Braves aren’t hogging the hot hand as wins stack up
So yeah, your Atlanta Braves are whatever-and-0 in June. That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.
Side question: Does “Babe” make the Rushmore of pigs? Because that Rushmore is sneakier than you may expect. Babe or Porky? Babe or Wilbur from “Charlotte’s Web” fame? Babe or the Piggly Wiggly mascot? Babe or Miss Piggy? Discuss.
As for the Braves, well, what more can we say? They head to Wrigley Field this weekend winners of 14 straight games, taking the club from 23-27 and in a double-digit hole behind the National League East-leading New York Mets to 37-27 and four games back.
We discussed Wednesday the passing hat of hotness that has allowed the lineup to roll because different dudes are delivering daily. Austin Riley snapped out of a mini slump with three hits and two long homers Wednesday. He did that as previously white-hot leadoff hitter Ronald Acuña Jr. went bagel-for-6.
Side note: Speaking of bagel, man, when Jeff Francoeur is not in the booth with Chip Caray and it’s Paul Byrd and Brian Jordan, yeah, that’s hard to listen to. Very hard.
It was more than enough for start-* er Spencer Strider, who is the smallest-looking dude to throw that stinking hard since Billy Wagner defied physics as an All-Star closer back in the day. And to be real honest, Strider’s ‘stache is 100% money.
Side note: It was not all wins for everything Braves related Wednesday. I gave a friend a long-shot in-game parlay I liked because of the way two Braves crushed Washington Nationals starter Erick Fedde. Here was the play: Braves win first five innings (check); Braves win the game (check), Strider six or more strikeouts (check, he finished with 11), Riley two or more total bases (check, he finished with 10) and Adam Duvall, who was 7-for-17 against Fedde entering the game with four extra-base hits, to have two or more total bases.
Yeah, Duvall finished bagel-for-5. Dashing a plus-823 ticket for my buddy.
Side question of the side note: Which relatively common name spellings irk you for one reason or another? No offense intended here, your name was almost assuredly not your choice. Still, ‘Erick’ with the ‘C’ and the ‘K’ is a contender for me. The ‘C’ is fine; the ‘K’ is fine. But both seem like overkill. Geoff deserves some discussion here, too. I knew a Shawn in college who had a huge issue with the Sean spelling. And most people I know named Steven/ Stephen hate the converse spelling. So there’s that.