No Big Deal

First nine Braves batters strike out to lead off yesterday's game in Miami. No big deal. If batters are swinging for the fences instead of trying to make contact, then guys are gonna strike out. These days just about every player strikes out in every game. So for once that strikeout came in their first at bat. With the pitcher batting, no surprise he struck out. Sure, I'd rather players try to make contact and not strike out. I hate all the strikeouts.

Acuna tore his ACL and is out for the year. No big deal. I liked Acuna's comment: "If I was giving 500% before, I'll be giving 1000% going forward." Unlike Willie Mays, Hank Aaron's cap never fell off when he made a great play. Acuna seems to be more like Mays. Would like to see Acuna put together several injury-free seasons. 

Braves reach the All-Star break a game under 0.500. This year the NL East is up for grabs, even without Acuna and Soroka. Need the rest of the team to get hot anyway. Freeman. Riley. Albies. Dansby. Fried. Morton has been on a tear. Ian Anderson might go on the DL, joining Soroka and so many others. That rookie pitcher who had been doing so well. Ozuna is out. Braves may start trading guys with expiring contracts: d'Arnauld, Almonte, Herredia, maybe even Dansby. Surely not. The same idiots who want Dansby traded are the ones who wanted Riley replaced.

Hitting Freeman second is modern thinking, that by hitting second Freddie will get more at bats over the course of the season. So you kinda want your best hitters hitting 1-2. Man the number 5 batter almost always gets one fewer plate appearance than the 1-2 hitters in the order.

Friday: took the northern route home, which takes longer. Stopped at three thrift stores but nothing caught my eye. Ceil cooked BBQ for supper. Also slaw.

Saturday: leftover BBQ for lunch. Then dinner with my small group – BBQ ribs, corn on the cobb, broccoli, cheesecake, peach cobbler, vanilla ice cream. John has recovered from covid.

Sunday worship in the sanctuary. Leftover BBQ for lunch. Trimmed hedges and worked out in the yard. C stirred up a yellow jackets nest. Later I sprayed the nests.

Watched the end of the annual celebrity tourney.at Lake Tahoe. Smoltz led, but Vinny Del Negro tied him on the 18th hole, then won the playoff. Annika and Romo and Jack Wagner contended. Also Stephon Curry (9), Dell Curry (16), David Wells (20), Derek Lowe (21), Aaron Rodgers (24), Ray Allen (31), Jerry Rice (31), Justin Timberlake (30), Jay Bilas (43), Maddux & Glavine (47), Patrick Mahomes (50), Seth Curry (54), Rob Riggle (55), Dan Quayle (57), Jim McMahon (61), Michael Strahan (64), Larry the Cable Guy (69), Vince Carter (74), Charles Barkley (76), Doug Flutie (79), Ray Romano (84), Kevin Nealon (86), and Al Michaels (87).

    

Sunday night supper: meatballs, pasta, and broccoli. Watched the Scarlett Johansson movie The Nanny Diaries, loosely based on a 2005 New York Times article that I happened to read while waiting for a plane at LaGuardia. C will put on a movie after supper, usually Hallmark Channel. Depending on the actors usually will depend on how much attention I give it while I play on my laptop. They all end the same way, so sometimes I go to bed before the end. Ceil will ask "don't you want to see if they get together?" Last night's movie was pretty good.

 JIM BRITTON  [B-R Bio] gave up Johnny Bench's first career home run during his own major league debut, on 20-Sep-1967 , Bench's 22nd in the majors. Britton started & pitched 5⅓ innings that day, gave up six earned runs and took the loss. Britton has three Topps rookie cards, each four years apart. In the 1964 Braves rookie card, #94, Britton is paired with Larry Maxie. In the 1968 Braves rookie card, #76, Britton is paired with Ron Reed. In 1972, a card of Braves "Rookie Stars", 'Jimmy' Britton, is pictured with Tom House & Rick Kester on card #351, but it's a different Jim Britton, a relief pitcher who never made out of the minors. After his baseball career, Britton served as a special agent with the FBI.

Denison: in Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers, historian Daniel L. Driesbach demonstrates that many of America's leaders across our history had a profound belief in objective biblical truth. Abraham Lincoln said of the Bible, "It is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are to be portrayed in it."

A study published by the journal Heart, suggests that a daily hot bath is associated with reduced risk for cardiovascular disease and strokes. The final analysis included 30,076 people. The study found that people who took a daily warm or hot bath had a 28% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 26% lower risk of stroke compared to people who didn't take a bath more than twice per week.

https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/harvard-scientists-say-doing-this-relaxing-activity-every-day-can-add-years-to-your-life?ltm=nXzbavpSDJ2KdmKejVlEXvkf0KZMCqDKd%2BGE0NW8gX83tVwmXTk8tRYi4lD%2BtSH2&subscriber_type=member&utm_source=member&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-newsletter&utm_content=dnl-2021-7-7