Vic Sage

And the character is riddled with self-doubt and internal conflicts. Very complex.

my vote: the Brew Crew, Braun and Sabathia

so let me get this straight: the BoSox trade Manny, Hansen and a prospect, plus they pay remaining $7m of Manny's salary... for Jason Bay? that deal sux for sox. Now I'm annoyed.

Jon Heyman sez: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/07/31/manny.sweepstakes/index.html?eref=T1 Ramirez signed off on the deal, contingent upon the two $20-million team options for 2009 and '10 being dropped, making him a FA after the season. Pittsburgh gets Craign Hansen and Brandon Moss (from Boston), as well as third baseman Andy LaRoche (Dodgers) and a fourth minor leaguer from LA who has yet to be confirmed.(Bryan Morris?) The Red Sox are paying the $7 million remaining on Ramirez's $20 million salary for this year.

Perez = 3.75 Delgado = 1.75 Evans = .75 Beltran = .75 Wright = .75 Reyes = .75 Heilman = .75 Wagner = .75

even putting aside Guillen's history of injuries, his consistent problems with teammates and managers, and his alleged PED use, you do realize his career OPS is less than that of Tatis, and is substantially lower this year as well? While Tatis is unlikely to keep producing at this level, guillen is really not an upgrade on the field, and is a major problem off the field.

Promenade Club seats, Row 3. 2 seats, please, for weekend games. Thanks.

Player Name Age W L ERA G GS CG SH GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO WP BK H9 HR9 BB9 K9 WHIP Kyle Hartshorn - 17 4 1.69 25 25 8 2 0 0 170.2 125 45 32 5 53 98 4 6.59 0.26 2.79 5.17 1.04

make left at rock that look like bear, make right at bear that look like rock.

Nymr83 wrote: you left out one of the cartoons, batman beyond, its not bad. Batman Beyond is not "Bruce Wayne / Batman", ergo not Batman.

So maybe one of you caped crusader gurus could give the rest of us a quickie guide to this whole mess. Movie Serials: Batman (1943) - Lewis Wilson Batman and Robin (1949) � Robert Lowery -These 2 low-budget 15-episode serials from Columbia are pretty piss poor, even in their own time. TV series / video: "Batman" (1966-68) - live series / Adam West -celebrated and vilified exemplar of the pop art movement; still fun to watch. "The Batman/Superman Hour" (1968-69) - animated series / Olan Soule -unsophisticated animated series from Filmation has its charms "Super Friends" (1973-85) - animated series / Olan Soule (1973-83) and Adam West (1984-85) - bad scripts and bad animation render the success of this series a mystery to me "The New Adventures of Batman" (1977-78) - animated series / Adam West - poor attempt to continue tone and style of original live tv series, with West and Burt Ward �Batman: The Animated Series� (1992-95) - animated series / Kevin Conroy - the best animated version of the character. "The New Batman Adventures" (1997-98)- animated series / Kevin Conroy - the sequel series doesn't have quite the oomph, but still ok. Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1998) - animated video / Kevin Conroy - decent d-2-v feature The Batman/Superman Movie: World�s Finest (1998)� animated video / Kevin Conroy - complilation of a terrific story arc of 3 episodesfrom SUPERMAN tv series "Justice League" (2001-06) � animated series / Kevin Conroy - good series, with Batman as strong supporting character The Batman vs Dracula (2005) � animated video / Rino Romano - strange, Italian horror film version of the character Justice League: The New Frontier (2008) � animated video / Jeremy Sisto - terrific, retro story and style for a d-2-v feature Batman: Gotham Knight (2008) � animated video / Kevin Conroy - I have not yet seen this new d-2-v companion piece to DARK KNIGHT Theatrical Features: Batman (1966) - Adam West - if you like the series, you'll like the movie (I did, and I do) Batman (1989) - Michael Keaton - Tim Burton's art direction makes this turgid, over-the-top adaptation worth watching; Keaton is more confused and distracted, then focused, driven, scary and/or heroic. Batman Returns (1992) - Michael Keaton - 3 villains is 2 too many in Burton's still nightmarish followup. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) - animated feature / Kevin Conroy - solid spinoff of tv series got theatrcial release before going to video. Batman Forever (1995) - Val Kilmer - Joel Schumaker makes a mockery of the franchise, but just when you thought it couldn't get worse... Batman & Robin (1997) - George Clooney - ... it gets worse. Batman Begins (2005) - Christian Bale. - Christopher Nolan rescusitates the series, with the best live action adaptation of the character to date. The Dark Knight (2008) - Christian Bale - unfocused and rambling, but still a worthy follow up from Nolan. TOP 10, in order: 1) BATMAN BEGINS (2005) 2) DARK KNIGHT (2008) 3) "Batman: Animated Series" (1992-95)(TV) 4) "Batman/Superman: World's Finest" (1998)(V) 5) "Batman" (1966-68)(TV) 6) BATMAN (1966) 7) BATMAN (1989) 8) "Justice League: New Frontier" (2008)(V) 9) BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM (1993) 10) BATMAN RETURNS (1992)

AG/DC wrote: They lost because they have no leaders? How do I know? They lost, didn't they?! You can lose WITH leaders, too. Just ask Custer...

PHUCK!

doh. i meant BATMAN BEGINS.

Chewie's a southpaw? who knew?

the loss is on 9th inning performances of Sanchez, Feliciano and Reyes. Endy's failures were the fault of the 3b coach. Luis Aguayo. in other words, the headline should read: "Phillies Phlatten Latins"

The performances in DARK KNIGHT are terrific; Ledger captures the dangerous insanity of The Joker like know one else ever. Bale is, again, terrific, and the small supporting roles are all played by amazing supporting cast. The stunts and action sequences are excellent, and while the visuals are good, they're not great or particularly memorable. There isn't a signature image (like the ones in BATMAN RETURNS on edit: i mean BATMAN BEGINS), where he stands in the cave amidst swirling bats) I also didn't like Gotham played as a realistic city (Chicago, apparently); I'm not saying you need to play it like a surrealistic gothic landscape like the Burton films, but a little stylization would have made a bat-man flying around a little less incongruous. In a comic book, they stylization is inherent in the medium; on the screen, it takes a little more effort. The themes are really well established and developed... the Joker as a force of chaos, intent on proving only that everybody has his capacity for evil, if push comes to shove. He is the yin to Batman's yang, seeing in the dark knight a kindred spirit he needs to make his own existance meaningful... and vice versa. And Batman as a force of order, working on a higher moral plain, outside the law to protect the innocent and seek justice in an unjust world. The developments in the last 10 minutes (from Joker's speech to Batman's plan regarding 2-face) gave me goosebumps, and push the Batman mythology into deeper territory. But on the whole, i prefer BATMAN BEGINS. The narrative of DARK KNIGHT is all over the place, trying to cover too much territory, with long dull patches. It's a movie better in its moments and concepts then in its storytelling. BR, on the other hand, is a smoother narrative; telling an origin gives it the engine necessary to keep things moving forward. Don't get me wrong... I really like the new movie. I just think the reaction to it is a little disproportion it. It's very good but it's not the best comic book or superhero movie ever; it's not even the best Batman movie ever. I just think the Heath Ledger story is like catnip to the media, and they've decided to deify the young dead movie star and use this movie as the vehicle for his ascendency.

As with most things, the more you bring to it, the more you get from it. The narrative doesn't require having any familiarity, but in order to fully appreciate the relationships and attitudes of the characters, it would help to have seen the first one. I actually think the first one was better.

i'm a big Joe Nathan fan. Not only a former Seawolf (nee Patriot), he's been lights out since he showed up in the bigs. I always try to pick him for my fantasy teams, and he never disappoints.

Zvon wrote: ...And whether you put out positive optimism or negative pessimism we are all here for one reason... as a general outlook, i favor positive pessimism, though i must admit that I am, on occasion, negatively optimistic.

i would think that, whichever of those players (maybe all?) have A-S bonus clauses in their contracts would have their agents set it up so they have 24/7 voting for their clients.

i'm pretty sure CF was just busting chops there, Namor.

When Alou comes back, we should start an over/under thread on number of games or days until his next trip to the DL.

Centerfield wrote: There he goes again, trying to downplay the value of DEFENSE and BALANCE. i got yer balance right here, pal...

in other words, if Delgado were hitting his career averages, we wouldn't be talking about his deficient defense, because the Mets would be scoring alot more runs, and whatever he gave up with his glove would hardly be noticed. If you replace his glove but not his bat by bringing in a Kotchman type, your just fussing around the fringes of the problem. The problem is a 1bman with a sub-100 OPS+, not a 1bman with a crappy glove.