Grey Clouds Over Turner Field
Sundays can mean only one thing… A trip to Turner Field to see the Braves, this time taking on the surprise contenders for the American League East Division, the Baltimore Orioles. The Braves went into this match looking for a sweep of the Orioles, and get their 5th win in the last six games as they try to pull themselves closer to the National League East leaders, the Washington Nationals.
It was a pretty wet day as it drizzled for the entire game, luckily there was no rain delays, and, despite a slew of injuries, the Braves went on to win with a comfortable score of 8-1, mainly due to John Smoltz’s pitching, Andrew Jones’ fielding and hitting and Rafael Furcal’s hitting also, but it was a great all-round team performance with everyone doing their part.
Smoltz was the undoubted star of the game though, he pitched the entire game, striking out 7 Orioles, this gave him him 2,487 career strikeouts, thus passing Don Drysdale for 27th place on the all-time list, while holding them to a single run (a Rafael Palmero solo homer in the 5th) and only 5 hits… He even managed to get an RBI double in his last at bat, so not a sloppy afternoon’s work for a guy who was a closer the last few years…
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Here was the view from our seats, a pretty miserable grey sky with most of Atlanta hidden by clouds and rain, next up is the July 4th game against the Chicago Cubs…
John Smoltz — the openly bigotted Braves pitcher it’s okay to love!
John Rocker must be kicking himself for not confining his career-destroying verbal outburst to gay-bashing. If he had, it seems that Atlanta might still love him.
And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, just type the words “John Smoltz” and ìWhatís next? Marrying an animal?” into Google.
And please, nobody write in to say that he denies making the comment. The Braves PR office said that the comment was ‘inaccurate.’ Smoltz admits that he made the comment, but says he made it “in a joking manner,” a joke that just happened to express his actual views on gay marriage.
Just to clarify — that was not a comment directed at you, Gregor, or baseball fans in general (I count myself as one).
I’m annoyed and fascinated by the whole Smoltz-love cult. I was commenting on that.
I never know if we’re in one of those periods where athletes are supposed to behave like role models off the field or not, but Smoltz’s drive to win has always been endearing to me, as well as were his willingness to stay a closer for the team he was with when he could have gone elsewhere and started a couple of years ago for more money. Also, growing up, his turn around in ’91 was one of the main reasons we won it that year and he’s still the only player left over from the beginning. That’s pretty rare in baseball, so as a Braves fan, Smoltz always will have a place in my heart.
Great pictures, by the way…
Pretty much what Daniel said, regardless of what John said off the field, I only really care about what he does on it. Same goes for people like Rafael Furcal and his drunk driving last year (though we note that his “entrance” sounds like latino getaway music), for a few hours each day it’s all forgotten about
Andi, I’m with you. Though IIRC, Eddie Perez made similar comments.
Myself I remain, unapologetically, a Glavine girl.
Eddie Perez, too? Geez.
I long for a return to baseball’s good old days, when they were all alcoholic womanizers.
Perez, too (link goes to SoVo archives).
One of the fun things about beating the crap out of the Pirates in the 1990s was that Andy Van Slyke was also, at the time, prone to broadcasting his homophobia far and wide. Ah, good times.
rafeal furcal is one major hottie