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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently announced that they would be expanding the field of Best Picture nominees in 2010 from five movies to ten. Their reason was that it was a throwback to the the early years of the Academy Awards, allowing a greater amount of great movies to get the respect they deserve. Maybe the Oscars were about genuinely rewarding talent and hard work in the 30s, but nowadays, they're mostly about publicity.
The most recent Academy Awards are a fine example of how things work. Look at the interesting development of The Reader. It was released as The Weinstein Company's prestige picture for the year. It opened to mixed reviews and its status was generally reduced from contender to also-ran. But the company pushed it so heavily that ultimately, it not only got a Best Picture nomination, but it became one of the top contenders to upset Slumdog Millionaire. All this for a movie generally considered average-to-slightly above average. It just demonstrates how recognition around award time is often based not on how good a movie is, but on the PR skills of the distributor.
Another example of how the Academy Awards work: Fox Searchlight had two big end of the year movies - Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler. The Wrestler was gritty and different, Slumdog was flashy and safe. While The Wrestler's December release date positioned it as Fox's big prestige pic of the year, its success was eclipsed by the popularity (and hype) of Slumdog Millionaire. So Fox put most of its marketing money behind Slumdog, while spending a much smaller amount on The Wrestler, almost exclusively revolving around the performance of Mickey Rourke rather than on the film itself. The end result: Slumdog gets a bunch of nominations and ultimately wins Best Picture, while The Wrestler's only nominations were for the performances of Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei, neither of who won.
The expansion of the Best Picture category could potentially fix the problem of movies with smaller marketing budgets not getting proper recognition. However, the more likely scenario is that we would see more nominations for the more popular, fan-friendly movies like The Dark Knight. (Although I'm not bashing The Dark Knight. If you look a few posts down, you'll see that it was my favorite movie of 2008.) People seem to always make a big deal about the Oscar shows always getting low ratings, as if the only purpose of the show was to attract a huge audience. Well, if you throw The Dark Knight and Iron Man into the Best Picture race, more people will watch the show, even if those movies have no chance at actually winning. And in the months leading up to the show, just think of how much extra money and attention the studios can draw to these movies by pointing out that they're "Best Picture nominees!"
Increasing the size serves primarily to give free publicity to the studios and bring in more viewers and ad revenue for the show itself. The fact that a few additional deserving movies might get some additional recognition in the process is merely a side effect. And besides, the Academy rarely gives the award to the movies that really deserve it anyway, so it's not gonna make much of a difference in the long run.
Hey, there's always the Independent Spirit Awards...
Wow, it's hard to believe that we're at the All Star break already. Even more hard to believe is how GOOD the Giants are doing. This was supposed to be somewhat of a rebuidling year. Before the season started, most analysts figured that the Giants would probably finish a few games over .500, maybe come in 3rd place in their division. Earlier in the season, even that seemed out of reach. The quality pitching was there, but the offense just couldn't score any runs. This was an ugly team. But then something crazy happened: the Giants' bats started to wake up, and they became a surprisingly well-rounded team. Now, halfway through the season, they're ten games over .500, seven games behind the best team in baseball, and they hold a two game lead atop the NL Wild Card standings. It's an exciting time to be a Giants fan. If they can manage to cut loose some of their dead weight in exchange for a good hitter who can come in everyday and produce, they could be a force to be reckoned with at the end of the season.
Let's break down each aspect of the team:
Starting Pitching
As predicted, the Giants' starting pitching has been their key strength. Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain have been amazing. They're both serious Cy Young candidates at this point. Randy Johnson hasn't been amazing, but he's gotten the job done, which is more than I could hope for with a 45 year-old pitcher on his last legs. Signing Johnson in the offseason was a fantastic low-risk move by the Giants. Although now, he's hurt. It's nothing too serious, but he is 45 years old, after all, so now you have to wonder if he's gonna be much of a factor further down the line. But the real story this year has been the resurgence of Barry Zito. He'll never be worth the amount of money he's earning, but I've come to terms with that. It's the Giants' fault for overpaying. But this year, he's finally regained some sort of consistency and has emerged as a perfectly acceptable #4 starter. Most of the time. He's still prone to having a terrible game every now and then, but he's been decent for the most part. Then there's Jonathan Sanchez, the promsing young starter turned inconsistent trade bait turned worthless long reliever turned no-hitter-throwing hero. It'll be interesting to see how he pitches throughout the rest of the month with Johnson out of the picture. Hopefully, he'll pitch well and his stock will rise, and then he can either prove to be a valuable force for the Giants or he'll be able to bring back a quality hitter in a trade. Ryan Sadowski, Sanchez's rotation replacement, pitched well in his first three games, so it'll be interesting to see what happens with him too. Right now, it looks like the rotation is extremely talented, but slightly thin, so we'll see if they stick with what they have or try to look into acquiring another starter along with a solid hitter.
The Bullpen
Bob Howry gives up a few too many runs every now and then. And Brian Wilson has four blown saves. But other than that, the bullpen has been stellar. When you look at the pitching stats, it surprising to see how pretty much everyone in the bullpen has an ERA in the 2's and 3's. And it's interesting to see a new group of pitchers this year. Of course you've got Wilson and Romo, and Merkin Valdez is finally back from the minors and the DL. But other than them, the bullpen consists of two offseason free agent signings and two spring training walk-ons. Outstanding relief work this year.
The Infield
Pablo Sandoval had a slow start, but is now having an all-star caliber season. He's really provided the offensive spark that the team desperately needed, and he's easily the team's offensive MVP so far. Just an absoultely electric player. And he's only 22! Bengie Molina has had hot and cold streaks, but he's been good overall. I hope they can keep him around for another year or two until Buster Posey is ready to move up to the big leagues and play full time. Juan Uribe has been as good as you could hope for from a utilityman who came to the team on a minor-league contract. He's been a good hitter off the bench, and he's played well enough to start on several occasions. Edgar Renteria has been passable. Not worth $18.5 mil over two years, but certainly not bad either. 2nd base has been in a state of flux as of late. Manny Burris did an okay job as the opening day starter - not great, but good enough for the most part. But then he fell into an 0-for-27 slump and was subsequently demoted to Fresno to work on his swing. He is still young, after all. Matt Downs started briefly, but is now back in Fresno. That leaves Kevin Frandsen, often considered the heir apparent to the 2nd base spot. He hasn't done much offensively, but he hasn't had a whole lot of opportunities either. I like Travis Ishikawa at first base. His offense isn't gonna turn many heads, but he's gotten a lot better since the beginning of the season. Certainly good enough to get playing time over Rich Aurilia. So hopefully he'll be able to keep hitting decently and things'll work out for him. I'd rather have him getting at-bats than overpaying for half a season of Nick Johnson. And as for Rich Aurilia... well, at this point in his career, he's only suitable as a right-handed pinch hitter. Even then, he's not hitting terribly well. His days are probably numbered in San Francisco.
The Outfield
Aaron Rowand started the year in a slump. Giants fans were starting to write him off as Marvin Benard with a Barry Zito contract. Meanwhile, Bruce Bochy wasn't getting much from the various people he had hitting leadoff. So one night, as a change of pace, he put Rowand in the leadoff spot. And there's been no looking back ever since. Rowand is hitting very well and the Giants finally have a reliable leadoff hitter. Maybe he can stick around after all. Randy Winn has been his usual above-average self. Fred Lewis hit well as the starting left fielder, but he drew more attention for his strikeouts and fielding errors than his on base percentage. Nate Schierholtz was confined to the bench for the first month or two, but has been given a lot more playing time since Lewis started slumping. In his time as a starter, he's been doing pretty good, hitting over .300 for a time. It remains to be seen if he has what it takes to be a solid full-time starter. But hey, at least he's finally getting playing time. Fred Lewis, on the other hand, has been reduced to an afterthought in the past month and a half, left to ride the bench the majority of the time. Fans generally seem to have given up on him, hoping that he can be thrown into a trade package for something decent in return. I personally would like to see Randy Winn traded too, since he's in his mid 30s and his contract is up at the end of the year. But since he's still a fairly good hitter, it would only be worth it to trade him if the Giants can get someone of equal or greater value in return, which I just don't see happening. Also in the outfield are Andres Torres, who's a fine backup, and John Bowker, who was a breakout star for a brief period in 2008 before being sent to AAA until just recently. They can't keep six outfielders on the roster for long, so some kind of shake-up should be happening in the near future.
In summary, the Giants have been a very impressive team this year, playing well above expectations. The pitching is as good or better than everyone had hoped, and the offense has been able to get it going more often than not. However, I'm still uncomfortable with the number of times that they've been blanked by other teams' solid pitching. It's almost like a pattern: they're able to win a few games, either closely or decisively, and then they get shut out or nearly shut out once or twice a week.
I think their biggest question mark right now is second base. If they can trade for a good-hitting, solid-fielding second baseman without giving up too much, I think it would help tremendously. The Pirates' Freddy Sanchez has been linked to the Giants in trade rumors, who I'd totally be in favor of. And their rotation is good, but if Johnson isn't healthy, and if Sanchez does get traded, then suddenly they'll need another reliable starter to fill in the back end of the rotation. And getting a solid long-term outfielder would great, but we still have to see how things shake out in the next few weeks before attempting to make any big moves. It's been an interesting year so far. Hopefully it'll only get better.
Go Giants!
What an incredible game. Jonathan Sanchez throws a no-hitter, with no walks and 11 strikeouts. Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy, and it couldn't be more fascinating considering Sanchez's story this year.
For a while now, Sanchez has been a strikeout guy with tons of potential, but has never been able to fully realize it. He looked good as a starter through the first half of 2008, but then struggled throughout the second half of the year. In the offseason, his name came up in trade rumors (a trade for the Marlins' Jorge Cantu is the main one that comes to mind), but Brian Sabean decided to hang on to Sanchez and hope for the young pitcher to have a breakout year.
Unfortunately, that didn't quite happen. Sanchez pitched adequately. Nothing special, but good enough for a guy at the back end of a rotation. He seemed to regress over the year - giving up too many walks and too many runs, not being able to pitch past the fourth or fifth inning. In the span of a few weeks, his trade value went from "semi-untouchable" to "let's see if we can get someone good for him" to "worthless." By the end of June, he was 2-8 with an ERA around five and a half. He was pulled from the rotation and moved to bullpen. An unknown pitcher named Ryan Sadowski was called up from the minors to take his place. Sadowski only started his major league career by pitching thirteen scoreless innings and winning his first two games. Meanwhile, Sanchez pitched well out of the bullpen. His future with the Giants seemed wrapped up as a long reliever/spot starter, or as trade bait for anything of value.
But then Randy Johnson got hurt. He left last Sunday's game early with a shoulder strain and was placed on the 15-day DL. Without any other major league-ready options, the Giants inserted Sanchez back into the rotation in Johnson's place. At the very least, he was someone who could eat up at least five innings or so every five games. Or at the most, it was an opportunity for Sanchez to have a second chance as a starting pitcher and raise his stock with the team.
And did he ever.
Not only did he pitch well enough to redeem himself, but he pitched a friggin' no-hitter! Completely out of nowhere. Over the span of a few days, he went from bullpen exile to being the star of the team. And if that's not heartwarming enough, his dad was in the crowd to watch it happen and give his son a big hug afterward.
Expectations and trade value and all that crap don't matter right now. This was a fantastic game and an absolutely incredible performance. Here's to hoping that this gives him the boost he needs to keep pitching well and go on to have a great career, hopefully with the Giants.
Congrats, Jonathan.
Sarah Palin sent SHOCKWAVES through the political world by abruptly resigning from her post as Governor of Alaska. A lot of long-time supporters were disappointed with her abandoning the people she was elected to serve, leaving many people wondering what exactly would prompt her to make such a bold move.
Money.
There's no point in further debating and speculating around this issue. She did it for the money.
After being thrust in the public spotlight, she instantly became a hero to Republicans nationwide. And over half a year after the election, she's still in high demand with the ultra-conservative, pro-Limbaugh, pro-cronyism, pro-censorship, anti-animal rights, anti-women's rights, anti-contraception, anti-environment, anti-government transparency, anti-ethics, batshit crazy wingnut core of the Republican party. She could make millions and millions of dollars a year giving speeches and making appearances at fundraisers and public events, if only she didn't have to spend so much of her time tucked away in that far-off corner of the world doing that whole "Governor" thing.
So, she quits. Who cares about about Alaska? That's only, like, three electoral votes. Now she's got all the time in the world to give speeches, make appearances, write books, provide commentary on Fox News, whatever she damn well pleases. And she'll be raking it in while doing so. And in 2012, assuming all of those pissed-off lunatics haven't been distracted by the next big shiny thing and are still hanging on her every word, she can run for President. Or if she wants, she can step away from politics and ride off into the sunset with her big bag of money and just disappear forever.
Preferably the latter.
Please.
