This will be a blog post, because I didn’t see any of this game. I listened to the top of the first,  but otherwise I didn’t hear the rally and comeback.

I’m looking forward to the Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN tonight.

Now that’s a little more like it.

Ronald Acuña, Jr. is a machine that hits doubles and home runs. I mean, he did throw in an infield single for good measure, but still.

The rest of the lineup is looking primed to come alive as well. Freddie still looks a little discombulated at the plate to me, but he creamed a hanging curveball. The Braves bench, which over the course of 162 will probably still be proving to lack some power, how has 3 HRs in 8 games, and a guy primarily on the team for his versatility (Adrianza) followed up an excellent spring with the homer that broke the game open.

The most baffling thing on the evening was a solid, seasoned manager like Joe Girardi plum forgetting that he’d been to the mound already in the 5th inning. I was watching and wondering what he was doing out there after Zack Wheeler had gotten to a 2-0 count to Dansby, and as it turns out, so was Dansby. And the home plate umpire. Phillies fans had to have had flashes back to the Gabe Kapler days, but at least Girardi already had a reliever ready go. If I had to guess, he was planning to tell Wheeler that was going to be his last batter and then he was going to take him out if he didn’t end the inning, and departed the dugout before anyone could grab him.

I didn’t miss the chop in 2020. Yeah, I’ve still got a foam tomahawk laying around, but I’m not sure for how much longer. I’ve been watching Braves baseball since I was five, but I’ve grown and matured over the years. And if the fact that it is offensive doesn’t work for you, then how about this: Ted Turner stole it from Florida State back in the late 70’s. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel a pressing need to take traditions from FSU.

Hey, it turns out you can also win baseball games!

The Braves and Nats played an old-school back-to-back doubleheader today, except for the fact that each game was only 7 innings. In the early game, Max Fried left after two innings pitched, but Acuna had himself a day and was all over the place. In the second game, the Braves survived a strong start by Strasbourg and themselves got 5 IP out of the “opener” Huscar Ynoa. The difference was a two run homer by Pablo Sandoval (two HR as a pinch hitter already!), and got the save from Sean Newcomb.

You know, just how they drew it up.

With these games starting at 9am Pacific, I missed most of the first game. The setup I have now is that I have the game on my TV (through MLB.tv on my Xbox One), so I usually just mute while I’m in meetings and talking to teammates. I’m finding myself looking forward to the games that start in the late afternoon, like they should.

0-4. It’s not a great spot. It was fun to watch most of this one, especially to see Acuña active throughout. But the offense dried up, and a bullpen that was impeccable last season was very vulnerable. One of these days we’re going to win one, right?

Well, I got paged again in the early morning, so I slept in to make up for it and missed the whole game. We’re now 0-3 for the first time since… 2019, when the Braves got swept to open the season by… the Philadelphia Phillies.