Frayed Knot

seawolf17 wrote: Travis Jankowski is coming up! Our first non-pitcher in the bigs. 5 for his first 9 in the bigs I see. Actually he just dropped to 5-10 as he pops out vs Strasberg

Would you sign Cesar Puello?

Danny Collins to his (never before met) adult son: - Are you happy? How's your life? -- I hate my boss. And the Mets break my heart most of the time. But other than that I'm doing OK.

Or as it's known in Hollywood: Standard Operating Procedure

Hard to say as we see young Danny (not played by Pacino obviously) for just a few seconds during a long-ago magazine interview. The story is based on an actual incident involving Liverpool singer/musician Steve Tilston but the character is totally invented for the movie. The story of the road Danny Collins took after chucking the songwriting portion of his talent in favor of the easier road of performing, stardom and money is skipped over leaving us with just the brief scenes of him singing his golden oldies to crowds of golden oldies. He's still popular at his age, widely recognized, and can be charming as all get out, but of course he also knows he's at least 85% fraud. At least a decade later than Dion (think early '70s as an up-and-comer) and not as authentic even if there were those at the beginning who thought he had the writing chops to be so. Closer maybe to a more charismatic version of Michael Nesmith? James Taylor who opted instead for the David Cassidy route?

Washed up (though still making money) pop star receives a relic from his past which triggers a reassessment of his life. So he quits the tour, dumps the young girlfriend, flushes the drugs, starts to write again, and decides to make amends with family members he never knew. Better than that description makes it sound, largely due to some pro actors. Al Pacino is Danny Collins. Also Annette Benning, Christopher Plummer, Bobby Cannavale, Jennifer Garner, ... and John Lennon.

seawolf17 wrote: Travis Jankowski is coming up! Great, so he joins that minor leaguer w/Milwaukee. Oh wait, you said coming UP. Never mind.

Double-A Binghamton SS Gavin Cecchini has been named the Eastern League Player of the Month (Aug. 6). In 29 games in July, Cecchini hit a league-best .387 with a .453 OBP and .532 SLG, racking up a dozen multi-hit games which included his first career five-hit game.

Promoted to AAA

If nothing else, this was a great looking film. Not sure that I enjoy movies pouring out all that emotional baggage.

Ue4PCI0NamI This one's not out yet -- sked for October release (hope the release date doesn't conflict with any NYM playoff games) -- but I've been cautiously looking forward this since I read the book a year or two ago. Trailer looks good but, let's be honest, a slick looking trailer can be made out of just about anything. I'm hoping the translation to screen doesn't lose the humor that's more present in a sci-fi rescue attempt story than one would normally suspect. Not sure if anyone has an opinion about whether this is the type of movie Ridley Scott is likely to do well with or if it's something he'll just special-effect the shit out of it (to paraphrase a line from the trailer) and forego the story entirely. Matt Damon Jessica Chastain Kristen Wiig Jeff Daniels Chiwetel Ejiofor

Best All-Around Performance in 'Futures Game' (sez Baseball America): Michael Conforto, of, Mets Conforto’s first and likely only Futures Game went about as well as he could have hoped. In BP, Conforto showed a good setup with an easy, fluid swing from the left side and plus power, putting several balls into the seats between center and right field. It’s easy to see why Conforto, 22, has hit .295/.369/.468 between high Class A and Double-A this season, with a mature hitting approach that carried over into the game. He finished 2-for-2. In Conforto’s first plate appearance, Marlins lefthander Jarlin Garcia threw a 93-mph fastball up on the inner half. He kept his hands short and quick to the ball, driving the ball back up the middle for a single. Conforto’s next time up, Mariners righthander Edwin Diaz pitched aggressively and got ahead of him 1-2, but Conforto worked his way back to a full count before pulling a 92-mph fastball to right field for another single. Conforto’s value is driven by what he does at the plate, but today he showed he’s not strictly one-dimensional. In the third inning, Braves shortstop Ozzie Albies pulled a single to left field. With Mariners shortstop Ketel Marte trying to score from second base on the play, Conforto fired a perfect strike to the plate, showing a strong, accurate arm to end the inning. That kind of arm could play in left or right field (although he admitted after the game that that was one of his best throws) but obviously what’s most important here is the bat, which should soon be plugged into the middle of the Mets lineup.

MFS62 wrote: So far today, he is 2 for 2 and has thrown out a runner at the plate. Bring him up NOW!!!! Eh never mind. Now that Kirk has turned the corner towards superstardom we don't need any LH-hitting OFs so they should just deal Conforto off for 70 games worth of Justin Upton. And if SD won't take that then throw that injury-prone Matz guy into the deal. Get it done, Sandy!

Son of the late WC guitarist Tommy Tedesco makes a documentary film of the loose confederation of legendary LA-based studio musicians known informally (and mostly in retrospect) as 'The Wrecking Crew' who played on every single record ever recorded during the 1960s (or so it seems at times). A combo of survivors recollections, home movies, and archive footage galore, it's as much a celebration/tribute as a pure documentary.

A childless 40-something couple starts hanging with and even imitating a pair of 20-something hipsters because millennials are so free and open and fun and non-materialistic. Or are they? Ben Stiller & Naomi Watts play the oldsters; Adam Driver & Amanda Seyfried the younger pair. Supporting/cameo roles by the likes of Peter Yarrow, Adam Horovitz, Charles Grodin, Dree* Hemingway "It's like their whole apartment is decorated with all the stuff we've thrown out!" * daughter of Mariel, g-granddaughter of Ernest

The only odd thing I see in his stats is that his walk rate is about half what it was last year. But the BA is up a couple ticks and the slugging is up significantly [iSO 2014 = .067; ISO 2015 = .134] with more HRs (2 vs 1) and almost 2x as many XBHs already this season as in all last season in approx 40% the ABs

It's progress and that's what you want to see from 19 year olds (20 y/o on Monday).

#7 on this week's 'BA Hot List' 7. Michael Conforto, lf, Mets Team: Double-A Binghamton (Eastern) Age: 22 Why He’s Here: .400/.538/.700 (8-for-20), 7 R, 3 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBIs, 6 BB, 5 SO, 1-for-1 SB The Scoop: The jump to the Eastern League has done nothing to slow down Conforto, who has hit safely in 9 of his first 11 games, and he’s also finding it easier to hit for power—he had four extra-base hits this week—now that he’s left the stifling humidity of the Florida State League.

I suppose I sometimes fall into the trap of not making enough of a distinction between Adam Sandler movies and movies with Adam Sandler in them.

Ordinarily my first response here is that you lost me at, 'Adam Sandler plays ...' But that it's a Tom McCarthy project could be enough to turn things around.

John Sickels: [Nimmo is] hitting .372 in his last 10 games and .304/.375/.457 overall for Double-A Binghamton. He played half of 2014 in the Eastern League and it will be interesting to see how quickly the Mets move him up to Triple-A if he remains this hot.

Edgy MD wrote: [*]The two middle-aged fools at the beach who harass Mr. Miyagi by drinking on his car and refusing to move. One of them � and this will shock you � is a visitor from the future wearing what we didn't recognize in 1983 was... a Washington Nationals hat. (How did we never notice the cap before?) Or maybe the guy was just a big fan of Walgreens Pharmacy.

I'm still waiting for the sequel where Rocky fights Rambo. And, let's face it, it's going to happen at some point.

But if you can only see one Norwegian movie this year ...

I don't even remember hearing about this movie until this thread - even though the campaign behind a summer blockbuster type with Cruise and Blunt must have made at least some mark on the publicity radar. Well, I guess, it got the job done. I mean it was coherent, which is more than I can say for most futurist warped-reality plots. And the battlefield topography all made sense, which is something else that often loses me. Yeah, I guess that pretty much sums it up. I mean, let's face it, most of these movies are thin and barely discernible plots designed to bridge time in between the numerous 'shit gettin blow'd up' scenes. Based on that, this one was probably a tad better than most.