In April, Judy’s thoughts turn to baseball

Normally, with baseball season starting yesterday, I would be writing about my beloved team, the Atlanta Braves. In the past, when the season started, I was proud, excited and psyched to cheer them on. This season, for the first time, I'm ashamed, depressed and discouraged.

I checked the internet to see how low on the list of 30 the Braves are in the 2016 World Series predictions. I didn't t have to look too far as the list started at 30. We seem to be favored to be the worst this year. Look at the bright side. We can only go up from here.

How could this have happened? It was less than two years ago that we signed Kimbrel, arguably the best closer in baseball; Jurgens, one of the best shortstops; and Miller, an ace pitcher in the making. All of them, to multi-million, multi-year contracts. But within a year they were traded so we could begin to rebuild. Rebuild, as in tear apart the team you love and try to build a better one in less than three or four years. True, we traded McCann, a few years back, but we had a pretty good replacement in Gattis, as our new catcher. He had one killer arm and was capable of a homerun at any moment. He was so powerful that he gained the nickname "El Oso Blanco” (The White Bear). The only player left of the team of two years ago is Freddie Freeman, my favorite player. Had they traded him, I don't know if I would have remained a fan.

What we do have is a great farm system which consists of young players, not yet ready for the big league but working their way up. They say we'll be ready to compete in 2017 when we move to the new stadium. I'm not holding my breath, but I won’t give up either. I'll still cheer on my team and get the baseball package on TV so that I can watch all the games. Looks like I will finally know what horrible suffering the Mets fans had to go through all those years.

And to all my Mets-fan friends (there are many), let the ribbing begin, I deserve it. But be forewarned, we'll be back in a few years and we're going to take over first place in the NL East, where we belong!

That being said … Let's Go Braves!

With apologies to those who expect a funny or poignant article to go along with the weekly recipe, this week I'm going to put the emphasis on the dessert. There's a first for everything.