My mentor, the late Dr. Howard P. Giddens, started going to Spring Training with his father and brother way back in the late 1940s.  He and I started going to Florida together in the mid-1990s and went every year for about ten years until he became physically unable; I loved listening to him talk about what it was like to go in the "old days" when Spring Training was apparently laid back and inexpensive. 

It's still laid back, at least compared to the regular season and at least if you're not a young player trying to make the Major League roster for the first time or a grizzled veteran trying to avoid that final cut.

But it's not inexpensive.  My son and I are going down to watch a few games in a couple of weeks, one game at the Tigers spring home in Lakeland, one at the Braves stadium at Disney's Wide Word of Sports, and one at the Pirates place in Bradenton.  I paid between $16 and $28 for each ticket before handling charges.

To my way of thinking that's not cheap for a "practice" game.

And make no mistake about it--the purpose of Spring Training games, especially early in the schedule, is to practice, to ease veterans back into playing shape and to give minor leaguers and marginal players a chance to show that they have what it takes to make the big team's roster.

We fans who go down to watch the games know that. 

Still, there is some tension between the need of the team to "practice" and the fact that Spring Training has become such big business.

The tension, which always exists just beneath the surface, rose to the surface on Tuesday in Port St. Lucie, Florida, as the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets were preparing to open their Grapefruit League season.

The Mets had originally posted a line-up that featured many of their regulars but, due to a wet field, they replaced them with non-marquee players, which, according to Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer Dave O'Brien, elicited a negative reaction from the Mets' fans.

Given the steep prices that are charged for admission to the games the fans' response is completely understandable.  I would have probably felt the same way, especially given that one lineup was posted and then replaced with another.

On the other hand, real fans take the long-term view and understand that the team cannot and should not risk the health of its established veterans in an exhibition game.

Besides, one of the most enjoyable aspects of attending Spring Training is seeing the prospects, the up and coming youngsters, that you might not see in the majors for a few years.  I like seeing the stars, too, but I'll see them on television all year long; seeing the kids who may one day be stars is great fun.

So when it comes to Spring Training there is a tension between the business and the training.

But I'm more than willing to live with it.  Anyway you slice it, it's Major League baseball.

And it's worth paying for and worth making the trip to watch.

Tommy Hanson has grounds for a lawsuit against Bobby Cox--but if Hanson has grounds, Kris Medlen has ample grounds.

Hanson pitched his heart out tonight.  Even though he threw a lot of pitches and gave up four walks in five innings, he only gave up two hits and one run and showed again what a tough competitor he is.

So what does Bobby Cox do?

In the top of the sixth inning he pinch hits for Hanson, which, given the high number of pitches he had thrown, makes sense--but he sends up Greg Norton, who unfortunately has become an automatic out and that's what he was tonight.

Imaginary conversation: 

Hanson:  "I need help, Skipper."

Cox:  "I'll bat Norton for you, Hans."

Hanson:  (Trying not to cry)  "Thanks."

Then he brings in Kris Medlen to pitch.  Now, I'm a Kris Medlen fan; I think he's going to be a fine pitcher--as a starter, which I believe he was for his entire minor league career so the Braves and Medlen would have probably been well served to let him stay in AAA Gwinnett as a starting pitcher this year rather than use him in the bullpen.  Still, he has performed admirably. 

But Cox is trotting Medlen out there night after night--and since he didn't have anything last night what makes the manager think he would have anything tonight?  Sure enough--Medlen gave up the lead and the inning fell apart after that.

One could make a good case that Cox has misused the bullpen pretty badly this season.  Mike Gonzalez and Peter Moylan--especially Moylan--have been put out there night after night after night and, lest we forget, neither of them is far removed from Tommy John surgery.

I really hate to see a promising young starting pitcher like Kris Medlen fouled up by the incomprehensible strategies of Bobby Cox.

Is anyone besides me wondering why the Braves are carrying Buddy Carlyle, Boone Logan, and Luis Valdez--who was just brought up from Gwinnett--on the roster if they are not going to be employed to give the other bullpen guys a break?

Kris Medlen should sue.

As I write this, the Braves are playing the Marlins and unfortunately have just given up a lead and, if they get much farther behind, most hope will be lost because they just don't have enough offense to come from way behind.

That's one of the things that I don't like about this Braves team--they don't have enough firepower, especially now that Chipper's offense has mysteriously gone in the tank (note: right after I wrote that, Chipper got a bases-loaded pinch hit double), to scare anybody.

Another thing that I don't like about this Braves team is that they are so laid back that some nights it's like they aren't even there; it's like watching nine clones of Maynard G. Krebs (obscure Dobie Gillis reference). 

But there is one thing that I do like about this Braves team: it is a blue collar team.

I grew up in a textile mill town in a house with textile mill working parents and I went to church with textile mill working people.  I know blue collar and this is a blue collar team.

Don't get me wrong--I know they don't earn blue collar wages, not when the Major League minimum is $400,000.

Still, get a load of this starting lineup:

Matt Diaz    RF

Martin Prado  3B

Garrett Anderson LF

Brian McCann C

Adam LaRoche   1B

Yunel Escobar   SS

Ryan Church  CF

Omar Infante  2B.

Granting that Chipper did not start, the only one in the lineup approaching "star" status is Brian McCann, and even he has the bearing of a working class stiff.

There are a couple of stars in the making on the pitching staff, namely Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson, but again, it's a largely blue collar bunch.

It's really quite impressive--and a tribute to the value of a solid starting pitching staff and a grind-it-out approach to the game--that the Braves are in contention for a playoff spot.  Let's face it--there is no comparison between the starting lineup of the Braves and the starting lineups of the Phillies, Dodgers, and Cardinals--not to mention the Red Sox, Yankees, or Angels.  There is no comparison between the payrolls of the Braves and those outstandingly talented teams, either.

The Braves don't win as many games as those teams do, to be sure, and if the Braves manage to squeak by the Giants and Rockies and win the NL Wild Card, they aren't good enough to beat those teams for a World Series title. 

Still, they win more often than they lose and they remain in contention for the playoffs and, given the fact that they come across as a bunch of guys who would have fit in with my father and the other guys in the Bleach Department at Thomaston Mills, I have enjoyed watching them.

So fellows, keep toting your lunch pails to the park, keep punching that clock, and keep doing your job.  We appreciate it.

"Oh come on," you're saying.  "In the first place, that's not what they did.  In the second place, neither the Braves nor anyone else would make that deal."

Stay with me here.

On July 31, 2007, the Braves traded catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, shortstop Elvis Andrus, right-handed pitcher Neftali Feliz, left-hander Matt Harrison and left-hander Beau Jones to the Texas Rangers for first baseman Mark Teixeira and left-handed relief pitcher Ron Mahay.

Mahay left the Braves via free agency to sign with the Kanas City Royals following the 2007 season.

Then in July 2008, Atlanta traded Teixeira to the California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels for first baseman Casey Kotchman and right-handed pitcher Stephen Marek.

Marek is on the AAA Gwinnett Braves' roster showing little sign that he will make it to the major league squad.

So,  for all intents and purposes, all the Braves had to show for the trade of Texeira was Kotchman.

Finally, last week they swapped Kotchman to Boston for Adam LaRoche.

Therefore, when you get right down to it, there are two end results of all those Braves' trades over the last two seasons.

The first one is that they traded the farm to get Teixeira in the first place. 

The second is that they then basically traded Teixeira for LaRoche.

I wonder if the Rangers, in the interest of fair play, would take LaRoche in exchange for the five guys the Braves traded to them for Teixeira?

I know that every fan of every team could play this game--fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates could probably do it better than any others--but I couldn't resist.

So, to all you Braves fans, I ask:  would you go to war with this team, all of whom the Braves either traded or let go and all of whom are still active (although some are presently disabled) in the major leagues?

C:    Jarod Saltalamacchia

1B:  Mark Texeira

2B:  Rafael Furcal

SS:  Elvis Andrus

3B:  Mark DeRosa

OF: Andruw Jones, Jermaine Dye, J.D. Drew

P:   Kevin Millwood, Jason Schmidt, Jason Marquis, Adam Wainwright, John Smoltz

I know--the logic is flawed.  For example, the only reason the Braves ever had Drew was that they traded Wainwright to get him. 

And, to be clear, I think some of the decisions to trade these players or to allow them to walk were sound baseball decisions.  Some, on the other hand, were terrible, such as trading Marquis and Wainwright to get Drew for one season or to trade Salty and Andrus and others to get Tex for just a little while.

Nonetheless, you could put together a pretty sound team with players the Braves have discarded.  It might be no better than the one they have now, but hey, we're just speculating.

So who have I missed that should be on the "Braves Team that Might Have Been"?

Does the following scenario bother anybody besides me?

I'll be listening to the Braves game on the radio and someone, let's say Yunel Escobar, gets thrown out attempting to steal second base.

The next batter, let's say Matt Diaz, then doubles to right center field.

The announcer, let's say Don Sutton, then says, "That caught stealing really hurts now; the Braves would have had a run."

Now I'm no theoretical physicist and I've read just enough science and just enough philosophy to be dangerous, but isn't it true that Don's observation is based on a flawed view of reality?

Granted, had Escobar been successful in his attempt to steal second, he would have been in scoring position had Diaz followed with a double.

But, is it not the case that there is no way to know if Diaz would have still gotten the double had Escobar been safe at second?  Does not the flow of events along the space-time continuum change depending on whether Escobar is safe or out?  Is it not true that all events subsequent to Escobar's steal attempt will be different depending upon whether he makes it to second or not?

Of course, we can come at this question from a baseball perspective. 

It's likely that the pitcher will pitch Diaz differently depending on whether Escobar is on second with one out or the bases are empty with two outs.

So, in the interest of rational thinking, a proper world-view, baseball strategy, and decent announcing, I say that announcers should not try to predict what the future would have been had events gone a different way than they in fact did.

Because they didn't.

That was the reason that manager Bobby Cox gave for the Braves' decision to keep Greg Norton and to option Brooks Conrad to AAA Gwinnett, a decision that was forced when Kelly Johnson was activated from his rehab stint with the G-Braves.

I understand the logic but I have to disagree with it.

What the Braves did was keep Norton, a professional pinch-hitter who has not hit this year (.111 or 5-for-45 with no homers and four RBIs) and who pretty much never plays in the field, rather than Conrad, who has hit .344 (11-for-32) with two triples, two homers and eight RBIs in only 14 games and who has played excellent second base when called upon to do so.

Conrad also brings some extra fire and life to the Braves when he's in the lineup.

It seems to me that the wiser move would have been to release Norton and to keep Conrad.

I do hope, though, that Kelly Johnson will adapt well to his new role as a utility player and that he has found his long-lost hitting stroke.  He could be very valuable as a back-up second baseman and outfielder and as a left-handed pinch-hitter.

In short, Johnson is the kind of versatile player you like to have on your bench--the kind of player that Norton used to be and that Conrad is now.

I have never been a fan of the wild card system in Major League Baseball for two reasons. 

First, I don't think that a team should be rewarded with a playoff spot for finishing in second place.  I am old enough to remember when there were no divisions in MLB; the first place finisher in the National League played the first place finisher in the American League in the World Series and, unless there was a tie in one of the leagues, that was all the playoff there was.  I kind of miss that system:  two leagues, two champions, one World Series. 

Now, some will protest my reasoning on the basis of the fact that in recent years a Wild Card team has often won the World Series but I would still insist that a second place team should not have been there in the first place.  As we all know, the team that wins a playoff series is often the team that gets hot and not necessarily the "best" team; it is conceivable that you could throw a third place team into the mix and, if things fall right, they just might win a short series.

Second, I fear that baseball will continue to expand its playoff system so that more and more non-champion teams (another way to refer to wild card teams) will get in.  The specter of MLB's playoffs coming to look like those of the NBA in terms of the number of really average teams that get in gives me a sick feeling.

Why, then, do I find myself getting excited about the Braves being in serious competition for the NL Wild Card spot? 

Perhaps it's just a concession to reality.  For one thing, I really don't think, although I haven't given up hope, that the Braves can catch the Phillies and win the Eastern Division.  For another thing, given that the Braves haven't made the playoffs since 2005 and I miss the excitement of the postseason, I just want them to make it under any circumstances.

So I admit it--I'm a hypocrite.

But I do have another reason: I have really enjoyed watching the development of this team and I would like to see them rewarded for the growth they have experienced and for the adjustments they have made.  The Braves have a nice mix going:  excellent starting pitching (and let's give Frank Wren some credit for the Lowe, Vasquez, and Kawakami acquisitions), a bullpen that has been fairly solid given that some of them have been seriously overworked, and an offense that seems to have finally hit its stride for several reasons, including a willingness to play small ball and the replacing of some players who had become almost automatic outs, such as Kelly Johnson and Jeff Francoeur.

So let the race begin--or, more accurately, continue. 

If the Braves win the Wild Card, I'll just have to be content with chanting "We're #2!"