Yes, I am still unable to view Braves games on a regular basis. I saw a lot of the TBS game on Tuesday. But I have YouTube TV and Bally doesn’t play with them, so I sit on the sidelines. And, I am certainly fine if one of you who CAN see the games regularly steps up in this slot. This is an interesting diversion for me, but sometimes a little of a pain in the ass.

I will describe first, my experience as a “blacked out” fan. Last night I used my phone set on ESPN Gamecast and followed along somewhat. I was getting ready to go to bed and rechecked. I had been watching Midway (the 2019 or so version). I cut Midway off. I picked up my phone and it said Giants 3, Braves 1 top of the 9th, no outs. Dansby Sanson had no pitches recorded, so it really was the beginning of the inning. I looked at win probability and it had the Giants at 89.4 (or something close). I was surprised. I thought on run lead in bottom of 9th was around 90%.

As a GameCast checker, I wonder sometimes how accurate their pitch info, particularly as to location, might be. But it was obvious that Jake McGee was determined to pitch Dansby high. So, on a 3 – 2 count, Dansby hit one about 413 feet to center. It as 3 to 2 and the win probability had dropped to 74%. Then Ozuna gets to 2 – 2 and singles to right. The Giants’ win probability dropped to 63%.

Well, then Matt Olson hit a long fly ball to deep center. It got caught, but Ozuna (or maybe the first base coach) saw an opportunity and he went to second. Win probability went back up to 79%. Then William Contreras singled, and Ozuna scored from second. Two pretty good baserunning moves by the big man and the game was tied. Now win probability switched to Braves at 60%.

So, now Kapler went to the pen and brought in Tyler Rogers. And, no, I wasn’t headed to bed. The phone was logged in and on. I had turned Midway back on and got to See Dick Best drop a bomb through the flight deck of the 3rd carrier. Scratch 3 flattops. A little later in the movie he gets the 4th and final carrier in the carrier task force. That made me dig up an old name that doesn’t appear in this version: John Thach. He first implemented the Thach weave at Midway (look it up). After Midway, John was called back to fighter training school to make sure the new pilots learned what he had figured out. He also came up with “blue blanket” whereby vast numbers of Navy fighters and a handful of destroyers maintained a 50 mile perimeter out from the rest of the fleet and knocked down the kamikaze threat. So, back to baseball. Orlando AR see uh struck out, but meanwhile (I didn’t figure it out from my phone, I thought it might have been a fielder’s choice that got Contreras to 2nd), Contreras had stolen second. Catcher steals are an interesting baseball phenomenon. Attempting to steal with 2 outs in a tie game in a potential walk off inning is interesting. But, now, free baseball was up to Adam Duvall. He singled, Contreras scored, and BRAVES WIN!, BRAVES WIN!, BRAVES WIN!.

Earlier in the game, it appears that the WD 40 has almost completed its work as Charlie Morton pitched 7 innings with 11 K’s and 0 BB’s. 2 long balls marred his night. Then, a non scoring inning out of Jim West. Then, Minter gave up 1 that stretched the 2 to 1 lead to 3 to 1. BUT, the whole staff gave up NO walks. Damn good. Damn good.

The earlier Braves scoring was in the 7th when Olson doubled home Ozuna (once again taking “the extra base”. Has Ozuna added a new skill set?). So, Braves had one more walk received, one more hit, and one more run. The last of those seems more sufficient.