Saturday, Saturday.

 

Don’t give us none of your aggravation.  I volunteered specifically for Saturday recaps for two reasons- knowing that you young blades would thus be freed to trip the light fantastic to all hours, such is my empathy.  Secondly because of this song i like which i intend to offer every Saturday night the Braves win until i am overwhelmed with protests. How can you be angry if we win? Saturday day games will be mercifully free of all cant.

 

A good baseball game broke out, two pretty evenly matched teams,till late, a few very big plays and, strangely, we won out on all of them.

JT had a sorely needed excellent outing going 6 innings, 3 hits, 3 walks, 4K., no runs. That obviously put us in a strong position but their guy Volquez was more than decent and Julio left with a 2-0 lead after 6 only because of two big plays, one pure luck the other Braves HOF for me, considering who made it

Scoreless in the 4th Freddie led off with a routine fly ball to left which Osuna lost in the night sky.(Hey There, you with the stars in your eyes). Running hard all the way Freddie was on second. Nick(3 hits on the night) drove him in and a couple of outs later Dansby ‘served in’ Jace with two outs, nice, lucky.

We had a two run lead but almost right away it was threatened. They had the tying runs on with this awful guy Riddle up(wasn’t he in Batman?) Chip and Joe had sworn he couldn’t harm a fly but Joe’s courage began to fail him when the Riddler smashed a vicious line drive over Nick’s head. Amazingly and athletically Nick turned, reached up for it and held on.  Joint play of the game, the other was to come later.

In the 8th we added a much needed third run when Freddie hit his best ball of the night to deep left center for another double. Matt followed with a dribbler to third which Marlena threw away letting that insurance run come home. Dietrich BTW, the culprit here, impressed mightily at the plate with his power, as did Bour of course. Two LH bats that define the word contact either one of whom would add mightily to our arsenal. Bour in fact is beginning to look like another Schwarber, without having to play the outfield. I guess he is untouchable but Dietrich surely not? Some young pitching? They have a real need, now.

In the 7th, Bour leading off , Snit sent in EOF to take care of him. And he did, he was back in the dugout after just one pitch – which halved our lead. Be honest, have you ever seen a second deck home run hit with so little effort, such smooth gentle grace, by a fat man, all wrists?

Snit then did something i could never do. Ho hummed EOF’s first pitch in the upper deck, left him in, he got all three outs to take us to the 8th. No problem.

Viz did a nice job in the bottom of the 8th but was increasingly under pressure when with two out Yelich got on and Osuna the mighty came to the plate as the tying run, Stanton waiting on deck. There then followed the second play of the game  after the ninth pitch of an epic duel., his seventeenth pitch of the innings. He threw a slider inside, it wasn’t a strike likely, Osuna took it, Flowers framed it. Called strike three. Wow. I thought Osuna handled himself very well in the circumstances but it was a massive call and the roof raised a little in our house.

The ninth was anti climactic after all that. We didn’t score and more importantly neither did they thanks to a highly competent save by JJ. Great game, great win.

 

Saturday, Saturday