The Atlanta Braves clinch the NL East!

https://tomahawktake.com/2020/09/19/atlanta-braves-looking-progressively-prepared-postseason/

By James Kunkle, Sept 23, 2020

For the third straight year, the Atlanta Braves are officially your NL East division champions!!

A few months ago, we were not even sure we would have baseball at all, but yet we did — even in an abbreviated edition.

The results were much of the same, though, as the Atlanta Braves have now won the NL East three straight seasons.

Obviously this one was completely different in a ton of ways:  injuries would play a big factor, specifically in the starting pitching department.

Early in the season, Atlanta Braves ace Mike Soroka went down with an Achilles injury; and honestly, things looked bleak for the Atlanta Braves at that moment.

The rotation was in shambles for much of the year and despite the depth the Atlanta Braves have at that position, the club elected to use bullpen games on quite a few occasions this season.

These last few weeks have gotten us a little more on track though as Ian Anderson and Kyle Wright have both seemingly have it figured out at the top level and are hopefully ready to lead the rotation come October.

Starting pitching-wise, it’s incredible this team even made it to .500, much less won the division especially when you account that Cole Hamels pitched a grand total of 3 innings this season.

What went right?

The Atlanta Braves bullpen was outstanding this season and no doubt the biggest reason this team is where they are now. Early in the year, Josh Tomlin logged long innings and all season the three-headed monster of Chris Martin, Shane Greene, and Mark Melancon were beyond great. The one player who struggled was a little surprising:  Will Smith.  Late in the year, though, even he seemed to get it going.

I would be remiss if I did not mention AJ Minter, who easily had his best year yet.

I do not want to get ahead of myself but this bullpen reminds me of the Kansas City Royals bullpen that was so instrumental in their back to back world series appearances.

Hopefully they continue to carry the pitching staff.

The lineup was historic though, and that was even the case with both Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuna missing some time throughout the year.

Whether it was Dansby Swanson hitting the ball better than ever over the first few weeks, or Adam Duvall becoming Babe Ruth the second half of the season. This lineup has no weak spots.

Freddie Freeman did nothing but have another extraordinary season and will be right in the middle of the MVP race.

It’s very possible he finishes second though because Marcell Ozuna might be the favorite. He has done nothing but take what Josh Donaldson did last year and raise that bar.

Austin Riley while still not having room to grow, showed great signs of improvement and Travis d’Arnaud had the best season in a while for any Atlanta Braves catcher.

It was not the prettiest season ever but collectively they still got the job done. The injuries and inconsistency made it look unlikely at some points but the Atlanta Braves found a way still to win the division again.

Hardly anyone saw the Miami Marlins being the biggest threat though, but hey….2020?

Speaking of 2020, while one could argue this might be the least likely of the last three Braves teams to do it, hopefully they find a way to surprise and win a playoff series. It would be such a normal thing this year and nothing surprises me this year anymore.

Now, the Atlanta Braves do not need to coast over these last few games. They are still playing for something as getting the two seed over the Chicago Cubs would be huge for this team. Hopefully, they keep the winning ways going.

 

Pine View has 18 NMS semifinalists

https://www.yoursun.com/venice/pine-view-has-18-nms-semifinalists

Staff Report Sep 22, 2020

OSPREY – Of the 23 Sarasota County Schools students who have been named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists, 18 are students at Pine View School.

The Sarasota County Schools made the announcement of the National Merit Scholarship Corp. qualifications on Tuesday.

The academic competition takes place with students taking tests and other program requirements. 

More than 1.5 million high school students entered the 2021 program, according to a news release from Sarasota County Schools.

"In September, these high scoring students are notified through their schools that they have qualified as either a Commended Student or Semifinalist," the news release said. "From the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation."

The students in Sarasota County who were named National Merit semifinalists include:

• Pine View School

Mary Jane Bailey

Emily Benson

Nicholas Butakow

Camille I. Edwards

Kiran Kadiyala

Grace Kim

Samuel Klopp

Julia Kourelakos

Finnegan Lear

Joseph Lu

Pragnya Govindu

Neel Gupta

James Hugglestone

Ziwei Jiang

Nicholas Paredes

Nora Povolish

Samantha Sineath

Rohitram Upendram

• Booker High School  

Zephaniah Malka

• Riverview High School 

Sawyer Dunn-Matrullo

Ashley Hodges

• Sarasota High School

Haley Wood

• Suncoast Polytechnical High School

Michael Moloney

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate

REALTOR®, Lic. Broker #BK3284964

West Villages Realty LLC

19503 S West Villages Pkwy

Stes A2 (by Appt)

Venice, Florida 34293

Office: 941-460-3179

'It's nice to be kind'

 

Anita Riska, of Venice, leaves a note that says "It's good to be kind" at the Positivity Wall at Centennial Park in Venice.

https://www.yoursun.com/venice/its-nice-to-be-kind/article

By Scott Lawson Gondolier Editor Sept 23, 2020

VENICE — It didn’t take long for the Positivity Walls constructed at five Venice-area locations to start sprouting statements of unity, silliness and smiles.

On Tuesday, a day after the walls were installed in and around the city, Venice resident Anita Riska was inscribing a small note and tying it to the wood.

“It’s nice to be kind,” she said, noting that’s what her saying stated on a small piece of blue paper.

Among the other sayings by Day Two: Love; Kindness to All; Breathe — It will be ok; Appreciate the things you have; Joy & Positive Thoughts; Blue Lives Matter; Buckeyes National Champs; Be the change you want in others!; Never Give Up; Love Living in Paradise; Love your beaches, hug your family, smile big, life is good!; and Hug your dog today.

Residents and visitors glanced at the walls at Venice Beach Pavilion and at Centennial Park along Venice Avenue.

The Venice Area Chamber of Commerce teamed with area businesses and governments for the walls.

The walls went up at:

• Centennial Park, 200 E. Venice Ave., Venice

• Venice Beach Pavilion, 101 The Esplanade, Venice

• Sky Family YMCA, 701 Center Road, Venice

• Laurel Civic Center, 509 Collins Road, Nokomis

• Frances T. Bourne Jacaranda Public Library, 4141 Woodmere Park Boulevard, South Venice. 

“The chamber is asking the community at large to contribute to the community positivity walls,” the Venice Area Chamber of Commerce said in its news release. “Residents and visitors alike are invited to leave a positive message, a wish, or words of encouragement to share with the community. To participate, complimentary supplies can be found attached to each wall. Each wall will have a box of tags, markers and zip ties.”

The walls stay up until sometime in December until a second phase begins, involving the Venice Art Center.

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate

REALTOR®, Lic. Broker #BK3284964

West Villages Realty LLC

19503 S West Villages Pkwy

Stes A2 (by Appt)

Venice, Florida 34293

Office: 941-460-3179

Charity concert set for Sunday

https://www.yoursun.com/venice/charity-concert-set-for-sunday 
Staff Report Sept 10, 2020

 SUN PHOTOS BY LARRY EVANScebook

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British Open Pub is hosting Sunday concerts for charities on Sunday evenings through September and October. The first one is from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Sept. 12. 



VENICE - The United Way of South Sarasota County is hosting a charity concert series starting Sunday at British Open Pub.

The event will benefit the local COVID-19 Relief & Recovery Fund. 

The band Made in America will be playing from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Sunday at the pub located at 367 Jacaranda Blvd., in Jacaranda Commons, Venice.

Five other bands are set to play on Sundays through the rest of September and all throughout October in an effort to help with nonprofit funding. 

Other shows will benefit the Child Protection Center (Sept. 20); Loveland (Sept. 27); Family Promise (Oct. 4); The Twig (Oct. 11); Sertoma Speech Clinic (Oct. 18); and All Faiths Food Bank. 

Donations can be completed by texting UWSSC to 243725 or visiting www.uwssc.org/donate. 

It notes 100% of the donations will go directly to people in Osprey, Nokomis, Laurel, Venice, North Port and Englewood. 

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate

REALTOR®, Lic. Broker #BK3284964

West Villages Realty LLC

19503 S West Villages Pkwy

Stes A2 (by Appt)

Venice, Florida 34293

Office: 941-460-3179

Allegiant adds routes for Sarasota and Punta Gorda airports

https://www.yoursun.com/venice/allegiant-adds-routes-for-sarasota-and-punta-gorda-airports

An Allegiant A-320 jet takes off — with the airline recently announcing new flights set for Boston, Houston and Chicago.  PHOTO PROVIDED
By DANIEL SUTPHIN and SUE ERWIN Staff Writers


 SARASOTA — Allegiant Travel Company announced Thursday three new routes to major cities out of airports in Sarasota and Punta Gorda.
The company added a seasonal nonstop route to Boston out of Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport starting Nov. 19.
“Florida is an important part of Allegiant’s network, which is built around connecting people in small and medium-sized cities to vacation destinations such as Sarasota and Punta Gorda,” Allegiant Media Relations spokesperson Sonya Padgett said. “More than half of our passengers system-wide fly through the state. Because of the pandemic, we believe there will be pent-up demand for travel during the winter months, so adding these routes now will provide our customers with more options when they’re making travel plans.”
Beginning Nov. 20, Punta Gorda Airport will offer nonstop seasonal flights to Houston and Chicago.
“Southwest Floridians will be thrilled to fly with ease from Punta Gorda into these major metropolitan areas,” said Punta Gorda Airport’s CEO James W. Parish. “These new routes mark Allegiant’s first flight from PGD into the great state of Texas, and will connect thousands of Chicago’s residents to our sunny beaches and outdoor paradise.”
The new nonstop routes will operate twice weekly, flying into Boston Logan International Airport, William P. Hobby Airport in Houston and Chicago Midway International Airport.
Padgett added that the company’s health and wellness protocols are standardized across the network and are designed for maximum effectiveness.
“Travel Pulse named Allegiant the top airline for COVID-19 traveler safety measures,” Padgett said. “The air quality on our planes has always exceeded HEPA standards thanks to the VOC (volatile organic compound) filters we use. The cabin air is a mix of fresh and filtered air, which is refreshed every three minutes during flight.
Several studies show that the in-cabin air on commercial jets meets or exceeds hospital grade standards because of those on-board air filters. To better assist customers, we’ve created a landing page on our website that provides details about our cleaning program, on-board air quality and social distancing practices.”
Flight days, times and costs can be found at Allegiant.com.

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate

REALTOR®, Lic. Broker #BK3284964

West Villages Realty LLC

19503 S West Villages Pkwy

Stes A2 (by Appt)

Venice, Florida 34293

Office: 941-460-3179

August 24th Power Rankings: The Atlanta Braves stay steady

https://tomahawktake.com/2020/08/24/august-24th-power-rankings-atlanta-braves-steady/

by James Kunkle  August 25, 2020

As we said last week, for most teams including the Atlanta Braves, we are basically at the halfway point of the season.

Most things are playing out like we suspected but as always, some surprises have emerged.

The trade deadline is one week away and it’s now already time for teams to get ready for their postseason push.

As always on Monday’s here though, it is time for our weekly power rankings. Where will the Atlanta Braves place this week?


30. Pittsburgh Pirates
Despite a sweep of the Brewers over the weekend, the Pirates stay at the bottom of these rankings once again and are one of the few clear cut sellers before next week’s trading deadline.

29. Los Angeles Angels
Things seem to be getting worse in Southern California for the Angels. I once again will let you know that we can make an offer for Mike Trout here for the Atlanta Braves. Surely, he will waive his no trade clause to get out of that dumpster fire.

28. Detroit Tigers
One week after getting swept by the Cleveland Indians, the Detroit Tigers bounce back and take two out of three, the problem is their was another sweep by the White Sox in the middle of those two series.

27. Boston Red Sox
If you had the Boston Red Sox being the first MLB team to reach the 20 loss plateau, you would be correct. The miserable 2020 season for them continues.

26. Kansas City Royals
The Royals have some bats in the system but currently do not have much pitching besides Brad Keller who is still sporting a 0.00 ERA at this point of the season.

25. Seattle Mariners
Those new alternate uniforms that the Mariners wear now look a lot like the Milwaukee Brewer classic retro style jerseys. It took me a few minutes to recognize who I was watching.

24. Texas Rangers
The Rangers might be a very exciting team to watch over the next week as they have some players who could be of major value to other teams. Players like Lance Lynn, Todd Frazier, and even Mike Minor despite his struggles thus far.

23. Colorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies are imploding quick like. It was not long ago they were sitting in first, but now they are only half a game out of last in the West and already 8 back of the Dodgers for first.

22. Arizona Diamondbacks
Arizona was on a roll and looking to get right back in the playoff race but they closed last week with 5 straight in the loss column. Perhaps a series they are about to start with the Rockies will get them back on a winning streak?

21. Philadelphia Phillies
Already having a awful bullpen, they made a trade with the Red Sox and the pitcher they acquired come right in Saturday and was hit hard against the Atlanta Braves. The Phillies were lucky to escape with 1 win in Atlanta.

20. Washington Nationals
It’s been setback after setback for the defending champs….but it’s not like any of the Atlanta Braves fans are going to feel sorry for them. The latest injury is a season ending one to Stephen Strasburg.

19. San Francisco Giants
Here we go again, the Giants are on a lengthy win streak right before the deadline and it will probably cause them to be staying pat at the deadline instead of a rebuild they should be well into by now.

18. Miami Marlins
Give the Marlins some credit, as of today, they would still be in the playoffs. I do not think they will get in, but as many predicted, they have been better this year.

17. Cincinnati Reds
I picked the wrong Reds pitcher for my preseason Cy Young award winner. I should have gone with Trevor Bauer who has to be the leading candidate for that award up until this point in the season.

16. Baltimore Orioles
At the start of the year, I had the Orioles total win to be somewhere between 14 and 18. Yet, here we are at the near halfway point and they already have 14 wins.


15. Milwaukee Brewers
If you truly want to make the postseason, you can not be sitting on the verge of .500 and go get swept by possibly the worst team in the league. For the Brewers sake, hopefully they wont look back and wish they would have won just one of those three games.

14. New York Mets
All of a sudden, the New York Mets are playing good ball and are inserting themselves right in the picture. They obviously have 1 pitcher everyone would want to avoid come playoff time.

13. Toronto Blue Jays
After spending much of the off season trying to beef up the rotation, the Blue Jays have been laced with injury after injury to the group. The latest being Matt Shoemaker heading to the injured list.

12. St. Louis Cardinals
It will be very interesting to see how all of the double-headers that the Cardinals will presumably have to play down the stretch will wear them out or make them come even more together as a team.

11. Houston Astros
Only 1 current player has an average of .300 or more on the Astros…and that’s Carlos Correa with a average right on the .300 nose.

10. Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs were on the losing side of the crosstown series with the White Sox over the weekend. The Cubs pitching could not slow down the White Sox offense at all.

9. Chicago White Sox
Speaking of the White Sox, here they are. Jose Abreu was a man on a mission this weekend as he was just named the AL player of the week and rightfully so, as he had a 7 dingers on the week.  My fantasy team was single handily smashed by that guy.

8. Cleveland Indians
The Indians are once again right in the middle of the playoff hunt and are obviously one of the better teams in that league. They quietly have one of the more well rounded rosters in the entire game.

7. San Diego Padres
The Padres just smashed the Texas Rangers last week as it seems they hit a grand slam every inning against the Rangers. And Fernando Tatis Jr….do not apologize for swinging and doing something you are great at.

6. Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves excel in the late innings of games over the past few years, and 2020 has been no different as they have already registered a few late inning miraculous wins this season including two last week.


5. New York Yankees
The Yankees and the Atlanta Braves start a quick two game set Tuesday in Atlanta. Hopefully this series goes more the Braves way than the series in the Bronx did a few weeks ago.

4. Minnesota Twins
The Twins offense jumps on opposing teams and in a hurry as they lead the Majors with 27 runs scored in the first inning. The pitching is doing it’s job and keeping those leads the majority of the times as well.

3. Tampa Bay Rays
Red hot is what the Rays are as they are 13-2 over the teams last 15 games. If you did not believe they could win the World Series before…think again.


2. Oakland Athletics
It seems a tad odd, but is it too early to talk about Oakland getting close to wrapping up the AL West already? They have a good size lead and could extend it even further with a good week as they play the Rangers and Astros this week.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers were the class of the field all along for the National League, and they have proven it thus far on the field as well. Despite a couple players starting slow, everyone is rolling now.

                                   So that is our rankings this week. 





Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate

REALTOR®, Lic. Broker #BK3284964

West Villages Realty LLC

19503 S West Villages Pkwy

Stes A2 (by Appt)

Venice, Florida 34293

Office: 941-460-3179

CoolToday Party On The Plaza

      https://www.facebook.com/pg/CoolTodayPark/posts/            


              ‼ Only 4 days until the Party on the Plaza
                            here at CoolToday Park ‼

This Saturday, Aug. 29th, the Kenny Chesney Tribute Band, Pirate Flag Band, is performing LIVE on the plaza! Gates open at 5pm & show starts at 7:30pm.

There will be World Famous hot dogs and milkshakes, a full-service bar, Landshark products, concessions and Kona Ice will be serving adult and kid-friendly slushies! You do not want to miss out on this socially distanced good time! 😎

Get your tickets now:http://ow.ly/IKdw50AZBIR







Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate

REALTOR®, Lic. Broker #BK3284964

West Villages Realty LLC

19503 S West Villages Pkwy

Stes A2 (by Appt)

Venice, Florida 34293

Office: 941-460-3179