sports: I know I said I was going to preview all of the playoff series in Major League Baseball, but do to going to see Argo (my most recent post), pro football, and other movies that will discussed at a later date, not to mention I have a job, I was unable to get to the LCS's before they started. It turns out I am glad for that. Besides spouting some generic match-up info, much of which would have been discussed when looking at the rotations and rosters leading up to the Divisional Series, there may not have been much to say. But now there have been two games played in each series. So lets see where the teams stand.
In the American League seires between the Tigers and Yankees, the story has been nothing short of fascinating. The script has been totally filliped on both teams. The Tigers, thought of by most(including me) to be a three man team with bad defense and pitching beyond Verlander has been nothing short of the total opposite. While Verlander turned in an historic performance in game five of the Divisional Series, the entire rest of the starting rotation has been no less great, posting an ERA blow 1.00 . And their two offensive stars, have been great, with Miguel Cabrera driving in runs and Prince Fielder getting robbed in key situations (the Coco Crisp grab over the wall) but nonetheless hitting the ball well. The Yankees have even more so turned into the opposite of what we thought they would be. Their offense has been nothing short of horrible. Robinson Cano just set a record for consecutive at bats in the playoffs without a hit, and there are several other hitters in their lineup hitting under .130. Alex Rodriguez can't hit strkes, and Curtis Granderson is swinging at pitches that are no where near the strike zone. The only productive players for the Yankees this post season have been Ichiro and Jeter, two guys who are supposed to get on base and get knocked in by the guys who are all stuggling. And to make matters worse Jeter is now out for the remainder of the post-season with a broken ankle. The Yankees pitching staff on the other hand has been very solid, not allowing more than 5 runs in a single game this post season, and ace C.C. Sabathia has been the lights out long inning ace people hoped to see. But the Yankees are headed to Detriot down 2-0 and with a horror show of a pitching match-up for the crucial game three: Justin Verlander vs. Phil Hughes. Even if Verlander weren't coming off an all time great playoff performance (9IP, 4H, 1BB, 11K, 0ER) it would still be a lopsided match-up between an elite pitcher and one who is good but also gives up a lot of home runs, which the Tigers are more than capable of hitting. If the Yankees hitting doesn't turn around in a hurry, and against one of the best pitchers in baseball, the hole they have dug themselves may be to deep to climb out of, especially when missing their captain and all time great, Derek Jeter.
The NLCS provides a little more intrigue after two games. Heading back to St. Louis we have seen the best of what both teams have to offer. In game one the Cardinals pulled out to a big lead behind their ace, Kyle Losche, and the power in the middle of their lineup, particularly Freise and Beltran, beating up on the Giant's pitching. We also saw in that game the Giants' on big deficiancy. With no true power in the middle of the lineup they struggled to come all they way back having to base hit their way out of a big hole. In the second game we saw the opposite. We saw the base hitting of the Giants hammer Chris Carpenter out the game early as his pitch count rose while Ryan Vogelsong and the unbelievably deep Giants pitching staff (whose relievers also did a great job in game one after the six runs allowed by Madison Bumgarner) held the powerful Cardinals in check leading to a rather emphatic 7-1 beat down of the Cardinals. And that is what the series is going to come down to. The power and clutch hitting of the Cardinals against the deep pitching and wear you down base hitting offense of the Giants. Who brings their best every night will be what determines the series.
No picks since the series are underway. But there you go with analysis. Oh hell, Tigers vs. Giants. There you go.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Friday, October 12, 2012
argo
movies: Ben Affleck is easily becoming one of the most interesting people in Hollywood. It is just amazing to think that the guy who starred in Sum Of All Fears and Gili is now a critically acclaimed director. But he is. And this weekend he brings us the third movie he has directed, Argo. Argo is the true story of the extraction of six Americans hiding out at the home of the Canadian Embassader in Tehran Iran during the hostage situation that began in 1979 and ended in 1981.
The story is told from the point of view of CIA agent Tony Mendez, played by Affleck. Faced with the problem of trying to get these six people out of Iran he concocts the crazy idea to go into Iran posing as a fake movie crew creating a seemingly real movie and using the people he is trying to rescue as his crew scouting for locations for a science fiction film called Argo. From the moment the plan is hatched, it seems doomed to fail. The idea is crazy enough, but the powers that be in Washington D.C. are also not supporting Mendez. But he presses on, and pursues his mission to save these people, no matter how long the odds continue to get.
Along the way we get to meet some truly unforgettable characters played by nothing short of unforgettable actors. Mendez's boss Jack O'Donnell, played by Brian Cranston, is torn from the moment the movie begins to when it ends. He is unsure of when and how to support his agent, when to follow orders from above. Cranston brings the same intensity to this performance in some his most excited moments that he brings to Breaking Bad, only this time we seem him use that authority to fight for the lives of people rather than against it. John Goodman and Alan Arkin are comedy gold as the duo from Hollywood helping to bring this fake movie to its most real actualization without ever making it. They are both so delightfully jaded and tired of politics of Hollywood that everything they say comes out as much needed break from how tightly wound the rest of the story is (including the movies most memorable line "Ar-go fuck yourself"). Our hostages at the Embassador's house (sorry i'm not rattling off six names but just trust me they are all noteworthy) bring exactly what they need to to their situation. Not fear, because they believe they are safe in hiding, but rather a claustrophobic sense of boredom and stir-craziness after not being able to go even on to the back porch for some fresh air. Watching them just sit and wait every time the story cuts back to them gives a greater sense of time passing during their stay in this home, which were it not for their circumstance would be a dream home, than any time stamp in the corner. And then their are the two scene stealers, Kyle Chandler and Zeljko Ivanek, who between the two of them have a total of about 5 minutes of screen time as White House staff members sitting in on the CIA's plans. It seemed that every time they showed up it was just a reminder of how deep the talent pool in this movie really was, particularly as each got their chance to go toe to toe with Cranston in tense moments.
But really the credit has to be given to Affleck, not as an actor - though he was fantastic, but as a director. All of the performances mentioned were so great because of how well they functioned within his vision of how to tell this story. Everyone mentioned above, which by the way is basically every significant charcter in the movie, had an important role to play in the outcome of the plot. And they functioned exactly as they needed to further the story and build the tension that kept you on the edge of your seat till the very end. (side note: I don't know if I have ever seen a movie besides Apollo 13 that did such a good job of making me hang on the edge of my seat about an event in history I already knew the outcome of. Not only was I excited to see how the story got from beginning to end, but I actually doubted that our heroes would survive at all despite the fact that the history books already told me they did.) The other real trick of the movie that falls to Affleck is how concise it is. There is not a single shot in the movie that didn't have a purpose in being their - everything from the ability to give different looks and feels (cold steady cam in the CIA offices and hand shaky hand helds all over Tehran) to different settings to showing found footage in fullscreen to further make you feel like you were watching something from back in 1980, and their wasn't a single plot point that wasn't important and resolved by the end of the movie. Even the somewhat cheesy part at the end when Mendez comes back to his estranged family was validated by the text at the end of the movie stating that he in real life he did reunite with them. That could have been cheese meant for a feel good end but instead was given a real reason. And then for further hammering home of how tight a movie Affleck made, over the credits we get to see side by side pictures of either characters or scenes from the movie with their news photos or peoples passport photos right next to them. The likenesses are so striking it just makes you appreciate what you saw more.
In his three efforts as a director Ben Affleck has managed to all but completely erase his downward spiral from once promising actor to Gili. It truly is amazing. And in Argo we see his best effort yet, stepping out from the streets of Boston in his previous two films to tell a brilliant spy thriller. I don't know if it will earn him recognition from the academy or not, that may depend on other movies yet to be released. But even if that is not the case, he is making great movies that fill a very specific place in the movie industry: exciting movies geared towards adults. As surprising as Affleck's success is, the fact the he would have chosen that void to fill (left mostly by the passing of Tony Scott) seems almost unlikely, but he has done it.
The story is told from the point of view of CIA agent Tony Mendez, played by Affleck. Faced with the problem of trying to get these six people out of Iran he concocts the crazy idea to go into Iran posing as a fake movie crew creating a seemingly real movie and using the people he is trying to rescue as his crew scouting for locations for a science fiction film called Argo. From the moment the plan is hatched, it seems doomed to fail. The idea is crazy enough, but the powers that be in Washington D.C. are also not supporting Mendez. But he presses on, and pursues his mission to save these people, no matter how long the odds continue to get.
Along the way we get to meet some truly unforgettable characters played by nothing short of unforgettable actors. Mendez's boss Jack O'Donnell, played by Brian Cranston, is torn from the moment the movie begins to when it ends. He is unsure of when and how to support his agent, when to follow orders from above. Cranston brings the same intensity to this performance in some his most excited moments that he brings to Breaking Bad, only this time we seem him use that authority to fight for the lives of people rather than against it. John Goodman and Alan Arkin are comedy gold as the duo from Hollywood helping to bring this fake movie to its most real actualization without ever making it. They are both so delightfully jaded and tired of politics of Hollywood that everything they say comes out as much needed break from how tightly wound the rest of the story is (including the movies most memorable line "Ar-go fuck yourself"). Our hostages at the Embassador's house (sorry i'm not rattling off six names but just trust me they are all noteworthy) bring exactly what they need to to their situation. Not fear, because they believe they are safe in hiding, but rather a claustrophobic sense of boredom and stir-craziness after not being able to go even on to the back porch for some fresh air. Watching them just sit and wait every time the story cuts back to them gives a greater sense of time passing during their stay in this home, which were it not for their circumstance would be a dream home, than any time stamp in the corner. And then their are the two scene stealers, Kyle Chandler and Zeljko Ivanek, who between the two of them have a total of about 5 minutes of screen time as White House staff members sitting in on the CIA's plans. It seemed that every time they showed up it was just a reminder of how deep the talent pool in this movie really was, particularly as each got their chance to go toe to toe with Cranston in tense moments.
But really the credit has to be given to Affleck, not as an actor - though he was fantastic, but as a director. All of the performances mentioned were so great because of how well they functioned within his vision of how to tell this story. Everyone mentioned above, which by the way is basically every significant charcter in the movie, had an important role to play in the outcome of the plot. And they functioned exactly as they needed to further the story and build the tension that kept you on the edge of your seat till the very end. (side note: I don't know if I have ever seen a movie besides Apollo 13 that did such a good job of making me hang on the edge of my seat about an event in history I already knew the outcome of. Not only was I excited to see how the story got from beginning to end, but I actually doubted that our heroes would survive at all despite the fact that the history books already told me they did.) The other real trick of the movie that falls to Affleck is how concise it is. There is not a single shot in the movie that didn't have a purpose in being their - everything from the ability to give different looks and feels (cold steady cam in the CIA offices and hand shaky hand helds all over Tehran) to different settings to showing found footage in fullscreen to further make you feel like you were watching something from back in 1980, and their wasn't a single plot point that wasn't important and resolved by the end of the movie. Even the somewhat cheesy part at the end when Mendez comes back to his estranged family was validated by the text at the end of the movie stating that he in real life he did reunite with them. That could have been cheese meant for a feel good end but instead was given a real reason. And then for further hammering home of how tight a movie Affleck made, over the credits we get to see side by side pictures of either characters or scenes from the movie with their news photos or peoples passport photos right next to them. The likenesses are so striking it just makes you appreciate what you saw more.
In his three efforts as a director Ben Affleck has managed to all but completely erase his downward spiral from once promising actor to Gili. It truly is amazing. And in Argo we see his best effort yet, stepping out from the streets of Boston in his previous two films to tell a brilliant spy thriller. I don't know if it will earn him recognition from the academy or not, that may depend on other movies yet to be released. But even if that is not the case, he is making great movies that fill a very specific place in the movie industry: exciting movies geared towards adults. As surprising as Affleck's success is, the fact the he would have chosen that void to fill (left mostly by the passing of Tony Scott) seems almost unlikely, but he has done it.
nashville
tv: ABC premiered it's new show Nashville last night. It is a show based around a country music star Rayna James, played by Connie Britton, who has been the queen of the genre for twenty odd years. As the show picks up we find her struggling to keep up with the times as a young star is taking music by storm. This star is Juliet Barnes, a Taylor Swift-like crossover sensation. As Juliet's star continues to rise and the new version of the music industry, that seeming to be one of internet sales based less around records and radio hits than what goes viral on youtube, Rayna is forced to into a difficult decision. With her record and ticket sales spiraling, she is asked to open for Juliet on her coming tour. This idea is met with total distaste by Rayna who even says, "she wouldn't even cut it as my backup singer."
The other side of the story deals with Rayna's family. Her father, played by Powers Boothe, is a seemingly corrupt philanthropist (though he would tell you otherwise), who is looking to put Rayna's husband in the Nashville mayoral running based on his sympathy from his tough losses during the recession. Rayna is opposed to this idea, believing that being under the thumb of her father would be like owing a favor to Michael Corleone.
While these plots, set to the back drop of country music produced by T Bone Burnett, who wrote the music for Crazy Heart, may be exciting, it is not where the shows strength seems to lie. The shows strength lies in its being the best of what network television has to offer. It is not the hyper-specific vision of a showrunner like Matt Wiener or Vince Gilligan. It is simply a ton of tawdry drama. It is fun and sexy and full of twists and turns in a world that we feel like we all can understand simply because it is about something we all know: music. People's loyalties are split. Peoples love lives are complicated. And of course, their is the potential for everyone to either hate or love each other at the drop of a hat.
On top of that the show is centered around stars. While Connie Britton may not ever be an Oscar wining actress, she is certainly made for television. She has a lived in quality that makes her purely charismatic on week to week basis. Combine that with the cowboy in Powers Boothe and the enjoyability of Hayden Penettiere and you have a smash hit on your hands.
The show is fun and cool and may even at some point have the chance to border on interesting. But the truth is that there is nothing better than seeing Mrs. Coach (for all you Friday Night Lights fans) every week on our televisions in our homes.
Sometimes network drama (more drama with air quotes than drama like Sopranos or Mad Men) can be good. And Nashville shows that. It is not always about the artful high concept storytelling of shows that are often revered. Sometimes it is all about just making something fun to watch. I feel like if I tried to write this about this show like have something like Breaking Bad I would almost ruin it by trying to be so damn serious. Instead I just want to admit that sometimes the drama and the soap opera can be fun. And in this case it can be good too. And I can't say it enough: Connie Britton, Mrs. Taylor, God bless her.
The other side of the story deals with Rayna's family. Her father, played by Powers Boothe, is a seemingly corrupt philanthropist (though he would tell you otherwise), who is looking to put Rayna's husband in the Nashville mayoral running based on his sympathy from his tough losses during the recession. Rayna is opposed to this idea, believing that being under the thumb of her father would be like owing a favor to Michael Corleone.
While these plots, set to the back drop of country music produced by T Bone Burnett, who wrote the music for Crazy Heart, may be exciting, it is not where the shows strength seems to lie. The shows strength lies in its being the best of what network television has to offer. It is not the hyper-specific vision of a showrunner like Matt Wiener or Vince Gilligan. It is simply a ton of tawdry drama. It is fun and sexy and full of twists and turns in a world that we feel like we all can understand simply because it is about something we all know: music. People's loyalties are split. Peoples love lives are complicated. And of course, their is the potential for everyone to either hate or love each other at the drop of a hat.
On top of that the show is centered around stars. While Connie Britton may not ever be an Oscar wining actress, she is certainly made for television. She has a lived in quality that makes her purely charismatic on week to week basis. Combine that with the cowboy in Powers Boothe and the enjoyability of Hayden Penettiere and you have a smash hit on your hands.
The show is fun and cool and may even at some point have the chance to border on interesting. But the truth is that there is nothing better than seeing Mrs. Coach (for all you Friday Night Lights fans) every week on our televisions in our homes.
Sometimes network drama (more drama with air quotes than drama like Sopranos or Mad Men) can be good. And Nashville shows that. It is not always about the artful high concept storytelling of shows that are often revered. Sometimes it is all about just making something fun to watch. I feel like if I tried to write this about this show like have something like Breaking Bad I would almost ruin it by trying to be so damn serious. Instead I just want to admit that sometimes the drama and the soap opera can be fun. And in this case it can be good too. And I can't say it enough: Connie Britton, Mrs. Taylor, God bless her.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
sundays divisional series
sports: There are two divisional series starting in the MLB playoffs today. Both of them include the winners of Thursday's wild card play in games. The afternoon game is the top seeded Washington Nationals against the St. Louis Cardinals. This match-up, like it seems most of the match-ups in this opening round, including the other series that starts later today, is about a young team on the rise facing a team of vast experience. The Nationals are one of the leagues youngest teams, having risen very quickly up the ranks of baseballs best thanks to draft picks acquired through years of futility. While the story of the Nationals pitching staff has been the benching of ace Stephen Strasburg in order to preserve his arm, even without him they have a formidable staff featuring Cy Young hopeful Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmerman, who along with the aforementioned Strasburg, are among the best young pitchers in all of baseball. The third spot in the rotation is held by Edwin Jackson, a consistent veteran with plenty of big game experience who will not only be relied on to deliver big pitches but also to keep this very young staff's emotions under control. The Nationals lineup may be considered their weak spot, but Adam Laroche, Jayson Werth, and Ryan Zimmerman provide a solid group of players that will trouble any pitching staff. And if Bryce Harper can come out his second half woes, his offensive spark will only help the Nationals make a push deep into the playoffs. The Cardinals will be the first team to allow us to see what the effects of the play in game will be. I talked about the St. Louis pitchers and batters before their wild card team, so lets talk match-ups. The Cards will be forced to use their playoff experience and clutch hitting to get to the young aces from Washington, which will make for some very compelling games. The biggest question for St. Louis though will absolutely be with their pitching. They ran their ace Kyle Lohse out in the wild card game, which now means that they will be relying on pitchers one spot behind in the rotation. While I can't help but keep coming back to experience, it is hard to deny the fact that all of the Cardinal's pitchers will be outmatched by their counterparts. This is a series where I believe talent will overcome. Nats in four.
The later game one is the one between the Yankees and Orioles. This series will in all likelihood come down to one very specific thing for the Yankees and one very specific thing for Baltimore. For the Yankees it will be all about compensation. C.C. Sabathia has not been the ace he typically has been in the past, and the rest of their pitching staff is filled with inconsistant starters like Phil Hughes and the ageless Andy Petite. Combine this with not having Mariano Rivera in the closing playoff games for the first time in seventeen years there is a lack of certainty that may come back to haunt the Yankees. The compensation will have to come from their offense. For quite sometime now the Yankees have had the most potent lineup in all of baseball. The power numbers are Mark Texiera and Curtis Granderson, along with the captain, Derek Jeter's seemingly unending ability to spray hits all over the field will have to be what the Yankees rely on to win in the playoffs this year without their sure thing pitchers. For the Orioles the series will come down to the same things that their entire season has come down to. They need to continue to close out close games. They need continue to get production out of lineup that is, in its lack of star power, the total antithesis of the Yankees. And most importantly, the Orioles need to continue to play with the same level of confidence they have all year that has created this sense that they are the team who has "the mojo" this year. And with a pitching staff built not around an ace but total consistancy, Baltimore might not run into the same problems as the Cardinals. Not to mention they are face a staff that is not nearly as great as the Nationals. While things always point to a Yankees win in the playoffs, it won't happen this time. The Birds continue to ride their momentum into the ALCS, making believers out of everybody in the process.
The later game one is the one between the Yankees and Orioles. This series will in all likelihood come down to one very specific thing for the Yankees and one very specific thing for Baltimore. For the Yankees it will be all about compensation. C.C. Sabathia has not been the ace he typically has been in the past, and the rest of their pitching staff is filled with inconsistant starters like Phil Hughes and the ageless Andy Petite. Combine this with not having Mariano Rivera in the closing playoff games for the first time in seventeen years there is a lack of certainty that may come back to haunt the Yankees. The compensation will have to come from their offense. For quite sometime now the Yankees have had the most potent lineup in all of baseball. The power numbers are Mark Texiera and Curtis Granderson, along with the captain, Derek Jeter's seemingly unending ability to spray hits all over the field will have to be what the Yankees rely on to win in the playoffs this year without their sure thing pitchers. For the Orioles the series will come down to the same things that their entire season has come down to. They need to continue to close out close games. They need continue to get production out of lineup that is, in its lack of star power, the total antithesis of the Yankees. And most importantly, the Orioles need to continue to play with the same level of confidence they have all year that has created this sense that they are the team who has "the mojo" this year. And with a pitching staff built not around an ace but total consistancy, Baltimore might not run into the same problems as the Cardinals. Not to mention they are face a staff that is not nearly as great as the Nationals. While things always point to a Yankees win in the playoffs, it won't happen this time. The Birds continue to ride their momentum into the ALCS, making believers out of everybody in the process.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
divisional series
sports: I am writing this as the first game of the divisional series between the Tigers and Athletics is under way. Despite that fact I am not watching the game until I finish this post so as not to be swayed by anything in the early innings. So here we go with the divisional series of the playoffs.
I might as well start with the series that has already started. The Athletics and Tigers. In this series I am going with the analysis of the Tigers I went with in my inital baseball post, only with a twist. The Tigers were by far and away the second best team in their own division right until the end of the season when they got hot and Miguel Cabrera put the team on his back and got them to the playoffs while winning the triple crown. But they were exactly the team we were expecting otherwise. A team with three absolutely great players, in Cabrera, Verlander, and Fielder, and not a whole lot else. They have a poor defense and the rest of their lineup and pitching rotation are average at best. The Athletics on the other hand have a lineup that has consitency throughout, with the speedy and effective Coco Crisp leading off, Stephen Drew - who has always been a rock solid player going back to his days in Arizona, Yoenis Cespedes - who would probably be the AL rookie or the year were it not for Mike Trout, and the surprise of the year in Josh Reddick - who has turned into the rock in the middle of the Oakland lineup after being nothing more than a platoon outfielder in Boston. The Athletics also have a much more well rounded pitching staff. While they lack a superstar, like Verlander, who will probably cost the A's the first game, the rest of Oakland's pitching staff is far more well rounded than the Tigers. During the playoff era, series have often come down to who is the hottest team as opposed to the best. Both teams are hot coming into the playoffs and have played in pressured filled situation. Thus I would have to pick the more well rounded team, Oakland, to take this series.
In the second game of the first night of the divisional series, the Cincinatti Reds face the San Fransisco Giants. This game offers probably the most anticipated pitching match of the entire playoffs when Cy Young hopefuls, Johnny Cueto and Matt Cain, face off in the first game. As with the stellar match-up of this first game, this series may be the hardest to predict. The Reds have, arguably, the best team in baseball on paper. With Cueto, Homer Bailey, and Bronson Arroyo anchoring what might be the most well rounded staff that also includes super-flamerthrower Aroldis Chapman as their closer, it will be hard to get a single hit off these guys. And then their lineup with MVP candidate and former winner Joey Votto, as well as power hitters Jay Bruce and Ryan Ludwick, the Reds should have no problem scoring runs against anybody. Plus they have to of the best defenders in baseball in third baseman Scott Rolen and second baseman Brandon Phillips. Then there are the Giants. They might pose the only pitching staff in baseball that is top to bottom as formidable as the Reds, particularly with their starting pitching. Their depth and experience in their starting rotation is just kind of startling. Matt Cain has been a top five pitcher all season. Madison Bumgarner and Ryan Vogelsong are two pitchers who are going to give you consistantly solid outings. Tim Lincecom, who looked like he wouldn't even make it through the year as a big league pitcher (with no wins and an era over eight in the first two months), has had a late season resurrgance as he has adjusted to the drop in velocity that contributed to his terrible start. And Barry Zito, who has always been an up and down pitcher since switching sides of the bay in 2007, is still capable of a big game if he is called upon. And they didn't even miss a beat when all-star closer Brian Wilson went down for the year back in the first week of the season. The Giants lineup is not filled with the kind of power that the Reds posses with Votto, Bruce, and Ludwick. But their lineup is filled with guys who are just always on base. No one is going to blown away by the likes of Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, Angel Pegan, Aubrey Huff, and Hunter Pence; but when you watch them, you realize that they are seemingly always on base and advancing runners. They may not have the power of their opposition, but they are almost always as effective.
This maybe be the hardest series of the playoffs to get right. And for me, a fan of this incarnation of the Giants, it feels like a head vs. heart pick. Everything points to the Reds being the superior team, but I just believe in Posey and his rag tag team that seems to have supplanted the '04 Red Sox as the "idiots" of baseball. A pitching classic of all time throughout the five games, a style that favors the Giants. And thus they pull it out in the final game on the strength of their ace, Matt Cain. See you tomorrow for the other two games.
I might as well start with the series that has already started. The Athletics and Tigers. In this series I am going with the analysis of the Tigers I went with in my inital baseball post, only with a twist. The Tigers were by far and away the second best team in their own division right until the end of the season when they got hot and Miguel Cabrera put the team on his back and got them to the playoffs while winning the triple crown. But they were exactly the team we were expecting otherwise. A team with three absolutely great players, in Cabrera, Verlander, and Fielder, and not a whole lot else. They have a poor defense and the rest of their lineup and pitching rotation are average at best. The Athletics on the other hand have a lineup that has consitency throughout, with the speedy and effective Coco Crisp leading off, Stephen Drew - who has always been a rock solid player going back to his days in Arizona, Yoenis Cespedes - who would probably be the AL rookie or the year were it not for Mike Trout, and the surprise of the year in Josh Reddick - who has turned into the rock in the middle of the Oakland lineup after being nothing more than a platoon outfielder in Boston. The Athletics also have a much more well rounded pitching staff. While they lack a superstar, like Verlander, who will probably cost the A's the first game, the rest of Oakland's pitching staff is far more well rounded than the Tigers. During the playoff era, series have often come down to who is the hottest team as opposed to the best. Both teams are hot coming into the playoffs and have played in pressured filled situation. Thus I would have to pick the more well rounded team, Oakland, to take this series.
In the second game of the first night of the divisional series, the Cincinatti Reds face the San Fransisco Giants. This game offers probably the most anticipated pitching match of the entire playoffs when Cy Young hopefuls, Johnny Cueto and Matt Cain, face off in the first game. As with the stellar match-up of this first game, this series may be the hardest to predict. The Reds have, arguably, the best team in baseball on paper. With Cueto, Homer Bailey, and Bronson Arroyo anchoring what might be the most well rounded staff that also includes super-flamerthrower Aroldis Chapman as their closer, it will be hard to get a single hit off these guys. And then their lineup with MVP candidate and former winner Joey Votto, as well as power hitters Jay Bruce and Ryan Ludwick, the Reds should have no problem scoring runs against anybody. Plus they have to of the best defenders in baseball in third baseman Scott Rolen and second baseman Brandon Phillips. Then there are the Giants. They might pose the only pitching staff in baseball that is top to bottom as formidable as the Reds, particularly with their starting pitching. Their depth and experience in their starting rotation is just kind of startling. Matt Cain has been a top five pitcher all season. Madison Bumgarner and Ryan Vogelsong are two pitchers who are going to give you consistantly solid outings. Tim Lincecom, who looked like he wouldn't even make it through the year as a big league pitcher (with no wins and an era over eight in the first two months), has had a late season resurrgance as he has adjusted to the drop in velocity that contributed to his terrible start. And Barry Zito, who has always been an up and down pitcher since switching sides of the bay in 2007, is still capable of a big game if he is called upon. And they didn't even miss a beat when all-star closer Brian Wilson went down for the year back in the first week of the season. The Giants lineup is not filled with the kind of power that the Reds posses with Votto, Bruce, and Ludwick. But their lineup is filled with guys who are just always on base. No one is going to blown away by the likes of Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, Angel Pegan, Aubrey Huff, and Hunter Pence; but when you watch them, you realize that they are seemingly always on base and advancing runners. They may not have the power of their opposition, but they are almost always as effective.
This maybe be the hardest series of the playoffs to get right. And for me, a fan of this incarnation of the Giants, it feels like a head vs. heart pick. Everything points to the Reds being the superior team, but I just believe in Posey and his rag tag team that seems to have supplanted the '04 Red Sox as the "idiots" of baseball. A pitching classic of all time throughout the five games, a style that favors the Giants. And thus they pull it out in the final game on the strength of their ace, Matt Cain. See you tomorrow for the other two games.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
heading into the major league playoffs
sports: I must start of this post with a bit of self-admonishing. I really would have loved to write an end of the season baseball post, particularly giving reference to the picks I made at the beginning of the summer. Especially given the fact that despite a few major injuries I did pretty well (http://robpoppost.blogspot.com/2012/04/mlb-2012-preview.html). But given the fact that I was very neglectful of baseball during the summer, and now am almost overwhelmed by the fact that the new television schedule, fall movie releases, and my day job are taking up almost all of my time (not to mention I'd like to have a social life on of these weeks), to try and sum up all of what a summer of baseball entails in just a handful of paragraphs seems impossible. I guess I should say shame on me for being a bad fan over the summer. But at least I am ready to talk playoffs.
But before I do, I must briefly mention a few true highlights of the regular season, some of which may be mentioned as I look ahead to the playoff match-ups. First and foremost the history making Triple Crown of Miguel Cabrera must be looked at in awe. This is a guy, who has for years now been arguably the best hitter in baseball, but has consistently taken a back seat to Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton. But after reaching this Holy Grail for baseball players, and being the first to do it since 1967, Cabrera has absolutely eclipsed his piers, and given us a year that will be remembered for all time. Mike Trout, Cabrera's main competition for AL MVP, has had an equally impressive year from a more advanced standpoint. Trout's all around numbers, from his power to run production, both driving them in and generating them himself on the base paths, his speed, and his golden glove in the outfield have produced one of the most remarkable seasons in Major League history. And to think he did it while he was only twenty, which means that his best years should be ahead of him. The other highlights are going to mentioned as teams in the playoffs.
One of those highlights, being arguably the biggest surprise of the season, is the Baltimore Orioles They will play the Texas Rangers, who despite leading the AL West nearly wire to wire, lost the lead in their division on the final day of the season to the Oakland A's, another huge and pleasant surprise, in the Wild Card play in game. This match-up is one of a fairly classic one. Texas is filled with tons of high profile fire power both in their pitching rotation and their lineup on a team that has become a perennial powerhouse. The Orioles on the other hand, are the surprise upstart of the year, and maybe one of the biggest surprises in recent memory. With a team full of players that even now at seasons end\ are not stars, with little to speak of in terms of stand out statistical years , on a tiny budget. But they seem to have that magic that is hard to lock down in statistics, having won Major League bests in one run and extra inning games and finishing the year, despite their record, with the lowest run differential amongst all teams over .500. It is an incredibly tough game to call. The new play in game raises so many questions about how a team will be managed to be prepared to move forward, not to mention that this really is a head/heart match-up. But I am going with Texas. Despite Baltimore's remarkable run, their youth and inexperience, combined with the firepower of the Rangers lineup and experience and home field advantage, the Orioles will just fall a bit short.
In the National League, the play in match-up will be the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals. Typically I would pick the Cardinals to win this game, being the defending World Series champs that, despite losing Pujols last off season still has a ton of players from last years team with clutch experience, not to mention a big gamer in Chris Carpenter(who because injuries kept him out most of the season is not starting this game.). But I just think in this game circumstance will overcome. With Atlanta playing at home, with a far superior all around pitching staff, which will come in to play if the game is tight as the two National League managers work their bullpens, and a crowd hoping for more opportunities to see Chipper Jones keep playing, the Braves should overcome the defending champs. As a side note, I want to say that despite the outcome it has been a joy watching Chipper Jones, one of the best switch hitters of all time, play for the same team for nineteen years. His article, which he wrote, in Sports Illustrated only reaffirmed the fact that next year baseball will not be better off without him.
After these two play in games, the divisional series begin the push towards the World Series. Then we will see the divisional winners take the field. In the American League these are the Detroit Tigers, who took their division in the final week from the surprise White Sox, the Yankees, and the Athletics. Looking up and down these teams there are lots of flaws and upsides that lead to doubts and questinos, and no matter how the wild card game breaks, I suspect that the American League representative will come from that wild card game since we will have one of the best, in the Rangers, or "that team", in the Orioles, coming out of that game.
In the National League, the division winners waiting in the wings after the play in game are the Nationals, Giants, and Reds. In opposition to their American League counterparts, these division winners really do seem to be the class of their League. And whoever comes out of the wild card game will have their hands full.
I know I said that I was neglectful during the regular season. And that is the very reason I am not going further than the play in game with my predictions. As the playoffs unfold, the match-ups and recaps with come for every series. I am still not sure I am in favor of the play in game (http://robpoppost.blogspot.com/2012/03/he-163rd-and-164th-game.html), but it sure has created a ton of intrigue and excitement as we push towards October baseball. Don't be surprised if these two games come down to managerial decisions rather than actual talent on the field as the four mangers decide which pitchers to start, how to use and save their bullpens, and how aggressive to be with lineup changes knowing that a win is going to only force more difficult decisions rather than put them in a better place.
But before I do, I must briefly mention a few true highlights of the regular season, some of which may be mentioned as I look ahead to the playoff match-ups. First and foremost the history making Triple Crown of Miguel Cabrera must be looked at in awe. This is a guy, who has for years now been arguably the best hitter in baseball, but has consistently taken a back seat to Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton. But after reaching this Holy Grail for baseball players, and being the first to do it since 1967, Cabrera has absolutely eclipsed his piers, and given us a year that will be remembered for all time. Mike Trout, Cabrera's main competition for AL MVP, has had an equally impressive year from a more advanced standpoint. Trout's all around numbers, from his power to run production, both driving them in and generating them himself on the base paths, his speed, and his golden glove in the outfield have produced one of the most remarkable seasons in Major League history. And to think he did it while he was only twenty, which means that his best years should be ahead of him. The other highlights are going to mentioned as teams in the playoffs.
One of those highlights, being arguably the biggest surprise of the season, is the Baltimore Orioles They will play the Texas Rangers, who despite leading the AL West nearly wire to wire, lost the lead in their division on the final day of the season to the Oakland A's, another huge and pleasant surprise, in the Wild Card play in game. This match-up is one of a fairly classic one. Texas is filled with tons of high profile fire power both in their pitching rotation and their lineup on a team that has become a perennial powerhouse. The Orioles on the other hand, are the surprise upstart of the year, and maybe one of the biggest surprises in recent memory. With a team full of players that even now at seasons end\ are not stars, with little to speak of in terms of stand out statistical years , on a tiny budget. But they seem to have that magic that is hard to lock down in statistics, having won Major League bests in one run and extra inning games and finishing the year, despite their record, with the lowest run differential amongst all teams over .500. It is an incredibly tough game to call. The new play in game raises so many questions about how a team will be managed to be prepared to move forward, not to mention that this really is a head/heart match-up. But I am going with Texas. Despite Baltimore's remarkable run, their youth and inexperience, combined with the firepower of the Rangers lineup and experience and home field advantage, the Orioles will just fall a bit short.
In the National League, the play in match-up will be the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals. Typically I would pick the Cardinals to win this game, being the defending World Series champs that, despite losing Pujols last off season still has a ton of players from last years team with clutch experience, not to mention a big gamer in Chris Carpenter(who because injuries kept him out most of the season is not starting this game.). But I just think in this game circumstance will overcome. With Atlanta playing at home, with a far superior all around pitching staff, which will come in to play if the game is tight as the two National League managers work their bullpens, and a crowd hoping for more opportunities to see Chipper Jones keep playing, the Braves should overcome the defending champs. As a side note, I want to say that despite the outcome it has been a joy watching Chipper Jones, one of the best switch hitters of all time, play for the same team for nineteen years. His article, which he wrote, in Sports Illustrated only reaffirmed the fact that next year baseball will not be better off without him.
After these two play in games, the divisional series begin the push towards the World Series. Then we will see the divisional winners take the field. In the American League these are the Detroit Tigers, who took their division in the final week from the surprise White Sox, the Yankees, and the Athletics. Looking up and down these teams there are lots of flaws and upsides that lead to doubts and questinos, and no matter how the wild card game breaks, I suspect that the American League representative will come from that wild card game since we will have one of the best, in the Rangers, or "that team", in the Orioles, coming out of that game.
In the National League, the division winners waiting in the wings after the play in game are the Nationals, Giants, and Reds. In opposition to their American League counterparts, these division winners really do seem to be the class of their League. And whoever comes out of the wild card game will have their hands full.
I know I said that I was neglectful during the regular season. And that is the very reason I am not going further than the play in game with my predictions. As the playoffs unfold, the match-ups and recaps with come for every series. I am still not sure I am in favor of the play in game (http://robpoppost.blogspot.com/2012/03/he-163rd-and-164th-game.html), but it sure has created a ton of intrigue and excitement as we push towards October baseball. Don't be surprised if these two games come down to managerial decisions rather than actual talent on the field as the four mangers decide which pitchers to start, how to use and save their bullpens, and how aggressive to be with lineup changes knowing that a win is going to only force more difficult decisions rather than put them in a better place.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
homeland season 2
tv: Homeland really had the perfect set up for the start of it's new season. It was hailed as the best new show on television by a long shot after its first season last fall by fans and critics alike, and the week before it began it's second season it did the unthinkable at the Emmys; taking down Mad Men in the Best Drama category, in which it had never lost, and seeing Damian Lewis win the Best Actor In A Drama award, which Bryan Cranston had never lost during Breaking Bad's run, along with an almost sure thing win for the brilliant Claire Daines. Things could not have lined up better for the premiere of the sophomore season of Showtimes terrorism thriller about a POW turned and returned from Iraq.
The season premiere began, as most season premieres do, with a somewhat slow reintroduction to the world. We comeback to find Brody firmly established as a new Congressman and being encouraged by the Vice President to throw his hat in the ring to be the future VP in the next election. This is followed by a meeting with a member of the D.C. press who brings him a message from Abu Nazir, the Bin Laden style terrorist for whom Brody is working. Due to Israel bombing various nuclear sights in Iran, Brody is supposed to get the list of future targets from the safe of the ultimate man in the grey area and head of the CIA, David Estes's safe.
As that plot is unfolding we find Carrie Mathison, after her electroshock treatment that was supposed to help her deal with the total loss of control of her bipolar disorder, living seemingly happily with her sister and father. She is gardening and teaching classes locally for Arab people to learn English. Then the phone rings. It is Saul, her mentor and father figure from the CIA. Now working in Beirut he has found someone who seems to have vital information about a coming attack on America. This informant however, used to be an asset of Carrie's and refuses to deal with anyone besides her. Despite her misgivings about how humiliated she feels about her being pushed out of the CIA midst her breakdown, Carrie agrees to help. And after a few briefings on her new identity, Carrie heads to Beirut to help Saul get the Intel he needs.
It is really only after all of this (which does take about two thirds of the episode, about the same amount of time it took to read all of that), that Homeland really starts to feel like it is back. Instead of seeing a more predictable and criminal version of Brody, he comes home to family turmoil centered around the fact that his being Muslim is dangerously close to public knowledge. As his wife hears this in truth for the first time and lashes out at him by basically screaming "I love our new life and lifestyle with you in politics! Don't fuck it up by scaring people with a faith that the public fears!"(maybe be the most stunning part of the entire episode was when Brody yelled "Don't let that touch the floor!" while in a domestic dispute in which his wife the Koran to the floor. The sheer honesty of that moment as his wife is talking about honesty in their relationship and he can't hold back his faith is unsettling as much for their marriage as because of what we the viewer knows his Muslim tradition means for his character), his daughter, Dana, stands by his side. Having known his secret already(the Muslim secret not the terrorist secret), she looks upon her father as the man to disprove those who believe that Muslim = Terrorism and while trying to learn about this new side to her father. Little does she know, her father is the exact proof of the rule she is trying to disprove. These conflicts, while domestic and not political, are where we see the Brody we have come to enjoy watching: conflicted, ambiguous and playing all sides of his schemes and emotions at once thus making the viewer unsure which one he really is at any given moment.
Carrie's story gets the same kick start when she arrives in Beirut and begins her re-entry into the world of spy games. She instantly seems at home as she loses tails and slows down an assailant with a move that would have put any man down. And in watching her back in the field we see her become at home in the world in which she truly belongs, culminating in the smile after her escape of a threat that was worth of the episodes title.
By the end of the episode, the two main characters were both at home in their most complex moments. Brody struggling to not only play both sides, but to be both sides, as we see him love his cause, his faith, and his family. Then we see Carrie finally the way we became enlightened about her at the end of last season. We saw that her brilliance as an agent and her fractured self are all part of the same brain where both genius and madness do exist and that they drive each other. Carrie probably would not be as talented a spy were it not for her disability, but her disability is also accentuated by the stress of being in the field. And as these two fantastically complicated people stuck in this violently high stress world continue to make their way through it, the real joy will be watching how the come back to one another. With Carrie tracking down leads and assets in Beirut and Brody scheming from his office in D.C., it seems inevitable that they will once again collide and unlock all of the fun and excitement Homeland can provide. They will be adversaries yet again, and they will have to deal with the chemistry born out of their support group meet-cute that made for some of the best entertainment on TV last year.
The season premiere began, as most season premieres do, with a somewhat slow reintroduction to the world. We comeback to find Brody firmly established as a new Congressman and being encouraged by the Vice President to throw his hat in the ring to be the future VP in the next election. This is followed by a meeting with a member of the D.C. press who brings him a message from Abu Nazir, the Bin Laden style terrorist for whom Brody is working. Due to Israel bombing various nuclear sights in Iran, Brody is supposed to get the list of future targets from the safe of the ultimate man in the grey area and head of the CIA, David Estes's safe.
As that plot is unfolding we find Carrie Mathison, after her electroshock treatment that was supposed to help her deal with the total loss of control of her bipolar disorder, living seemingly happily with her sister and father. She is gardening and teaching classes locally for Arab people to learn English. Then the phone rings. It is Saul, her mentor and father figure from the CIA. Now working in Beirut he has found someone who seems to have vital information about a coming attack on America. This informant however, used to be an asset of Carrie's and refuses to deal with anyone besides her. Despite her misgivings about how humiliated she feels about her being pushed out of the CIA midst her breakdown, Carrie agrees to help. And after a few briefings on her new identity, Carrie heads to Beirut to help Saul get the Intel he needs.
It is really only after all of this (which does take about two thirds of the episode, about the same amount of time it took to read all of that), that Homeland really starts to feel like it is back. Instead of seeing a more predictable and criminal version of Brody, he comes home to family turmoil centered around the fact that his being Muslim is dangerously close to public knowledge. As his wife hears this in truth for the first time and lashes out at him by basically screaming "I love our new life and lifestyle with you in politics! Don't fuck it up by scaring people with a faith that the public fears!"(maybe be the most stunning part of the entire episode was when Brody yelled "Don't let that touch the floor!" while in a domestic dispute in which his wife the Koran to the floor. The sheer honesty of that moment as his wife is talking about honesty in their relationship and he can't hold back his faith is unsettling as much for their marriage as because of what we the viewer knows his Muslim tradition means for his character), his daughter, Dana, stands by his side. Having known his secret already(the Muslim secret not the terrorist secret), she looks upon her father as the man to disprove those who believe that Muslim = Terrorism and while trying to learn about this new side to her father. Little does she know, her father is the exact proof of the rule she is trying to disprove. These conflicts, while domestic and not political, are where we see the Brody we have come to enjoy watching: conflicted, ambiguous and playing all sides of his schemes and emotions at once thus making the viewer unsure which one he really is at any given moment.
Carrie's story gets the same kick start when she arrives in Beirut and begins her re-entry into the world of spy games. She instantly seems at home as she loses tails and slows down an assailant with a move that would have put any man down. And in watching her back in the field we see her become at home in the world in which she truly belongs, culminating in the smile after her escape of a threat that was worth of the episodes title.
By the end of the episode, the two main characters were both at home in their most complex moments. Brody struggling to not only play both sides, but to be both sides, as we see him love his cause, his faith, and his family. Then we see Carrie finally the way we became enlightened about her at the end of last season. We saw that her brilliance as an agent and her fractured self are all part of the same brain where both genius and madness do exist and that they drive each other. Carrie probably would not be as talented a spy were it not for her disability, but her disability is also accentuated by the stress of being in the field. And as these two fantastically complicated people stuck in this violently high stress world continue to make their way through it, the real joy will be watching how the come back to one another. With Carrie tracking down leads and assets in Beirut and Brody scheming from his office in D.C., it seems inevitable that they will once again collide and unlock all of the fun and excitement Homeland can provide. They will be adversaries yet again, and they will have to deal with the chemistry born out of their support group meet-cute that made for some of the best entertainment on TV last year.
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