The Atlanta Braves are opening the 2015 season in Miami against the Marlins. Our family watched Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl on New Years Eve and we drove by Marlins stadium while we were down there.
However, that's not the big story. The big story is that the Braves have REVAMPED their team for the 2015 season. Only 6 of the 25 opening day roster spots are the same from 2014 to 2015. The Braves traded away Jason Heyward, Evan Gattis, Craig Kimbrel and both of the Upton boys. I have been listening to many offseason sports talk radio calls and facebook posts where people have been complaining about these moves. "Why?" "Why trade your best players?" "Are they just giving up?"
Baseball is a game that is run as a professional BUSINESS. Watching the Godfather movies taught me one thing that pertains to the professional game of baseball.......it's not personal, it's business.
The Braves traded away the best players of their team.....but it was a team who underperformed in 2014 to a losing record. They also have not won a playoff series in over a decade. In the span of a few weeks they changed the dynamic of their team to a group of marginal, hard working, smart, contact hitting team with some speed. These guys could either be a big waste of my time or they could be a fun story of hard working players who play the game right and play the underdog all year.
The Braves got a LOT better for the future......and they might be fun to watch while we wait. Good pitching should keep us in most games.....good defense will help keep us in some games.....putting the ball in play ALWAYS leads to better things than swinging and missing.
OK....enough sports section stuff.....my goal for the 2015 season and in honor of the Braves 50th season in Atlanta I'm hoping to blog about my favorite sport and my two favorite teams. When Ray Kinsella turned 43 years old he plowed under his corn and built baseball field because a voice told him to. As I turn 43 years old today I want to spend this baseball season writing about what I love.....the Braves, the Red Sox and this game that is a big part of my life.
My birthday fell on opening day this year. When Stacey asked me what I wanted for my birthday I said I would love to sit on the couch and watch some baseball all day. So that's what I'm doing. The Braves are opening against the Marlins. I watched most of the Yankees opener against the Blue Jays (which the Blue Jays won by the way.....love seeing the Yankees lose).
Baseball is a game of imperfection. Baseball is a game where you will never see everything and as soon as you've seen everything then you see something weird, wild, crazy and makes you go "wow...that's weird. Let me demonstrate.....the Braves are opening against the Marlins and I want to see the new Braves play well. I want to see Julio Teheran dominate. I want to see us start off with a win. Instead, what I'm seeing is that a very quick and INTENSE thunderstorm popped up in Miami in the third inning. They started to close the retractable roof (which takes 15 minutes) and they had to DELAY the game in a domed stadium because of rain. There is no tarp for the infield and watching their crew try to spread quik-dry is almost comical.
God I love this game......it always finds ways to show God's sense of humor and that life is about living for the moments you don't expect coming around the corner. Go Braves and thank God for quik-dry.
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