![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Followup: the Navy turned down Judicial Watch's request for an investigation of Kerry's medals. This came after an examination of the available evidence.
Sep. 18th, 2004
"We're not Oingo Boingo, but it's a dead man's party."
This is a pain for some, because it's Flash, but here's what you do: go to the Dead and Breakfast official site. Click on the poster. Blah blah lengthy Flash intro which you can skip some of. Stick with it. Eventually it comes through with a menu. Select "Music". Woo hah! Hit "comin to kill ya." That's what I call a country/rap splatterpunk groove, baby.
So Matthew Leutwyler and the people in his production company put together this movie. Michael Mosher and Richard Redlefsen were all like "yeah, we can bring the gore" and Ever Carradine went like "I can bring my uncle" and Oz Perkins was all like "I'm related to Anthony Perkins" and Jeremy Sisto was definitely all like "I am going to hold this goofy movie together with the sheer force of my charisma until he gets whacked, oops. But he was way successful up until then.
And then the movie kind of gets sloppy and slack but BOOM Miranda Bailey was all like "I'm executive producer and I get a cameo" and she kicks ass as the chick who guards the records and stars in the sequel, I hope anyhow, and the aforementioned gore artists Mosher and Redlefsen toss in a bunch more blood bags and Zach Selwyn plays "We're Comin' to Get Ya" and there's zombie linedancing. So by the end you're all like "Wow, I was kind of worried after Jeremy Sisto died but it worked out OK there! Phew."
Oz was really dull and wooden until it came time for him to loosen up due to the dictates of the story. He needs to not play repressed religious types without an outlet; he's gotta be the guy who has given every fiber of his body over to God and as a result has realized that anything he does is OK as long as it's for God's glory. I see him as John Ashcroft in the inevitable movie about the Bush years. David Carradine was not in the movie very much so don't get too excited. Ever Carradine really comes into her own when she's flipped over into full bore Dog Soldiers mode. Miranda Bailey was great and superb and enunciates but I said most of that already. Nobody else stood out in a big way.
That was the bit where I was all like "I ought to talk about the actors some." Did you know that "Selwyn" means something like "shining ardor" or "holy passion" and it's Welsh? Me either.
OK, let's stop dicking around, shall we?
Here's what it is. Bronson Arroyo has a 4.01 ERA. His K/9 is 7.2 and his BB/9 is 2.4. Derek Lowe has a 4.91 ERA, a K/9 of 5.2, and a BB/9 of 3.4. Arroyo's K/B ratio is 2.95; Lowe's is 1.53. Finally, Arroyo's RSAA (Runs Saved Above Average, a measure of how many runs the pitcher has allowed versus the league average) is a very average -1... but Derek Lowe's is -25. Second worst in the American League.
Lowe has benefitted immensely from having good defense behind him lately, but we should not cripple that excellent defense by forcing them to protect a declining sinkerball pitcher. Here are your Red Sox pitchers for the postseason:
Martinez, Schilling, Arroyo, and Wakefield start. Reverse Schilling and Martinez if the last week of the season forces it.
Lowe is your "someone needs to save the day for a couple of innings" guy. He is also your emergency closer. See also: Oakland/Boston, 2003 playoffs. See also: man, I wish there had been someone other than poor Wakefield to pitch in extra innings of that ALCS game 7, also in 2003.
Foulke closes. Embree and Timlin are the clear setup guys. Scott Williamson has pitched two scoreless innings since coming off the disabled list; my opinion is that he's gonna be good to go in the playoffs. If not him, Ramiro Mendoza. (Look at his performance in August in September and tell me I'm wrong.) Mike Meyers fills out the bullpen as a lefty specialist, and since you want him around you don't get to have both Williamson and Mendoza. Which is OK, it's an awesome bullpen anyhow. No weak points.
Ten pitchers. Eleven wins. Certainly doable with that pool. But I make no predictions if Lowe goes into the postseason as the #3 starter. He lost every postseason game he started last year; this is not an unobvious observation. I hope Francona has made it as well.