Big fan of the Two Boots.
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Category Archives: Baseball
You think that sucked?
Yeah, this installment of the Subway Series was bad, but not nearly as bad as the script of Prometheus. And I get that you might share your office with some obnoxious Yankee fans and put extra stock in the three games, even realizing that they’re only three games against an opponent outside the Mets’ division in the course of a 162-game series. And you probably recognize that Prometheus is a summertime sci-fi action thriller, not exactly Oscar bait.
But though a series including a blowout loss with Johan Santana on the mound, a couple of solid starting-pitching efforts wasted, a slew of strikeouts in big spots and a bullpen meltdown culminating in a walk-off Yankee Stadium home run, it’s hardly as taxing or as baffling as the plot of Prometheus, a movie apparently aimed to clarify one moment in another movie from 33 years ago that mostly opens up dozens more questions that need clarification.
Why is the cyborg the most relatable character? Why does he start acting irrationally and in some way that doesn’t seem to benefit his maker/programmer, even though he’s a cyborg? Why is handsome-ass Guy Pearce in the movie to play an old guy in awful old-guy makeup when there are hundreds of capable old guy actors looking for work? Why does the dialogue seem like it’s written by a 9th grader? Without SPOILERing this, why are certain humans affected certain ways by the things that happen in the movie when other humans are affected in other ways? Why do they bother doing the thing so many movies do now where they set up an obvious sequel when nothing about the movie really makes me care what happens next?
And yeah, just like enjoying a brutal series of Mets losses is still way better than not watching professional baseball games, Prometheus was still great to look at as a computer-graphics spectacle. But really, if the outcomes are going to be so wholly unsatisfying, why bother with things like standard nine-inning games or a loosely rendered plot? Next time maybe just have a home run derby or a story-free celebration of contemporary computer-graphics technology in IMAX 3D and we’ll all enjoy the awesomeness without the accompanying heartache and confusion.
Idris Elba and Scott Hairston are still sweet though.
Know Your Enemy
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We had Internet issues in the office today so I couldn’t do much work for a while this morning. Luckily, one of the producers who sits across from me was working on some piece about Mike Piazza that required him to sit there watching Mike Piazza highlights on his monitor. They were awesome because so is Mike Piazza.
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Mostly Mets Podcast presented by Caesars A.C.
Toby, Patrick, Mets stuff, beard digressions, etc. See if you can catch the part Toby had to edit because I cursed.
On iTunes here.
Dickey’s run contextualized
Is R.A. Dickey’s recent run of dominance the best four-start stretch by a knuckleballer in baseball history? Rob Neyer investigates.
Fun facts about Carlos Beltran
Carlos Beltran enjoys sleeping, had a pet monkey, and lists Armageddon among his favorite movies.
Hat tip to James K.
The Mets are not the only team with bullpen issues
“Iggy” here refers to Ryota Igarashi, a.k.a. Rocket Boy, a.k.a. that guy with the career 6.17 ERA in 70 Major League innings.
For what it’s worth, Igarashi has dominated Triple-A hitters this year and last year. Needless to say, it has not yet translated to success at the big-league level.
R.A. Dickey, last four starts
30 2/3 innings, 19 hits, three walks, 38 strikeouts, 0.29 ERA.
This man is good.
The glorious return
Last month, Startup and his Sugar Land teammates became the first relievers in almost two decades to ride to the mound in a bullpen cart when the Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League started using one. It isn’t just the biggest development for bullpen cart fans since Tom Berenger drove one in pursuit of Rene Russo in “Major League,” it’s also the best news for the U.S. automotive industry since the turnaround.
“The reaction has been amazing,” Skeeters vice president Christopher Hill says. “You don’t really know what to expect; and the first time it rolled on the field, a bunch of people stood up and started applauding. It was really cool. I like seeing the fingers pointing to it. You can always tell when someone is at the park for the first time because they’ll be tugging at the person next to them and pointing to the cart.”
Click through and read Caple’s whole entertaining article about the Sugar Land Skeeters’ use of the long-abandoned bullpen cart to shuttle relievers into games. Pitchers’ confusion over etiquette is pretty hilarious, as is the image of fans giving the bullpen cart a standing ovation upon seeing it for the first time.
One of the issues Caple cites with the return of the bullpen cart is its inherent dissonance with the entrance-music phenomenon, but that seems easy to settle. Instead of blaring metal, guys on teams with bullpen carts just need to pick chilled-out driving music. Low Rider is the obvious choice, but Slow Ride and Little Red Corvette also probably work.
Tedquarters 