SPORTS

BY RUSS REGAN
Well, it was mostly a great week as Major League Baseball got underway, all be it without fans in the stands. The Braves’ start was good as they won two of the three in New York. Then came Monday morning and the news wasn’t as good. A total of 13 Miami Marlins players and the coaches tested positive for the virus. Let’s hope this doesn’t become a pattern for the short season. Also at anytime we should hear from the SEC and the ACC about the non-conference football games from this fall.
The Braves didn’t get off to the best of starts with the bats anyway against the Mets. They lost the opener on Friday 1-0 despite six shutout innings from Mike Soreka.
The news of Friday started rough as catchers Tyler Flowers and Travis D’ Armand were both not feeling well and were left home despite testing negative for the virus.
Saturday wasn’t looking any better as they trailed 2-1 with two outs in the ninth. Newcomer Marcell Ozuna hit an opposite field homer that tied the game at 2-2 and forced the new extra innings, better known as the “International Tie Breaker”, from the softball people. Dansby Swanson got a lead off RBI single to give the Braves the lead and an eventual 5-3 win.
Finally, the bats came alive on Sunday night. They got homers from Swanson, Albreas, Ozuna and a monster 458 shot from Riley in the 14-1 win. Freeman and Acuna still aren’t hitting just yet but it’s early, sort of. An interesting note, all 30 major league teams have a win and a loss after just three games for many teams.
The last time this happened was 1953, Let’s hope things stay on the field and there is very little talk about off the field. Let’s change things a little and talk football. This week the SEC and the ACC are support to make their decisions about the non-conference football schedule. A possibility that there will be a ten game conference schedule and a plus one. That probably means a rival game like Georgia-Georgia Tech or Florida-Florida State. We should hear something no later than Friday.
Finally, there is NFL news. It is now official that there will be no pre-season games this year. Pre-season camp started yesterday (Tuesday) and will be extended. As was the case with baseball, opting out of contracts this year. One rumor says that it is certainly possible that new Falcons running back Todd Gurley could opt out if the NFL policy doesn’t change. We should hear more soon.