So, as you might have seen, earlier this week I was in Indianapolis. This had nothing to do with basketball — actually, the basketball caused some problems getting a hotel room — but was about my health. Basically, I was there to see the guy who’s the top expert in the type of cancer I had.
I went up there thinking I was going to get some pretty drastic medical treatment — the sort of thing that will probably cure you but make you wish you were dead. As it turned out, the doctor had other ideas. He took a look at my tests and decided that I didn’t have any active cancer, basically that I was giving false positives. (There’s no doubt that I had cancer last year — only that what looked like remnant cancer was just scar tissue and some unusual readings in the blood work.)
We don’t know that’s it’s gone. It’s just the doctor’s opinion, but he is the top man in the field. And it fits with the way my treatments were going, which had baffled my doctors here in Alabama. (Who are very good themselves.) We’re going to keep an eye on it and if there are changes it likely means that the cancer is back. But right now, everything looks good.
more good news, we might miss Lincecum
http://www.weather.com/weather/hourbyhour/graph/USCA0987#
That is tremendous news, Mac. Glad to hear it!
Very good to hear, Mac.
Stay healthy, Mac.
That’s exceptional news Mac!
Excellent news.
Great to hear that, Mac. Best of luck.
Great news, Mac. That must have been a relief to hear, though I’m sure you don’t want to get your hopes up quite yet…
I will briefly de-lurk to say: Fantastic news!
So glad to read the good news. I wish you the best health!
That sounds like very good news, Mac.
Party time!
Awesome news, Mac!
Echoing everyone here: great news!
Outstanding news Mac!
Apparently Bobby caught wind of Chip’s Hinske=Ruth comparison last night. Hinske’s batting third in today’s lineup, starting for Glaus at first.
very doubtful there is going to be a game today, weather here in san fran is terrible, and is expected to stay terrible day and night.
Wonderful news, Mac.
Fantastic news.
Just checked a weather report for SF and it looks pretty bad all day. Doesn’t look like we’ll see baseball today I’m afraid.
congrats Mac, good to hear
So happy for you, Mac. Best thing we’ve heard in a while.
And in much less important news, Josh Willingham 5, Mets 0.
That’s awesome news Mac. Hope things keep going your way.
The weather out here in SF is pretty unpleasant this morning. You wouldn’t see me playing in it.
Im guessing this game wont get played and Im more than happy to miss Lincecum anyway we can. Might make having a make up game out here difficult with the traveling and all though
Masters prediction – Couples somehow wins this thing (Im hoping)
Great news Mac!
I think Mickelson gets his 3rd GJ today. He looks pretty confident, as does Westwood, but i’d give Lefty the advantage.
My guess is that the game would be played on August 26, when both teams have an off-day and the Braves would be coming off a series in Colorado.
Great news, Mac.
Jeffy just walked on four straight balls. How do you do that???
Oh, and great news, Mac. Made my day.
Hate to admit it, but Frenchy has actually had a really good week, walking again today.
Good news indeed! Here’s rooting for the latest prognosis.
26 – Well, Kody Johnson did that too last night.
Mac–That is great news!!
That’s great news, Mac.
David O’Brien
April 11th, 2010
3:11 pm
Again, let me say it’s raining steadily, and it’s windy and cold. Rain’s not supposed to stop all day, though there’s a couple hours this afternoon where it might — might — let up or stop. Still, I’d say very little chance they get this in. But they’ve made no announcement and probably won’t for a while. Calling it creates serious scheduling problems later, since the only mutual off day that would work is in August and would necessitate the Braves playing 34 days in a row.
Good to hear you’re shaping up as the anti-Hampton, healthwise.
All the best.
Peanut:
3:31 pm
Today’s game will not start on time. The Giants remain optimistic about a possibility of starting later this afternoon.
Still sounds doubtful to me though.
Gotta admit, as much as I’d love to dodge Lincecum, I hope they get the game in today, for completely selfish reasons though. I have Lincecum on my fantasy team and need 4 strkeouts to take back the strkeout category for the week.
In addition to Mac’s wonderful personal news, Mac should also let everyone know that he WON the March Madness pool I entered him into and has decent cash coming his way within the next week or so.
Amazing to me that the current NL East standings in week one, already looks like how it could look in September:
TEAM W L % GB
Philadelphia 4 1 .800 –
Atlanta 3 2 .600 1.0
Florida 3 2 .600 1.0
NY Mets 2 3 .400 2.0
Washington 2 3 .400 2.0
Anyone here own a Border Collie?
Watching Mets/Nats and Francisco Rodriguez, for some reason, went after Willie Harris for no good reason, after he hits Willie with a pitch. Love Willie and he did nothing wrong. Rodriguez is a typical Mets tool.
I own a border collie mix. Likes to herd and needs lots of exercise. She’s also very protective and jumps and nips to “control” the people surrounding her. These are the negatives. She’s a great dog but they do need a lot of space. Hip dysplasia is also very common in the breed.
@39: Saw it. Brian Bruney was right.
@40: I’m looking at some puppies. 100% pure bred Border Collies. The parents are herding dogs and I’m terrified there’s just going to be too much energy and instinct to contain as a pet.
Great news, Mac. My best to you in your continued recovery.
Willie cussed K-Rod on the way to first, but he wasn’t being demonstative about it. In fact, he was looking the other way. Nonetheless, K-Rod’s a hothead, who totally overreacted.
Francoeur’s off to a good start in the first 6 games. Today he had 2 hits, a walk & an OF assist, thanks to lard-ass Adam Dunn, who refused to slide into home. He was actually safe, but the ump punished him for being such a lazy dumbass.
Was watching Frenchy’s first AB. On the first pitch, the Nats catcher positioned his glove outside the strike zone, but Livan threw a fastball, belt-high, in the middle of the plate. Missed his target by 10-12 inches. Francouer tripled off the RCF fence.
And who woulda thought Livan would beat Johan? But that’s what happened today.
So he’s obese AND likes Kodiak. I am not judgmental.
I am, lol.
Andruw with a game winning RBI single in the bottom of the 8th today.
ububba,
I was watching the broadcast and Harris wasn’t cussing AT Rodriguez, he was cussing because being hit by a Rodriguez fastball hurt like heck apparently.
Braves fans know Harris and he’s a good guy. His reputation proceeds him as does Rodriguez’s as a hot head.
Despite the rain delay, I am very much enjoying the Top 25 Braves moments.
That’s great news, Mac.
Great news Mac!
Sdp,
if you don’t have a yard, a border collie is a really bad idea.
Mac, great news, to your continued good health.
I couldn’t be happier for you Mac.
IMHO a border collie is not a good choice as a pet, especially as a first pet and especially for anyone with younger children.
Congrats on the news, Mac T.
I’ve had friends who loved their border collie. But man, the health problems. I am guessing that dang dog ended up costing about 500 bucks a pound. At that price you can’t justify eating the damn thing if it ticks you off.
@38 We have a lovely tri-color border collie we found at the pound. Didn’t even know what she was until a friend who is a breeder told us. We shook a lot of paws and she was the one that instantly felt right for us. Insanely smart, loyal, friendly, beautiful dog. Top of her class through advanced obedience. I’ve actually taught her to say a few words, including my first name. Seriously.
That said, I’m gonna mostly agree with Jeff K @55. There are much easier options out there if you are looking for a family pet.
And yeah, we have a fund started for the eventual hip/knee surgery. We do find keeping her at a proper weight has really helped a lot of that stuff from becoming an issue so far.
The quality of play at the Masters among the leaders is almost unwatchably bad. Mickleson may win by just hitting bad drives, instead of bad drives and putts like the others
/Mickleson yaks an eagle putt as I type this.
Quality of driving might be bad, but the recovery shots and scrambling have been incredible.
Who are the top two hitting 2nd basemen in the majors after one week? Martin Prado and Kelly Johnson.
Tweet from DOB:
@ajcbraves: We’re in rain delay, and best contest in ballpark is my coffee intake vs. MLB.com Bowman’s Kodiak . I drink two cups for his every dip.
Yeah, true Nick – I just don’t enjoy watching guys hitting from behind the pines.
Mac, that’s great news. I hope everything continues to look up.
Radar says rain is nearly gone.
Remember how we were talking about Super Two status yesterday? Do Jeff Passan or the editors of MLBTR read Braves Journal?
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-servicetime041110
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/04/the-value-of-super-two-status.html#disqus_thread
Wow the Passan article was certainly even-handed. I’ll have to remember never to read him again.
DOB tweets at 6:24 ET:
Still waiting, and they say there might be window to get in some innings. Not raining now. Oh, and Glaus is 1-for-10 w/ runners in scor pos.
Hey Mac, glad to hear the news. Hope it stays good.
Passan article the best I have read about the challenges of the arbitration process. Spike, et al, all of you are right and I am wrong. The Braves have cost themselves millions by playing Jayson Heyward right away so my assertion that it didn’t matter or has no effect is dead wrong. But it was still the right thing to do.
Hey, Sam. Good to hear from you.
Great news Mac! I can’t begin to imagine how that must feel for you!
I have had several Border Collies and probably will never have another breed. That said, they are a working dog and need to have something to do or they can be destructive. Insanely smart, loyal, and affectionate. Not for apartment dwellers or people who are gone alot.
Awesome news Mac! And thanks for all of the effort you put into this site. I don’t pipe in much but I’ve read religiously for several years now.
Fantastic news Mac, glad to hear it. My grandparents had Border Collies when I was growing up, I hated those things, they were like larger Cocker Spaniels, very nippy. I have 2 kids, 8 and 12, and we’ve raised them with a boxer in the house. We’ve had two the male was about 100lbs, and we had him before our oldest was born, he died about 4 years ago. We then got a female, she’s 4 now, she’s about 65 pounds. Great guard dogs, very loyal, alot of fun.
DOB tweets 3 minutes ago:
They’re saying a 5:10 p.m. start for Braves-Giants, as long as it doesn’t rain anymore.
(I’m assuming that’s pacific time?)
Hiya Jim, thanks. Hope the new season finds you and all BJ mavens well. Is this where I go to complain about the Masters being won by that big freaking phony??
I think so Douglass, otherwise we’d need a Flux Capacitor, and I’m fresh out of Plutonium. (sorry, couldn’t resist)
You should never apologize for a Back to the Future reference.
Is this game ever going to start?
You shoulda gotten that Mr. Fusion when you had the chance!
sansho,
But it makes a nice, tidy morality play, doesn’t it?
Love “Back to the Future” references, especially after finally going with a buddy Saturday afternoon to see “Hot Tub Time Machine” and the hilarious cameo by Crispin Glover.
so if this game starts will they let Lincecum pitch knowing that there is a chance they might only get a few innings in? Seems like for their sake, and ours, they should use another starter and save him for tomorrow
oh well, guess not…get em early
I need Lincecum to start damn it! Fantasy implications! Let’s get our priorities straight here!
😉
Douglass, no offense, but I hope your team gets blown up. Dont take it personally though
Did Chip just call Jason Heyward “resurgent?” It’s the 6th game of the year, for crying out loud!
That wasn’t very nice.
(We can fuck Lincecum up tonight for all I care. I just need 4 k’s, that’s all. There’s one!)
B-Mac!
Wow. 1-2 against Lincecum, and McCann…wow.
BMAC
MCCANN!!
YARD!
Douglass – thats fine, you can have your 4 k’s
Wait… on both Gameday and Gamecast, it shows the ball landing a good ten feet short of the fence… mistake on their part?
Those runs off Lincecum are HUGE.
There’s two.
wait for it….
On the radio, Don’s saying Chipper took BP earlier today but stopped due to back spasms.
Oh, Chipper.
Why is McLouth out of the lineup?
FEAR THE PRADO!
Jeez, Prado.
How good is Prado? I mean, seriously.
McCann sucks.
There, Douglass. You have your 4 strikeouts. Now tell Tim to implode, dammit.
8)
I like Kenshin.
Chip going for the jinx again.
Rain delay?
Where are you guys watching the game? The schedule says SportsSouth, but that has NASCAR stuff. Our PTV feed is blank. Where can I watch this?
How does the Kung-Fu Panda hit a triple?
109 — FSN
SDP, that was Sandoval’s 7th career triple in his 200th career game.
108 — He said Kenshin was perfect through 3.
I am completely baffled by that shift.
Shifts, like any defensive alignment, are useless if you don’t pitch to them. Huff hit an outside fastball to left side –SHOCKER!
Thanks, 111. I forgot to check that one.
Make him throw 7 pitches. Right on, KK.
Chip just said “Lincercum”
I hate Melky Cabrera.
does anybody else think melky cabrera looks chubby? i’m with you adam. i dont see myself going to get a melky jersey anytime soon.
Annnnnd… bring on the rain. Please?
That was quick. Is KK in a hurry to get out of town?
Id hate him more if I was writing his paychecks
Thanks to San Francisco for the “plane to catch” offense.
B-Mac’s now 8-19 lifetime against Lincecum. .421 BA, with 3 doubles and a homer.
Not bad at all.
Chip just all but called Kung Fu Panda fat.
Son of a!
Fack.
Damnit, Heyward.
Error should be on McCann, even though it was a bad throw. He still should have caught it.
Melk Man with the snow cone…. Shame that ball got kicked around. Gotta get some more runs, I guess.
We are going to lose this game. *Sigh*
Lincecum has another inning in him. At bats like Melky’s, where he followed a nice at bat by the pitcher with a one-pitch out, are the kind of things that lose you a game. If the Braves would have just played to get this guy out of the game they could have had the bullpen by now.
Kenshin deserved better
I’d rather have had Kawakami out there for the 7th than Conrad pinch hitting with two outs and nobody on. Frankly, Kawakami looked a lot better at the plate.
I blame Melky for sucking, in general, and for somehow not getting a walk when Lincecum started him out 3-0, which would ahve made Brian’s homer a 3 run homer.
Lincecum really chopped up Conrad there. Hopefully, that’s it for #55.
That’s it. Affeldt will come in for the 8th–if in fact this game gets that far.
Gotta like Medlen so far this year.
Melky sucks.
God Melky stinks
You guys just noticed that?
Glaus do something
Nice broken bat Glaus, way to show your power… I’d rather have otis Nixon batting in the middle of the lineup than this guy
Who here thinks Glaus will be released before Craig Wilson’s benchmark of May 17th?
Nah. Judging by his recent history, he’ll hurt himself by then.
Otis Nixon is 51-years old.
I don’t.
FISTED!
Congrats on the checkup Mac. Happy for you.
This place is just a house of horrors for the braves.
Affeldt is a great guy with legit stuff that the Royals did their best to destroy. Wish the Braves would have hit him here, but I’m glad he’s found a niche.
Could be worse, stupup. I went to Candlestick once, and to paraphrase Mark Twain, it was the coldest winter day I’ve ever spent in August.
Well…
That’ll do it. They have one hitter in the lineup, and he basically won the game for them. Ridiculous.
Candlestick was brutal. You’d wear a winter jacket the whole game and get a sunburn. The wind was a major factor there.
Man, I hate that panda.
Exactly
I’d rather still take my chances on Otis. At least we could hope for a few bunt singles, I’m sure he could still leg a few out at 51
2 games back.
ballgame… good night fellas
You can’t go to bed. I have to recap this thing, you have to stay up and watch it too.
That was pathetic.
Oh well. 3-3.
The Giants are not a good team! Argh.
It’s kind of hard to muster any enthusiasm for this game when the Braves can’t, but I’m stubborn like that.
Brian J,
I don’t know if it could be worse. I went out there in 2003 (I think), and the 2 games I saw were the Bonds walkoff games the weekend before his Dad died, and the braves lost 1-0 in the middle game that I listened to in a weird hotel in Palo Alto.
The braves have constantly blown leads and lost weird games out here.
Mark Twain was right though, I think the only time I will ever wear a fleece pullover to an August braves game occured those two nights. It was cold.
Oh, trust me. It’s not just the cold, but the wind that constantly whipped around the stadium, especially if you were unfortunate enough to have upper-deck tickets. And the fog banks that literally poured into the stadium.
The kicker was that I’d been in Palo Alto that afternoon because I was considering going to Stanford. I got sunburned and damn near frostbitten within a few hours.
That is worse Brian. That is cool story.
At what point does it become a legit concern that (again) this team can get on base pretty well but do nothing else?
No one has had even 25 AB’s before tonight, but I really haven’t seen many signs of life from Melky or Glaus. What is the cutoff point before they need to make up an injury to get their bats out of the lineup?
81 HR pace.
Hoo-ray…..?
JASON! And the legend continues.
167 — For Bobby? For better or worse, it’ll be July.
Listening on the MLB At Bat radio. Heyward still hasn’t hit a homer…that’s quite a delay.
I think it’s time to move him up in the order…
See you when we visit the Pad People.
ha… diaz what a piece of S. Again swinging at pitches outside the strike zone.
I know someone said (TP?) that Glaus would need some time to adjust. Did he say how long? I don’t want to pile on him quite yet.
How soon before Heyward is batting in the 4 or 5 hole full time, if not in the 3?
So when do the Gonzo to ATL trade talks start up?
Recapped.
McCann, Prado, and Heyward had good weeks. Two of the three will regress a bit, and so this team NEEDS Chipper, Yunel, and McLouth to pull their weight. There are gonna be a lot of low scoring, close games this year.