It’s Monday night here at BCB After Dark: the grooviest get-together for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and sit for a while. There’s no cover charge. The dress code is casual. We still have a few tables available. Bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started,
but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
The Cubs beat the Pirates tonight 4-0 behind a strong pitching performance of two guys coming back from injuries, Jameson Taillon and Michael Soroka. Pete Crow-Armstrong also looked like his old self tonight after a long slump. Porter Hodge was scary though, but Brad Keller bailed him out. The Cubs magic number to clinch a playoff spot is three with 12 games to play.
Last week, I asked you who was the best Cubs free agent acquisition this past winter. The vote wasn’t even close, as 65 percent of you voted for Matthew Boyd. Carson Kelly was far behind in second place with 21 percent.
Here’s the part where I play music and talk movies. You can skip ahead if you want. There won’t be a test on it.
Here’s the late, great trumpeter Roy Hargrove on Seattle’s KNKX radio in 2009. He’s joined by someone you may have heard of on piano, Jon Batiste. Ameen Saleem is the bassist, Justin Robinson plays saxophone and Montez Coleman is the drummer.
This is “Soulful.”
So it turns out that “cold” I told you about last time is actually COVID, so I’m laid up in bed, my head is a little foggy and everything tastes bland to me. But I have been getting my COVID booster shots so things aren’t too bad. I feel crummy, but i don’t feel like I’m going to be hospitalized anytime soon.
I don’t feel up to writing up my thoughts on Highest 2 Lowest, so I’m sorry about that. I don’t know if I’ll ever get a chance to write them up. But I would recommend watching it and the original High and Low together and comparing them, because there are some very interesting similarities and differences. Spike Lee’s version will probably strike most of you as being more optimistic, but I’m not sure Akira Kurosawa would agree.
I guess we’re going to do this Science Fiction tournament this winter. And the suggestion that we have “brackets” where films from different era compete separately until the semi finals seems like a good one.
I still don’t know where to break up the 1977 to 1999 years in two, but 1984 is seeming like a good spot. But I do know that the “classic” era will be everything 1960 and before, so tonight I’d like to ask for your input on what films should be included.
My preference is for a 28-film tournament, which would mean seven films in each bracket. I may have to go to 32 films, which I think is a problem because that means we either have to start before the World Series is over or finish up after next year starts. But if I have to go to 32, I’ll do it.
Here are my list of candidates for the 1960 and before list.
A Trip to the Moon (1902)
Metropolis (1927)
Things to Come (1936)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
The Thing from Another World (1951)
Godzilla (1954)
This Island Earth (1955)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
The Time Machine (1960)
You may notice that’s not eight films. That’s ten films. Even with that, there are three or four others I think deserve to be in the tournament.
I kind of feel strongly about A Trip to the Moon. I know it’s only 14 minutes long, but that means pretty much everyone here can see it. (It’s also in the public domain, so there are copies everywhere.) I re-watched it last night and it is just an incredibly creative and insightful piece of filmmaking. A Trip to the Moon also illustrates that modern filmmakers don’t hold a monopoly on creativity.
Obviously Metropolis, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Godzilla and Forbidden Planet need to be included. So that leaves two or three more spots. There are also several other films that I didn’t include—The War of the Worlds (1953), Invaders from Mars (1953), 2000 Leagues Under the Seas (1954) Earth vs, the Flying Saucers (1956), The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) and The Blob (1958). You may know of others that I missed.
So today, I’d just like you to make the case for films to be included or excluded from the “Classic” bracket.
Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.
I’m of the opinion that Cubs rookie catcher Moisés Ballesteros can be a special hitter. You’ve now seen what I’ve seen him do in the minor leagues for a few years now—line pitches into the left-center gap for a single, double or a home run with clockwork regularity. He can also pull the ball to right if that’s what the pitcher gives him, as Cubs fans saw on that triple he hit the other day.
I also don’t think he’s ready to be a catcher in the major leagues. Base stealers were successful 87 percent of the time against him in Iowa this past year. In contrast, veteran Carlos Pérez, who got most of the other opportunities behind the plate for Iowa, threw out 30 percent of runners trying to steal. There are a few things that Ballesteros does well behind the plate, but unfortunately one of them is he’s great at deciding whether to challenge a pitch. That’s not going to come into play in the playoffs.
So if Ballesteros were to make the team, he’d only be there to be a DH against right-handed pitching. Still, the Padres starting rotation is overwhelmingly right-handed, so having that kind of a weapon could be useful.
So what do you think? Would having the left-handed Ballesteros on the team be more valuable than someone like Justin Turner or Willi Castro? Or are him limitations and inexperience too big a risk to carry in a three-game series?
Thanks for stopping by tonight. I hope you’re feeling better than I am. You’ve certainly brightened my evening, however. Please get home safely. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow night for more BCB After Dark.
