the SCOUTING REPORT The Braves

I always look forward to the Sports Illustrated Major League Baseball preview. Of course, I always turn to the Postseason prediction sections first. I always want my team to avoid the jinx. After I glanced at the SI picks, I was sort of shocked. My Atlanta Braves were picked to win it all in the 2021 season. The magazine picked Atlanta to win the Eastern Division by 3 games over the New York Mets.

After that, they’re picked to beat the Cardinals in the Division Playoff Series, and unseat the defending World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

In the World Series, Atlanta will beat the New York Yankees.

I’m really not that superstitious; but when it comes to baseball played at the Major League level, there have been some very strange occurances.

If you’re a long-time Braves fan, you’ll certainly remember the “Rick Camp” game. I was there, live and in person. The game started on July 4 and ended on July 5 at 3:55 a.m. in the morning.

To get there, the game suffered through three long-lasting rain delays. The Braves trailed when Camp, a career 0.74 hitter, launched one out of the stadium known as the “launching pad” with an 0-2 count and two outs to tie the game and send it into the 19th.

It was the only homerun of his career. He did strike out to end the game in the 19th.

So, can a magazine’s preseason pick have any effect on a season before it’s really even gotten started.

Since the magazine’s arrival at my front door, the City of Atlanta had the All Star Game jerked from its grasp and its fantastic baseball team was swept in the season’s first 3-game series in Philadelphia.

I actually think the Braves will turn it around. They were swept by the Phillies in the season opener last season.

Toombs County wasn’t hurt by the Sports Illustrated jinx, but the Bulldogs did run into a Vidalia Indian team whose intent is obviously to win more than a Region 2-AA championship.

Vidalia out-hit, out-pitched, and outdefensed the Bulldogs while sweeping their cross county rivals 8-1, 9-2, and 17-2.

The Indians, ranked #1 in all of the Class AA polls out there, still have some work to do to win the region. East Laurens, Jeff Davis, and Bacon County are still on the schedule to constitute the 9 region games left.

Two of the three Jeff Davis games will be played in Hazlehurst; and the Yellow Jackets are still always tough and certainly a threat in the region. Here are the Region 2-AA standings as of the beginning of this week: Team Region Overall Vidalia 6-0 15-4 Bacon 4-2 8-7 JeffDavis 3-3 11-8 Swainsboro 3-3 8-12 Toombs 2-4 10-8 E.Laurens 0-6 4-11 Here is the Class AA Top 10 from the Georgia Dugout Club: 1. Vidalia 15-4 2. Lovett 9-5 3. Bremen 12-6 4. Pace Aca. 12-5-1 5. Bleckley Co. 11-3 6. Elbert Co. 16-5 7. Banks Co. 15-5 8. Callaway 11-7 9. Model 15-4 10.WestsideofAugusta 16-7