The Heart of Friday Night: Braves at Phillies, Gamethread September 6, 2013

Previous torch song posts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

The fifth song on Tom Waits' Heart of Saturday Night is the titular track, a song about driving through town and feeling the world open up to the possibilities. It's also a somber tune, though, deeply wistful and uncertain -- we're "looking" for the heart of Saturday night. We haven't found it, despite how much we "comb our hair" and "shave our face / try to wipe out every trace / of all the other days / of the week."

This season hasn't gone so well. But there was something my dad told me when I was first starting to watch football: "Every season is good, so long as you beat the Cowboys." And as I've gotten more and more into baseball, I feel the same way about the Braves. I know the odds are long, and I know there's no objective benefit to winning out over the long haul. Even over the five year long haul. And we're not knocking the Braves out of the playoffs.

But we're barreling down the boulevard of a long desolate season, looking for the heart of the last remaining weeks. How do we get the most out of our final glory days of the MLB season? By beating the Braves and feeling brilliant for a few hours at least. The heart of Friday night.

Mike Minor

#36 / Pitcher / Atlanta Braves

Height: 6-3

Weight: 210

Bats: R

Throws: L

Born: Dec 26, 1987

Cliff Lee

#33 / Pitcher / Philadelphia Phillies

Height: 6-3

Weight: 205

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: Aug 30, 1978