Saturday, August 30, 2003

Braves and Pirates

The Braves and the Pirates are playing on Fox this afternoon. I'd rather have watched the Red Sox/Yankees game, since that game will actually matter.

The Pirates management gave up in June. Since then, they've traded a third of their starting lineup to the Cubs. If I were a Pirates fan, I'd be calling for Kevin McClatchy's head. The Fox Announcers are trying to sell the Pirates as still contending for the Central, as they're 7 games back. Keep in mind that their position is more the result of the inability of any of the top three teams in the Central to grab the bull by the horns.

It would serve them all right, though, to have the Pirates get on a hot streak and take the Central.

Still, I kind of like watching the Pirates. Nashville's Sounds are the Pirates AAA team. So a few guys from that club over the past few years are playing. Today, Tike Redman is leading off...he just hit a triple. Tike rhymes with Mike, by the way. A couple of announcers insist on calling him Tee-Kee for some reason.

Craig Wilson's playing first. I saw him hit three monster home runs in one game a couple of years back at relatively beautiful Greer Stadium, and he just missed hitting a fourth in his fourth and fifth at bats, taking it to the warning track both times for outs, including a ball that was crushed foul in that fifth at bat, in the bottom of the eighth...missing the left field foul pole by about five feet.

My personal favorite Sound was Emil Brown. He played right field for a couple of years in Nashville. He was a decent but not great hitter for both average and power. He had a cannon for an arm. But he couldn't actually "catch" the ball. And he was a little injury prone, if I remember.

When Emil came to the plate, you had to yell "Eeee-Mil!"

Actually, Steven, Diane and I were the only ones who did that.

Once, when Steven and I were sitting out in right field, and Emil misplayed a grounder up the line. As he went to chase it, he said: Oh. and then: Shit.

Last I heard Emil had played with the Angels organization, and he may be playing overseas. Maybe not Japan, but perhaps Korea....

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