Stop what you are doing and go see The Dark Knight. Not only was the movie a good action movie, but it succeeded in almost every other aspect that most action movies fail. Script: above average. Twists: good. Nuances: numerous. Acting: varied but mostly quite excellent. Heath Ledger is going to get the top billing for acting in this movie because of his untimely death — and truthfully he deserves it. The character he crafts is completely devoid of Ledger and the absolute embodiment of a twisted but deviously clever mind. I found Christian Bale’s take this time around somewhat uninspiring and listless with Alfred (Michael Caine) bailing him out in numerous scenes. Aaron Eckhardt turns in a superb effort with Harvey Dent. The cast is all around good but Ledger really does go above and beyond any expections I had; having read numerous reviews, I had a relatively high bar set for that performance too. From start to finish, the movie is a success with perhaps 2 or 3 very minor plot contrivances that are used to advance the film without really being explained. It’s a movie I’ll probably go see in theaters again.
Not much baseball news out today. I missed Jaime Garcia‘s start although it seemed to be satisfactory if nothing else. We’ll get down to business right away. It’s a jam packed night ever with Batavia’s game getting suspended.
- Joe “I wish my father was a coach” Mather and Josh Phelps went 2-for-4 each with a HR. Prior to this game, Mather was hitting .302/.409/.624 — there’s really very little for him to work on in the minors. The Cardinals should sell high on Schumaker, who’s a nice complimentary part that but a somewhat redundant part with Rasmus in the minors and Ludwick able to backup CF if needed.
- Nick Stavinoha was 3-for-4. Any deal in which they can move Stavinoha for something of value would be a good one.
- Anthony Reyes got hit around tonight. He allowed 9 hits over 5 innings for 6 runs (4 earned). He struck out 6 and walked 3. Any deal in which they can move Reyes for something of value would be a good one.
- Matthew Scerher allowed 1 hit over 2 innings.
- Chris Perez walked 1 and allowed a hit while striking out 2. He threw 17 pitches — 11 fastballs, 6 sliders.*
- Tyler Greene was 2-for-4 with a HR.
- Allen Craig was a beast going 3-for-3 with a double, HR and a walk. Prior to this game he was hitting .351/.390/.675 after a terrible June. Really weird (but probably random) monthly splits for Craig this season. Craig did commit his 10th error of the season.
- Chris Carpenter started and is obviously going to need some time in the minors. He went 4 innings allowing just 1 hit but he walked 4 while striking out 4. His command is going to take a while to resurface — keep an eye out for reports on how he feels on Monday.
- Kyle Mura followed up with a solid 4 innings allowing 3 hits, 3 walks and striking out 4 for 1 ER.
- Fernando Salas picked up his 17th save striking out 1 in a perfect 9th.
- Donovan Solano was 2-for-5.
- Charles Kingrey was 2-for-4 with a HR and a walk. He had 4 RBI.
- Matthew Arburr was 2-for-4 with a HR.
- The pitching had a rough night. Shaun Garceau went 6.2 innings allowing 5 hits, 3 walks and 2 Ks. When he departed the bases were loaded and he had allowed 4 ER. Elvis Hernandez did him no favors allowing all three runners to score. Elvis proceeded to take a blown save allowing another 3 runs to score.
- The Jason Motte experiment, part duex, continues with modest success as Casey Mulligan went 1 inning striking out 1.
- D’Marcus Ingram was 2-for-5 with a double and a triple.
- Pete Kozma was 2-for-4 with a double.
- Brett Wallace was 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Tommy Pham had a big night going 3-for-4 with a HR.
- Richard Castillo had a rough go of hit over 3 innings. He allowed 3 hits, 3 walks, 2 HBP and 2 ER. He struck out 4 batters. He’s maintained solid numbers since being converted to a starter. The main area he could improve on is getting groundballs (and in conjunction keeping the ball in the park).
- Jared Bradford followed up with 4 innings allowing 5 hits, 1 ER and 1 K.
Johnson City 11, Elizabeton 3 (7 innings)
- Nico Vasquez was 2-for-4.
- Curt Smith was 3-for-4 with a HR.
- Ivan Castro was 2-for-3 with a HR and a walk.
- Osvaldo Morales was 1-for-2 with a long ball. Morales is showing an ISO > .300 which he’ll need to keep doing since his fielding is average at best at first base. He’s got good power but I think his downfall in the end will be an inability to hit for average or take enough walks to compensate. He has plenty of time to improve, however.
- Edgar Lara was 2-for-2 with a double and a walk.
- Matt North went 4.2 innings allowing 5 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), 2 walks and 3 Ks.
Johnson City 6, Elizabethton 1 (Completion of 7/13 game.)
- Nico Vasquez was 3-for-4 with a walk.
- Curt Smith was 2-for-5 with a double.
- Edgar Lara was 2-for-4 with a double.
- Great outing for Deryk Hooker who struck out 6 over 4 scoreless frames. He walked 2 and allowed just 1 hit.
- Jon Bravo picked up his first professional win throwing 4.1 innings. He struck out 4 and walked 2.
*I have no idea if that’s what he threw but the club said they wanted to see a slider for every 2 fastballs so he could get the feel for that pitch again.
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RE: The Dark Knight
Fantastic movie, I would’ve liked a little back story on the Joker though (I know the Jokers backstory from the comics/original movie, but I wouldve liked it included in the movie), they kinda dropped the ball on that. Otherwise though, fantastic freaking movie and Heath Ledger was absolutely brilliant.
Maybe it is just me, but Nico Vasquez and Brett Wallace both need to be promoted. Both of them are handling pitching at their levels extremely well.
As for Stavinoah, does he have any real trade value? I see him as a .280, 5-10 HR kind of hitter at best.
I’m with AP re: Niko & Brett. They need the challenge of a promotion…maybe not immediately, but soon.
Sounds like Carp has the requisite velocity and movement, but just has to hone his location. Which is fine. More than fine.
Nice to see Edgar Lara come to life today. I see him as very much along the lines of his fellow RF J. Edwards. Lots of pop, but excessive K’s–which could certainly be resolved, as they’re both so young.
The only concern I have about Castillo is the (possible) controll/command difficulty. A pair of HBP’s, plus the free passes is mildly troubling. But for cryin’ out loud, we’re basically talking about a high school senior pitching in a league against guys like Brett Wallace! Mini-Pedro is still a top-100 prospect for me.
Video of carpenter from local news
http://tinyurl.com/5usknw
also you get to see Greene’s HR, which was an absolute bomb. left the park, deep left center.
Hmmm that Link did not work for me bummer, I thought carp did just fine. Obviously his command is going to be off after not pitching for over a year. It’s good to here that his Velocity and Movement are doing good, Now we just need to hear him say “no pain after those 62 pitches”
I was at the Cards game today (with a wicked sunburn to show for it) and I thought Garcia looked good for the most part. Early on, he looked nervous and allowed a leadoff homer, but after the 1st inning it looked like he settled in. He served one up to the opposing pitcher, but the ball is jumping out of Busch III right now. Aaron Miles hit one into the back of the bullpen, so you know the ball is carrying. He threw quite a few pitches in the first, but figured it out and went much deeper than it originally looked. His curve looked pretty nasty, and if he can continue to improve his command, he has a chance to be pretty good.
The Dark Knight was incredible, BTW. Heath Ledger’s performance trumped everyone else’s. He stole every scene he was in. Usually, movies that get this much hype don’t live up to it, but this one definitely did. Listen to Azru, if you haven’t seen it, go ASAP.
I dont think it really matters where Wallace ends in 2008, he will almost certainly start 2009 in AA. So I too would like to see him moved up, but its not an overly big issue. Cards could very well want to keep Kozma and Wallace together as much as they can, spark some competitive juices and maybe grow together.
Wallace is on a faster track then Pete..but it would be nice for them to work together in the field next to each other, hit next to each other and kind of bond.
Success breeds success…I do think Pete has picked up his game a bit since Brett arrived.
Niko should probably get a bump and Shane Peterson in Short Season, still doesnt make much sense.
Ledger was a truly great actor and one of my favorites. I think he would’ve become a legend, if only his career hadn’t ended so soon. Haven’t seen The Dark Knight yet, but can’t wait to do so.
I’m with you on selling Schumaker and promoting Mather. Even though I consider him greatly under-appreciated, we need to cash in on our abundance of quality outfielders and Mather seems to have the most potential. It may hurt us in the present, since we’ll lose a great leadoff hitter, but it seems like the better move for the future.
The only question I have is if Schumaker will garner enough interest to make it worth it. If we’re not expecting for much in return, then I’d rather trade Duncan or Stavinoha, since neither of them are as important to the team as Schumaker.
As for Carpenter, he performed about as well as I’d hoped he would. I’m surprised that they’re considering rushing him back so soon, because surely it’ll take him a while to become acclimated again. They might want him to shed some of the rust in the majors, but I wouldn’t expect him back in form for several weeks, so I hope people won’t get down on him if he doesn’t seem ready yet.
“How about a magic trick…I am going to make this pencil disappear.”
I saw the Dark Knight over the weekend, too and thought it was great. There were certainly flaws (Christian Bale and Maggie Gylenhaal were a bit disappointing – and there were plot issues that muddied the water a little), but compared to other movies of this ilk, those were minor problems. I could not have gone into the theater with higher expectations for Ledger’s performance and he did not disappoint at all. He completely stole the show (and probably made Bale’s performance seem worse than it was by comparison).
Jaime pounded the lower half of the strike zone all game. It was Dave Duncan’s dream. Seriously, he only made a couple mistakes, and the Padres jumped on both of them. I think he was better than the line suggests.
I was at the game too (what a game! 2 row back from the pads dugout :) ) and totally agree with Grant. Garcia was very fidgety in the 1st, playing with the mound dirt a lot, fooling around with his uniform (in fact I mentioned it at the time to my wife and some nearby fans) – just seemed very nervous. After that he was pretty darn good. Overall he had a pretty strong outing I thought – He seemed to be inducing a lot of swings and misses and very weak contact – threw a ton of strikes – definitely one to build on.
Tyler Greene is on a tear. I’m glad to see it. I’ve been rooting for him. The power has always been there, he just needs to make more consistent contact – or walk more. If he does either of those, and gives major league avg defense at SS, he’s a valuable prospect.
I like what Carp did last night. I too am coming back from Tommy John Surgery and the doc told me that the last thing to come back is accuracy, likely two years after the surgery. I’m rehabbing right now as its been 11 months since my surgery and some days I can put the ball where I want it and other days look out. I’m really pulling hard for Carp because the day I found out I needed TJ, as I was leaving the DR’s office, I heard on the radio that Carp had just discovered he needed the surgery also.
Where was Carpenter’s velocity prior to surgery? I thought he was normally around 91-93 not high 80s like he pitched yesterday. Is he going to add a few mph over a couple of starts? Does that typically happen? It was good to see him miss bats though.
Carp was consistently hitting 88 – 91 last night. Before the surgery he averaged 92 – 93 and he could touch 95 or 96. Not bad for his first start.
We need less movie reviews and more baseball facts on this baseball site.
The video report of the Springfield game didn’t work for me either, but I found it here.
Hammons Field looks like a great place to watch a game.
Sorry deejay,
But the FR contingent has grown to like the movie review portion of your daily program…er….weekly part I guess.
I wish I could get to the movies more, but I am not a big fan of crowds. With that said I would much rather spend my time and money going to see a flick that I know a little more about coming from a good source. I can’t stand movie reviews from almost any online source, and I utilize FR or friends for my movie input now.
Liam,
Haven’t been to a game this year, but I would recommend an SCards game to anyone. I was really hoping that Memphis would give up on the Redbirds and Springfield could make the jump to AAA. Not sure how the city stacks up against other PCL clubs (could make for a good story, wink wink), but Hammons Field is the real deal. It would probably be one of the best AAA sites in the game, hands down.
Monday mornings are always the end of my work week, so my apologies for the rambling today. As for movies in general, I celebrated Thursday by going to see the midnight showing of The Dark Knight. I will definitely be going again in the very near future, and I don’t remember the last time I had to see a movie twice at full price.
I certainly don’t mind the occasional opinion on a flick, I wish I could get to more of them though. Once you have a kid, finding time to get to the movies is a lot harder. I haven’t seen any of the blockbusters this summer.
Erik -
I hear ya on that one. The little man turned one on June 28, and I haven’t seen a movie in the theater in about 15 months. I usually have to wait until it makes it to the Pay Per View queue so I can watch it on my crappy 30 inch screen.
1380 AM in St. Louis is reporting that Jaime Garcia has been optioned to Memphis and Mitchell Boggs has been recalled.
-RBB
Gotta temper the enthusiasm on Garcia. His first inning was not good, which isn’t that much of a surprise for rookie starters. However, his control wasn’t that good as the game continued. He threw way too many balls in the dirt, most of which LaRue snagged. However, there was one he didn’t – a 3rd strike, wild pitch. This was followed up by the Baek HR. On the HR, Garcia grooved a fastball – letter high, no movement. Anyone in baseball will hit that out of any park in baseball. It had nothing to do with Busch being HR-friendly yesterday. So, Garcia needs to get better control on his low pitches, because multiple dirt balls every inning is not good control. Overall, average start with potential if he corrects that deficiency and doesn’t groove fastballs to anyone.
If Garcia walks the pitcher everyone would be clammering for him to just throw the guy a fastball and let him hit it. The pitcher hitting that one out was a fluke. But I do agree that his control wasn’t the greatest. I didn’t see why we sent Boggs down in the first place but I don’t see why we aren’t giving Garcia another shot. I thought he should have been out there to face the 2 lefties in the 6th.
The whole Boggs/Garcia shuffle thing is more a matter of the big club having rested arms available. They aren’t trying to rush either of them into full-time starter roles and want to have the option of having a bullpen arm – which Boggs can fill.
The ‘pen is so strained right now, keeping Garcia up would be a mistake. It’ll be interesting to see if Boggs works out of the ‘pen or gets the start on Friday. IMO, that’ll be a matter of how well the starters do and when they feel like Thompson can go again. He pitched quite a bit over the weekend.
Yes, Garcia should’ve faced the 2 lefties in the 6th. And I’m not saying walk the pitcher, but a letter high, no movement, right over the middle of the plate fastball? At least throw it down some, or in or out or something. I’d rather see a walk on a borderline pitch than the one Garcia threw. Check the replay on Daily Rewind at MLB.com – it’s pretty glaring how bad that pitch was compared to everything else he threw yesterday.
Really, deejay? I write 3-4 posts a week and in a quarter of one post I write about a movie I saw. Sheesh. Can’t please everyone I guess.
Toddy-The last time I saw a movie in the theater it was a movie i’d normally never see in the theater-Juno. It was Valentine’s day, and somehow we found a sitter.
Man for having the so-called best fans in baseball..we sure got alot of stupid ones too.
Cards Talk has turned into Honorary GED night.