Yesterday, I left my home in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida at 4:00 in the morning to go see my parents, brother, and sister at my childhood home in Glencoe, Alabama. For those unaware, Glencoe is about an hour from Birmingham and was an up and coming blue collar town. The CSX railroad, Goodyear, Attalla Steel plant all shut down within a year, and those blue collar jobs got replaced by blue pills called oxycontin. Now, instead of houses going up, it’s methadone clinics.
My father owned a restaurant in the local mall called the Big Top Sandwich Shop, coached my sister’s travel softball team (they won several national championships), and worked a full-time job for CSX Railroad.
When I was just a little one, I had a HUGE obsession with the Atlanta Braves. And as big as my obsession was, my father’s was bigger. When I was 9 years old (1987), my dad became absolutely obsessed with baseball cards, would buy them by the box, and would let me open them. I would open all 36 packs while watching Sanford and Son, put them in numerical order during Andy Griffith, and then, finally, it was time for Pete and Skip.
The team was horrid, but the broadcasters kept everything entertaining and I could not get enough of Dale Murphy. There was a time when my dad would bring his friends over and make me imitate the entire lineup’s batting stance. I can, with confidence, say that baseball cards made me the math wizard that I am today. My dad is still collecting. And he’s still watching the Braves.
My Dad’s Recent Downfall
About 1/2 year ago, my dad was diagnosed with fatty liver disease. While my dad was pretty good at making others feel good about themselves, he wasn’t so great about taking care of his own health. While he’s never consumed alcohol, his diet has been fairly poor throughout his life and it finally caught up with him. Several times over the course of this last month, I thought I’d get the dreaded call, but that never came. Finally, a weekend opened up and I was able to come see my folks.
When I got here, I found out that my dad hasn’t been able to watch the Braves for the last month because of the Bally thing. I started researching how he could watch the Braves, but all of the options were outrageously expensive, Then, I asked them about the cost of their cable and HOLY SMOKES, they were getting screwed. I formulated a plan. It took a full day, but we changed their home phone (yes they still have a home phone), internet, and cell phones all to a new carrier, then disconnected their cable package and wen with Directv’s Internet Streaming Service, which meant…. BRAVES BASEBALL! All in all, they saved about $100/mo. and now my dad can watch his team again. We watched 2 games together and it was absolute heaven. I don’t know if today will be the last day I get to watch a game with my dad, but if it is, it was a good one.
The Recap
Are the Braves back? They could be back! Charlie Morton was Uncle Charlie today and the curve was the star of the show. Morton had his 2nd best start of the year, only allowing 3 hits, 1 run and 2 walks, while striking out 8 (3rd time he’s done that this year). Meanwhile, it looks like both Matt Olson and Austin Riley have decided to stop hibernating and start hitting tank jobs. Jarred Kelenic and Marcell Ozuna also went yard, and the Braves were back to destroying baseballs. Yandy Diaz had the hardest hit ball of the game today, coming in at 109.8 (it was a GiDP), but after that, the Braves reigned supreme. Here’s the chart for today:
The Braves collected 11 hits, 6 walks, and 4 dingers. Ramón Laureano looked really good out there hitting the ball over 100 MPH twice today and Adam Duvall looked really bad. Jarred Kelenic might get to stick at the leadoff position if he keeps swinging like has this past month.
The Braves face another RHP tomorrow, and I sure hope that J.P. Martinez can get the start.
I will be traveling back home tomorrow. I will not be able to put up a game thread, but please use this as the game thread and I’d love to hear some of your Braves stories when I get home tomorrow afternoon.
That’s great lll
Great stuff, Ryan, and my best to you, your dad, and everybody whose dads are still with us.
My dad was not much of a sports fan. But when his Braves-addicted son told him that we should go to the game on April 8, 1974, he ponied up for seats down the first base line. He didn’t know much about baseball, but he knew how to be a dad.
Happy Father’s Day. Tough job but greats and grands reward those who struggle through it. GOD bless you all.
Go Braves.
That’s really nice, Ryan. Glad you had this experience.
That game felt like last year. Is Riley really coming around? Kelenic and Laureano looked good out there.
Ozuna is not getting enough love.
Sweep today! Go Braves.
Thank you for the recap. I will keep you and your dad in my thoughts. I don’t think the Bally/cable “people in charge” understand nor care what they are doing to fans. Great job on getting your dad’s access straightened out.
Not for nothing, I hate the blackout rule. MLB TV should have been an option for your dad, but they black out Braves games all over the Southeast. I live in Nashville, and while I would love to see the Braves in person every day, it is not practical. The blackout is not encouraging me to see games.
I got my love for the Braves from Milo Hamilton and radio, and my dad took us to games in Atlanta, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and even Montreal. My “Dale Murphy” was Henry Aaron. My dad often read a book during the game as he cared nothing for sports. But like JohnathonF’s dad, he cared about his sons.
It’s good to hear HOOOOPE! again, in all its forms.
Thanks for sharing, Ryan. Our hearts go out to you and your family. My father and my grandfather are largely responsible for my love of baseball and the Braves. And I’m pleased to say that my children and grandchildren are big Braves fans. Funny how that works 😀
I care for my disabled brother. When his vision completely failed back in 2016 or so we switched to the radio — and it has been glorious! We get many more moments where we can share and connect with one another than we ever did looking at a screen. Imaginations are better. Anyway, what I was getting to was that were it not for my wife we would have completely cut the cord years ago and never missed it.
May you have many more moments with your father Ryan
After 10 years in the minors, Grant Holmes gets the call. That is so awesome.
Duval in again Vs a righty…sigh
Really still not trying to get too high or too low, so not quite HOOOOPE yet, but it is wild to see how Ozuna, Olson, and Riley can completely carry the team. Kelenic has a 3.5 fWAR 162-game pace right now over the last month. But d’Arnaud, Murphy, Arcia, Harris, Duvall, and Brian Anderson have combined for a little over -1 fWAR in the last month. So you basically have two ends of the lineup: guys either getting or have been red hot, and guys that are complete dumpster fires and net negatives on the ball club. Maybe the predictions of the weather heating up is causing these home runs, and then the lesser hitters will have a little less pressure, see more good pitchers, see more bad relievers, and get going as well.
Ryan, thank you so much for sharing your family’s story. I’m so glad you and your dad could share the Braves together again. What a wonderful gift he gave you, that you could help give back to him.
Seems like Jarred Kelenic is basically Kelly Johnson with a center field glove. Runs hot and cold like you wouldn’t believe. But he’s hot right now, and I’ll take it.
Waldrep is just so not ready for prime time. He doesn’t really have any idea of how to get major league hitters out. The fact that he’s in the majors right now is basically just an organizational failure. He needs a hell of a lot more time in the minors and Alex Anthopoulos needs to conduct a top-to-bottom postmortem of the decision to call him up because the fact that he’s in the Show means that a whole lot of people – from minor league player development, to the staff exclusively focused the major league roster – categorically screwed up.
Well, essentially walking the bases loaded on about 14 pitches is going to end like that this season with a slam . The second time through the lineup was again unkind
There has got to be someone better than Waldrep is right now — or at least someone with no long-term value who isn’t actively absorbing damage to his development by being pushed out there. This is malpractice.
I suspect Elder will get the next start.
Or Grant Holmes.
Happy fathers day to everyone. I am fortunate to be a father, unfortunate to be missing my own for decades now. Hug ’em if you gottem.
Riley giveth and Iglesias taketh away
90 mph in the middle of the plate to a guy who was behind your fastball all AB is a tough one to understand. That change from Iglesias is the perfect speed for a guy who is behind the fastball too. Not enough velo differential for them to be out in front.
Agreed. Sometimes he falls in love with the change
Ryan, thank you for sharing. God bless your father.
I’ve always thought Waldrep was untouchable but now I wonder if the Braves try to sell high on him for the right return. His potential is tantalizing but his arsenal and command make him feel destined for a backend bullpen role.
Hey guys. Thanks for all the shoutouts. We’ve got a great community here. I think most of you are correct on Waldrep. He’s got a helluvan arm, but just can’t locate yet. The Braves have got to let him work that out in the minors. However, I was very impressed with Grant Holmes today. He’s pitched 4 or 5 innings down at AAA his last 5 games and is already capable of going 5. Waldrep did get optioned after today’s game. If the Braves don’t use Holmes in the next 4 days, my guess is he’ll get a shot to throw 5.
And can we please get a platoon partner for Adam Duvall? I’ve harped on J.P. Martinez, but that AB today was sooooo ugly.
I really don’t understand all the calls to platoon Duvall. He’s never had dramatic platoon splits, and as recently as last season he was better against right-handed pitching. If you want to argue that Duvall is cooked and shouldn’t be getting at-bats at all, then I would listen to that. Otherwise, we’re just reacting to a small sample. There’s a reason that minor-leaguers are minor-leaguers, and I think Duvall is our best option out of what we have.
He’s carrying a .222 OPS against RHP. Yes, it’s a small sample, but it’s a hideous one.
The Millionaire has a plus fastball and a double plus split, he just needs time, preferably at AAA. There is a really good pitcher in there. He’s just 22