Rain or Shine: Following the '09 Atlanta Braves

At first, I thought the drops on my shoulder blades were from the wave breaking behind me, but, after the wave knocked me off my board and sent it flying over my head, I surfaced to find my head pelted by bullets from the sky. Looking up, the drops appeared to be dripping off the sunlight like wax from a candle.

There are places on this Earth, Hawaii being one of them, where the ocean and sky seem to occupy the same y-intercept, and one can not tell if the precipitation is rising or falling. The Atlanta Braves, after going 4-5 against the Marlins, Dodgers, and Padres, now find themselves walking that same y-intercept like a tightrope, and no one knows if their sun is rising or setting.

With the right maneuvering, they could take flight, catch a wave, and know what it feels like to fly over the water. With the wrong maneuvering, the Braves will find themselves on the wrong side of a Hart Crane poem:

Above the fresh ruffles of the surf

Bright striped urchins flay each other with sand.

They have contrived a conquest for shell shucks,

And their fingers crumble fragments of baked weed

Gaily digging and scattering.

And in answer to their treble interjections

The sun beats lightning on the waves,

The waves fold thunder on the sand;

And could they hear me I would tell them:

O brilliant kids, frisk with your dog,

Fondle your shells and sticks, bleached

By time and the elements; but there is a line

You must not cross nor ever trust beyond it

Spry cordage of your bodies to caresses

Too lichen-faithful from too wide a breast.

The bottom of the sea is cruel.

The Braves have another series with the Dodgers that begins tonight, followed by a couple games with the Nationals and then a series with the Phillies. The team is 6.5 back in their own division and 4.5 back of the Rockies in the Wild Card race. The room for error is nonexistent:

From the top of the ocean--Yeah!

To the bottom of the sky-- Goddamn!

Well, when I get claustrophobic...

I am not allowed much danger

This Braves season is as rough and beautiful as a Modest Mouse song that can not make up its mind on whether to rock out or sit patiently waiting. Emotionally, it's getting hard to take, but I guess we only overanalyze what isn't obvious, which happens to be the fate of this team.

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PS I like the Adam LaRoche move, but doesn't it seem a little weird that the Braves wound up with two of Pittsburgh's best hitters? I have no idea how Pirates fans must be feeling, but welcome back to Atlanta, Adam.

Is anyone else scared by the Jason Heyward comparisons to Darryl Strawberry? They're talking about his ability to hit and run the baselines, not taking bong hits and doing coke lines, right? Sorry, it was there for the taking.