“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” – Gordon Lightfoot (HD w/ Lyrics) – YouTube

Detroit is one of America’s great music towns. You have classic R&B (Motown), heartland rock (Bob Seger, The Nuge), proto-punk (MC5, Iggy & the Stooges), hip hop (Eminem, J Dilla), retro-rock (White Stripes), and techno (many local flavors). And, although I own & enjoy many of those recordings, there’s one odd song by a Canadian artist that, more than any other, forever reminds me of the Motor City.

From about 2007 to 2022, as a part of my job as a music-trade-mag editor, I worked a vendor booth at a moderately sized (by industry standards) electronic-music festival in Detroit called Movement – we’d hand out magazines & run a contest. The festival draws about 30,000 fans each day and is held downtown in Hart Plaza, which stands near the famous Renaissance Center (home of General Motors & a massive Marriott hotel) and it’s on the shores of the Detroit River, which separates Michigan from Ontario. From the plaza, it seems like you can skip a rock to the Canadian side.

Just down Jefferson Avenue, between the festival site and the Ren Center, stands the “musty old hall in Detroit” that a very unnerving song also calls “the maritime sailors’ cathedral” – though its proper name is the Mariner’s Church of Detroit. It’s the place where “the church bell chimed ’til it rang 29 times/For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

There’s a plaque outside the place that memorializes the ship and namechecks the song, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” which is easily the weirdest, creepiest, least-likely “pop song” ever to become a smash radio hit. (In the U.S., it went to No. 2 in 1976, almost exactly a year after the ship sank in Lake Superior. The song was held from the Billboard chart’s top spot for two weeks by Rod Stewart’s slinky cad anthem “Tonight’s the Night.” Pop radio was pretty wacky back then.)

Anyway, I’d walk by that church a couple times a day for 4 straight days & it was hard not to hear the song’s ominous guitar lines in my head. Even with panhandlers doing their hustle and the big boom-boom from 5 stages of techno beats just down the road, it was an earworm that couldn’t be shaken, always my inner soundtrack to Detroit. Gordon Lightfoot, I don’t know how you did it, but you win.

Tonight’s Game: Speaking of big boom-boom… the Braves won another game (and another series), this time 4-3, on the strength of Matt Olson’s 2-run homer in the bottom of the 9th. Also, give credit to Atlanta’s lockdown relief (3.2 shutout innings from Dylan Lee & Reynaldo Lopez) and a gutty effort by Atlanta starter JR Ritchie.

Coming into this contest, which saw the promising rookie making his 2nd career start vs. the current 2-time AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, honestly compelled me to believe that we were playing with a little bit of house money. As it turns out, these are the kinds of wins that often make up a magic season. As it stands, the Braves are 22-9, and they remain in 1st place, 7 games ahead of Miami. And… 11.5 games ahead of the last-place Mets, who were eviscerated at home by the Nationals tonight. Frank the Tank ain’t gonna like that.

So… in the early going, Ritchie was a bit wild, going full counts on the first 2 hitters, walking the second, then giving up a well-placed single to Colt Keith that slithered thru the infield. With 2 on/1 out, RJ had an impressive comeback. He dropped 2 nasty hooks on Riley Greene, then whiffed him with an outstanding change. He then dispatched Dillon Dingler (from “Boogie Nights,” I presume) with the aid of ABS.

The Braves quickly jumped on Skubal. After Drake slapped the first pitch he saw into left for a single, Ozzie then popped an overly fat 4-seamer just over Truist’s short LF fence for a 2-run blast. 2-0 ATL. Hmmm…

That didn’t last, as Ritchie again found trouble. A check-swing double from Wenceel Perez and a walk by Jace Jung set up Tigers SS Kevin McGonigle, who slapped a high change-up into RCF for an RBI single – 2-1 ATL. It seemed that Ritchie might wriggle out from the jam that saw runners on 1st & 3rd with 2 outs. But with an 0-2 count to Gleyber Torres, Ritchie pointlessly tried to pick off McGonigle & threw the ball past Olson at first. Tie game. 

Then, in the 3rd, Riley Greene got his revenge by blasting a high changeup over the CF fence. 3-2 DET. Skubal with a lead? Not good.

And if you watch Skubal long enough, you’ll see some patterns. Essentially, if he get 2 strikes on you, you’re terrified of that change-up – but he can burn you equally with a fastball up and away. What’s it gonna be? Seems like Braves hitters were doing whatever they could to avoid that situation. That approach worked in the 1st inning, as they jumped on 1st or 2nd offerings for 2 hits & 2 runs. But… it didn’t really work afterward. After Ozzie’s HR, he quickly retired the next 7 of 8 – only Drake got on base, as he poked another single, this time of the harmless, 2-out variety. Skubal started cruising.

RAJ seemed particularly bewildered by Skubal’s repertoire, especially his change-up, which induced some feeble check swings. Ronald usually gets his money’s worth at the plate, but Skubal ate him up…. 3 Ks.

Meanwhile, in the 4th, with Ritchie in another jam situation – a walk & a single putting runners on the corners with 2 outs – he induced a weak grounder from Torres to get out of the inning with the score still close. Way to go, kid.

Bottom 4, Olson laced a single into deep LF, after a long, full-count battle. But, on one pitch, Riley immediately rapped into a round-the-horn DP. Skubal waltzed out of the inning keeping the lead and standing at only 58 pitches. In the 5th, Harris lead off by smoking a first-pitch single to RF. (MHII’s still hitting the ball hard.) But another 5-4-3 DP saw our fortunes slammed shut in a swift and decisive manner. Skubal’s no joke.

As for Ritchie, he battled his ass off & it was good to see some of the recovery he showed in a couple tough spots (save that ill-advised throwing error). In the 6th, after 97 pitches & with one out/one on, he handed the ball to WW, just down one run to Skubal. Overall, a solid performance, this time vs. a playoff-caliber club (5.1 IP, 2 ER, 5H, 4 BB, 4 K).

BTW, after taking a short paternity leave, Dylan Lee was particularly devastating – 5 batters, 4 Ks. Seems like procreating is having a positive effect on this club – small sample size, of course. 

After 7 IP, Skubal was done & Atlanta fans certainly rejoiced. On cue, the Braves put together a 2-on/2-out uprising vs. Detroit reliever Kyle Finnegan. But after an 8-pitch battle, Drake laced a one-hopper to the Detroit SS who threw him out & extinguished the rally.

Cut to the 9th & we find a familiar face on the mound, Kenley Jansen, he of the quirky big delivery, looking for the save. Didn’t happen. Just as quick as you can think, “Oh, for a walk and a long one…” it happened just like that. Ozzie took a very high 3-2 pitch, then trotted to first base. Olson fouled off 2 cutters and a sinker, getting down 0-2, laid off a slider low, then absolutely crushed a cutter over the RF fence. Ballgame, celebration, put a KFC bucket on your head, ATL 4 Det 3.

These are your 2026 Atlanta Braves, folks. It’s been a helluva great start.

The Bravos will go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon at 12:15 as veteran lefty Framber Valdez (2-1, 3.41 ERA) faces the amazing Bryce Elder (3-1, 1.95 ERA). Go Braves.