GodsendJen

Here it is, tax time, and I haven't sat down to watch a baseball game start to finish.  I haven't made it down to Turner Field for a game either.  Crazy isn't it?  One of the reasons I moved to Atlanta was so that I could have the opporutnity to watch all the baseball and football I wanted.  And here I am, mid-April, so thoroughly entrenched in my hockey-playoff mindset that I have completely missed all but a few choice innings of what looks like a very good start for my Bravos.  As of Sunday the Braves 8-3 give them a .727 winning percentage, the best in all of baseball.  Take that Mr. Met. Of course any baseball team is simply one elbow away from disaster at any given time.  So here's hoping that Smoltzie keeps on ticking, Hudson found his missing mojo, and that Bob Wickman continues to be the savior of our bullpen.  And I promise I'll make it down there soon.  They award the Stanly Cup in June...so pencil me in by then.

I attended my first professional baseball game in May of 1990.  The only baseball games I'd attended before then were little league games that I had played in myself.  This was on a school trip to Atlanta when the Braves had been so perennially bad that our group tickets were incredibly good. Fulton County stadium was half empty, maybe more than half empty by the time the second rain delay arrived.  The Braves played the St. Louis Cardinals.  David Justice was the man and Steve Avery was every girl's eye candy.  The Brave's lost, but that was pretty typical of the team that finished in 6th place that year in the National League West.  For me none of that matter. I loved everything about it and a baseball fan was born.

All in all my baseball fandom has been one of relative luxury.  I relished the opportunity to watch the AAA team play in Richmond, especially those great rehab starts by the big boys on the mend.  Heck, the presence of the Braves even played a role in my decision to move down south. In all this time the closest I've come to rooting for a loosing team was the year I had season tickets in Baltimore.  Even then I was rooting for former Brave Javy Lopez way more than I was rooting for the O's.  

Yesterday my luxurious time as a baseball fan officially came to an end when the Braves were eliminated from the NL East race.  It was a nice run, but we've known since June that it was probably coming to an end.  Too much gone wrong in a year when everything went right for the other guys. A guess a girl can't expect to root for a winner every year--but thanks to Bobby and John I could pretend it was possible for a really long time.

My team is experiencing an identity crisis of sorts.  They are apparently auditioning for a spot in the American League as that is the only thing I can think of to explain their rattling off 51 runs in their 4 games since the All-Star dud break.  The occasional double digit run game you expect, but 4 in a row? One of the most exciting things to watch in sports is a good come back from a team that is behind.  This year my Bravos found themselves needing that kind of comeback to salvage their season and it certainly looks like they are giving it their all.  This should inspire Shurholtz to make that move and shore up the bullpen.  With the way Wilson Bettimit was playing last night (he was 4 for 6 in what has been our ultra unproductive leadoff spot) I say trade Marcus Giles and Jorge Sosa (who is obviously on Cox's @#$@ list for his general apathy--I mean he got chewed out on the mound last night when we were up by more than 10 runs) for a veteran reliever who can come in a close games for us.

This just in.  According to Elias (via the Daily Quickie) The Braves are the first team ever to score 10-plus runs in four straight games against first-place teams.