Congratulations to the Braves and to John Smoltz, who thoroughly dominated Tropical Storm Tammy, the Astros and Roger Clemens, who’s only the best pitcher of our time and arguably the best since World War II. Smoltz needed only nine pitches, nine pitches, 10 pitches and 10 pitches to get through his final four innings. In victory, though, the Braves put together one of the strangest innings we’ve ever seen: In the bottom of the seventh, Atlanta sent six batters to the plate; four of them had singles, one of them walked, and the other grounded out. But thanks to two outfield assists from Jason Lane, the inning was over — though only after an extra baseball appeared on the base path in the middle of a rundown between first and second while Adam LaRoche stood transfixed at third base instead of trying to score. It was just weird. Oh, wait, this isn’t a sports report; it’s the daily open line, where we encourage comments that have nothing to do with baseball. Try this: We read that of 17 candidates on the primary ballot for mayor or City Council in Durham, eight have criminal records. Be glad you live in Henderson.