Boys of Summer

ESPN: ATLANTA AT COLORADO, POSTPONED (SNOW)

Hat tip: Mac Thomason

from OTB

Taking No Chances

Smart kid:

When [Atlanta Braves pitcher Horacio] Ramirez struck out [Giants slugger Barry] Bonds swinging at a full-count change-up, he joined Odalis Perez as the only pitchers to get the slugger swinging at strike three this season.

"It was fun," Ramirez said. "Everybody was kind of shocked. It was great to strike him out. That's what you pitch for, pitching against Hall of Famers, guys like that, and pitching in big games. That's when I'm having the most fun."

But Ramirez made sure he didn't show his emotions after the strikeout.

"I put my head down and didn't say a word," the 24-year-old lefty said. "I didn't even think anything, just in case he thought I was thinking something."

So Bonds might have some form of extra-sensory perception?

"You never know," Ramirez said. "He seems to always know what pitch is coming next."

Heh.

from OTB

Ouch

Now this is some good sportswriting:

Twice Sunday night, the Marlins intentionally walked a 45-year-old man with an earache to pitch to J.D. Drew.

from OTB

Opening Day - Finally

Blogging will be light to nonexistent for the next two or three hours as I go watch the Braves, finally, open their season. Only the clowns that run Major League Baseball could screw up a simple American tradition like Opening Day by starting two teams off a week early, in Japan, in the middle of the night for their fans, and then wait over a week before everyone else starts playing.

It's very much a new look Braves team this year and both the Phillies and Marlins are favored to finish ahead of them in the division. But 162 games will tell the story.
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