Good morning soldiers,
As you crank up the work week, I am here to enlighten you a little. My job is basically giving my side of a story. I don’t bore you with a popular propaganda dance off here. I dish it straight and blunt. Whiskey without the ice to water out the floating sensation. Let’s get into it.
Hopefully the Cards celebrated their 15-2 club bashing of the Reds on Sunday on their flight home. They ended the 3-8 road trip by scoring 41 runs in their final 4 games. Not bad for a team declared dead on Wednesday. Starting today, they face a red hot Dodgers team that has won 14 straight on the road. That’s like beating down the monsters from within only to rest in a bed full of snakes. LA has turned their season around, winning 31 of their past 38 games and looking like the contender every paper magazine chalked them up to be. They are doing this while dangling Andre Ethier off the trade corner and without Matt “Gimp” Kemp. They have rock solid pitching and a potent lineup which has been energized by Yasiel Puig, the type of young player the Cards can only dream Oscar Taveras turns out to be. Puig hurt himself over the weekend but I doubt he will miss time against the Cards. The Dodgers greet us with Zach Greinke and Clayton Kershaw the first two games of a four game set. As noted earlier, home field advantage doesn’t matter when you are facing a crew of road warriors.
Adam Wainwright needs to make a statement tonight. Climb the mound, pitch like an ace and walk tall damn it. He produced two shitty starts on a pivotal road trip. He got outpitched by Joe Kelly in back to back starts. No offense to Joe but Waino is a Cy Young hopeful and the general of this rotation. He wears the badge and he knows it. He can’t walk out there tomorrow, toss hangers and cutters that don’t slice. He has to halt the LA bangers and give us a chance. Fuck what he has done up to this point. Now we enter the stretch run. Get your fanny packs off and put on the hard hats because it’s time to bang.
David Freese and Matt Holliday have woken up since Yadi Molina went down. That is what big gamers do. They rise out of the slumpy ashes when most needed. Holliday has been hitting everything hard for a week and Freese had a huge weekend in Cincinnati. Sitting back in his comfortable cleanup spot(where he hit with AP here), Holliday is bashing liners and knocking guys in. Allen Craig has settled into the 3rd spot and Freese is either in the 5th or 6th spot. If Freese is on, this lineup looks deadly and can overcome the short term loss of Molina. Good timing Imos boy. The nice deluxe is on me surfer!
Anyone seen Edward Mujica lately? Chief pitched 2 damn innings on the 11 game trip. If the Cards can learn to create a save situation again, we need to get our rusty closer back out there. August isn’t the time to have him ride the bench. This isn’t a rally cry against 10 run deficit destruction. Just saying Mujica needs to work. Him and Trevor Rosenthal are playing too much blackjack down there.
Matt Adams can hit but he will strike out the more he plays. He had a big 2 hit day on Sunday, including a long 2 run HR in the first inning. He can play. He is a deadly bench bat/occasional starter. As a full time player, he is showing weaknesses yet may improve with more time. This plays into the whole bring back Beltran or don’t bring back Beltran idea. Beltran stays and Craig plays a lot of first base. If you move Jay, you are doing it for Oscar Taveras. The only way Matt Adams plays every day here is if Beltran departs. The man is still young so be patient.
Matt Garza needs to stop using twitter to attack players and their wives. His treatment of a Oakland A’s player and his wife on Saturday was simply unprofessional. Grow up Garzy or I will shave the squirrel off your face.
Busy week ahead for Film-Addict honcho here. I have a screening tomorrow at 11am of a widely praised indie called The Spectacular Now, and a screening of the sci-fi action thriller Elysium on Tuesday. I also have two screeners to watch and a possible interview with the Brit Mark Strong. 4 movies, 1 interview and a lot of typing. I made need an injection by Thursday. This is not a complaint. I am able to send Vinny to his daycare 2 days a weeks so I can get FA duties and writing/job applying done without reckless noise in my background. Some weeks are busier than others. One day this will be all I have to do.
I haven’t contacted a good friend about a job fair opportunity and I feel pretty shitty about it. Said person must not take that personally because I will be calling this week. Amazing how quick time flies.
I drove a party bus for my neighbor on Saturday and didn’t mind the experience. It was a wedding and the group wanted to hit Ted Drewes and Kiener Plaza. No big deal. The groom was a Marine and was sweating profusely while his new bride took about 600 shots in 80 degree heat. You drive them around, listen to them get drunk and listen to horrible music and try to create celebration by screaming “WooooHoooo” 45 times in a 30 minute ride. It’s basically listening to children slowly become adults. I didn’t get to use my cool driver transporter Jason Statham accent once. I nearly played that role.
Aaron Sorkin is a great writer. He writes dialogue like the ideas are bubbling up in his head and coming in at a clip of 45 million per second and under the notion that his hands will tire before his mind. He writes like a mind without a stop watch. All passion and no limitation. It’s a thing of beauty to watch and makes his HBO show, The Newsroom, a joy to watch. You find yourself going back and listening to dialogue again because there is so much packed in there.
You want a cool under the radar gem to revisit. Watch Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. That was the real beginning of Robert Downey Jr.’s comeback.
Ray Donovan promises a dark ride through Hollywood and a family of Boston gangsters playing pinball against the past. I will be writing a piece for Film-Addict on this bright young show with plenty of legs. We do TV spotlights on occasion, especially the shows that resemble “cinematic television”.
I can be as excited about the 2013 Rams as anyone and it doesn’t mean shit. I need to see Jake Long protect Sam Bradford in a game. I need to see Sam fire a pass into the chest of Jared Cook or Tavon Austin under pressure in a game before I declare the Sooner QB the second coming of Kurt Warner. The 49ers and Seahawks are getting hit hard with injury and Fisher ball is a exciting, but games need to be played. Don’t make the mistake of getting on the ride before it starts to move. We are all fans. If you love the team, it’s okay to watch things play out.
The Blues made a fantastic move in signing midseason trade acquisition Jay Bouwmeester to a 5 year extension. After they sign Alex Pietrangelo to a long term extension, that gives the St. Louis Blues a strong tandem on defense for years to come. No matter what happens with Oshie and Berglund, the team tosses an anchor in the water with Jay Bo and Pietro. It’s been a long time since Pronger and Big Mac roamed the blue line. Now we have another pair worthy of that hype. Younger too. Jay Bo is tall, has a fast skate and can thread the needle on an outlet pass. He occupies space and knows what to do with it. The team signing Jake Allen(future #1 goalie) and solidifying the defensive core is Doug Armstrong hard at work. Ken Hitchcock’s first full year will be interesting.
Jeff Daniels isn’t just great on the Newsroom. He’s sensational. Give him the Emmy for next year’s ceremony. Get the engraver ready. Without great actors, fine writing is just words on a piece of paper. The right actors can make that material sing. Daniels’ Will McAvoy is Sorkin’s alter ego taking center stage on every political and human issue. Daniels makes it sing.
Song of the Day-“Heroes” by Peter Gabriel
What else do I got?
I can’t stand coffee with cream in it. Why not pour sugar and ice cream in and make a fucking shake out of it? The more people pour sugar and cream into coffee it loses its wonderfully creative flame. They wonder why it doesn’t wake them up. It won’t if you drown it in bullshit.
Gas prices are holding steady. Back to the worthless news desk.
Politicians are full of shit. CNN is like their own form of open play. Watch the babies spit up on each other and play with big toys.
Barack Obama is a good guy I think. He roots for the White Sox, likes basketball and can really really give a great speech. What he stands for…I have no fucking clue.
Look up the band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club(BRMC for those with short attention spans). They are a true under the radar rock band and their album, Baby 81, is a classic rock n’ roll clashing of drums, steel, guitar and the blues infused with a punk rock spice. Yeah, I’m aroused too. If you like them, buy a ticket to their September 27th show at the Pageant.
I’m done. Thanks for reading friends. Good morning.
-DLB
I’m saving my creatively spiked ending for another rant…
Dose of Buffa 