to panic?

In the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” the words in the final verse are going to be changed. It will no longer be “the trump shall resound”.

Friday: left work right at five. Picked up C and drove five minutes over to the Key’s for Secret Church. Just us and them. Ate BBQ out on the back deck, overlooking a babbling brook. Jim works for Coke (no relation to Bill Key). A good time. The Keys sometimes pile their BBQ on top of their baked potato, so that’s what we did. Jim went to Oklahoma State. Karen went to Texas A&M. They lived in Houston when he worked for Minute Maid. Both daughters went off to college in Texas. Developing friendships with people in our community. What a novel concept.

Saturday: cleaned upstairs, then laundry. English muffin eggy boy sandwich with pineapple left over from Friday night. 

Lunch was a black bean quesadilla. Later I drove C to Dekalb Farmer’s Market. There was hail at the Braves Stadium, but we missed it. Read a good chunk of my Phil Niekro book. Homemade pizza for supper. Excellent.

Sunday: attended in person worship for the first time in over a year. Johnson Ferry pastor Clay Smith’s sermon series is on relationships. Yesterday’s sermon was on marriage, including addressing the always fun “wives be subject to your husbands” passage. Tough topic, but he did well. He said if there were any complaints, to email him at Clay@JOHNSONSferry.com. Next week in person Sunday School starts back.

Brunch: scrambled eggs, toast, and oatmeal. Took the Toyota for an oil change. Filled it up with gas and stopped by Wendy’s for a free spicy chicken sandwich. Too spicy for me. Worked in the yard with C, who later went for a walk with friends. I cut the grass. Was outside until almost dark. Supper was baked chicken, squash casserole, and tossed salad.

LUIS TIANT [SABR Bio] his substandard first inning prevented his teammate, Orlando Cepeda from being history’s first designated hitter. On 06-Apr-1973 at Fenway Park, Tiant loaded the bases full of Yankees in the first inning, bringing up the sixth batter, DH Ron Blomberg. Tiant walked him, walking in a run. Cepeda was the sixth batter in the Sawks’ lineup, and might have been the first DH had things gone differently. Yankee starter Mel Stottlemyre was in his penultimate season, and Tiant was at the height of his career. Twice in his career Tiant had scoreless-innings streaks of at least forty innings. Scoreless streaks of 41 IP in 1968, then 40 IP in 1972.  Walter Johnson (1913 and '18) is the only other pitcher in baseball history with multiple scoreless streaks of at least 40 innings. On 8-May-1966, Frank Robinson became the only player to hit a ball completely out of Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium when he got a hold of a Tiant fastball. The Orioles commemorated the feat by placing a flag at the location where the ball left the ballpark. The orange flag had just one word on it: “Here”.

 

The best advice to give your younger self.

1. Approach everything with respect – and a clear perspective.

2. You can change your mind at any time.

3. Have more fun, and go on more adventures.

4. Don’t apologize when there is no need for an apology.

5. Stop caring what other people think.

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