→ May 22, 2021
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Nashville eats, 2021 edition.

 I went to Nashville to see Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter, but only saw the former as the latter was scratched with little explanation. I did eat extremely well for just spending one night and getting four meals in that enclave of sanity, however.

Folk is a new artisanal pizzeria and Italian restaurant from the folks behind Rolf & Daughters, a pasta-focused restaurant that might be my single favorite dinner spot in the city. Folk’s pizza is Neapolitan-adjacent – high heat, blistered crust, but not with the wet centers or very puffy edges of true Neapolitan pizzas. The menu does have many other things on it, including vegetable dishes and some proteins, but I just went for the pizza. I had the margherita, which was good if a bit salty, a grade 55 pizza, with the quality of the toppings very evident; and a starter of Cantabrian anchovies with lemon, mint, and olive oil, which was fine but which I didn’t think benefited from the mint. The best thing I had at Folk was actually a cocktail: the Everyday People, with gin, Amaro Montenegro, dry vermouth, and Maraschino liqueur. That and the pizza would have been perfect.

I had dinner before the Friday game at the Hattie B’s location right near Vandy’s campus. I’d never had Nashville hot chicken before this, because while I like some spicy foods, I don’t like any food that is so spicy I can’t taste anything else, and too much chile pepper has never really agreed with me. I felt like this was something I had to at least try once, especially given the number of times in Nashville and the fact that my hotel was, quite literally, across the street. I got the medium – they have no spice, mild, medium, and I think three levels of insanity beyond that – and it was exactly right for me. More and I would not have enjoyed the experience on any level; less and I would have regretted wimping out. This is excellent fried chicken, perfectly crispy outside with the cayenne in the coating, still juicy inside, and with more than just pure heat for flavor. I got collard greens, because I always get collard greens; and the potato salad, because I figured that would be an appropriate counter to the heat. The collards were great, but I also really just love slow-cooked collard greens, and the potatoes served their purpose. This is about the chicken, though. And yeah, I know Prince’s is probably the original, but it wasn’t right across the street from my hotel.

I had lunch before the Saturday game from Thai Esane, which Eater tabbed as one of the best restaurants in Nashville right now, but I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I got pad see ew, since I wanted something I could reasonably eat in the car, but the dish was flat and – I know this is a weird complaint – there were a lot of carrots involved. I think of pad see ew as a pretty specific dish – noodles, egg, a protein, and some sort of green brassica like broccoli. Maybe I just chose poorly.

I have a real soft spot for Fido, right on Broadway near Vandy’s campus, which has been my go-to breakfast spot in Nashville for probably a decade now. I’m glad to see they’re still open, and were busy on Saturday morning, although I just popped in to get a bagel sandwich to go. I also hit Barista Parlor, one of my two favorite coffee spots in Nashville along with Crema, with Kaci, one of my editors at the Athletic, and we ended up visiting two different locations in search of outdoor seating. I know people who find BP too hipster for them, and I probably should be one of them, but I love their coffee and could sit in any of their locations for hours and be quite content.

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→ May 21, 2021
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Klawchat 5/21/21.

Check out my review of the board game Cryo, which John Tomase & I played and enjoyed, over at Paste.

Keith Law: And when you put it all together, there’s the model of a Klawchat.

John M: Do you have any Austin food recommendations?
Keith Law: Franklin BBQ, of course. I liked Backspace pizza last time I was there. Better Half is great for breakfast/Coffee. Micklethwait also good for BBQ. Here’s my last writeup from there.

RH: What non-racist team name would you most like to change?
Keith Law: Are we allowed to go all sports? The Utah Jazz is just ridiculous. Aside from the two derived from Native American culture, are there really any bad MLB team names? Some might be boring but none are bad.

AJ Preller: Is Ketel Marte or Bryan Reynolds a remote possibility in left field post deadline?
Keith Law: Why would either team rush to deal those guys? I’d expect the prospect cost to be significant.

Steve: Will you have a column up about scouting Mozzicato? What were your thoughts on him?  I went to his no hitter at Southington, couldn’t believe how hard he threw with that frame (looks like a frame he could add weight to)
Keith Law: Yeah, I’m just waiting to see another player or two so I can write them all up as one post. He’s good, second round over slot type. Legit CB.

The Bench: Is Jared Walsh doing things a 39th round draft pick shouldn’t be doing?
Keith Law: Yes, and no. Teams are also willing to take more risks with 39th rounders. Also, he’s destroying RHP but right now he’s just a platoon guy.
Keith Law: Any value from a 39th round pick is amazing, though. Score one for the area scout.

CD: Prep RHP get a bad rep. Why is this exactly? What specifically makes them riskier? Since they were the best youth pitchers are they more likely to be overused?
Keith Law: The data tell us their reputation is deserved. They flame out at a higher rate.

Brandon: If the Dbacks aren’t going to play Varsho everyday why is he up right now!?
Keith Law: That’s a reasonable question.

Jack: I’ve seen the White Sox toying around with Gavin Sheets in right field – any chance he could exist in an outfield with Andrew Vaughn or is that just asking too much of Billy Hamilton / Robert when he’s back?
Keith Law: I haven’t seen Sheets in the outfield, but having seen him at first base I’d be surprised if he could be even a 45 defender in RF.

JMD: Aside from the obvious injury concern. How much are matt Allan and Pete crow Armstrong going to be impacted in your mind by going so long without playing competitively. These injuries couldn’t seemingly be timed worse. Will such a long layoff impact there ability to reach there peak or reach the majors?
Keith Law: More worried about PCA than Allan. Another lost year of at bats is more of a concern than a year of lost innings for a teenaged arm.

Mike: When do you plan to drop your first mock?
Keith Law: Next Thursday, 5/27.

Mike: Hi Keith – any rumblings on what the Red Sox might want to do at 4?
Keith Law: I think they’d prefer college (Rocker, Davis, Leiter) over HS.

Greg: Are the Giants for real? Can that starting pitching maintain?
Keith Law: I don’t think it’ll last, not at this level. I don’t think they have a top 3 offense and top 3 pitching staff in the league. That said, going .500 the rest of the way still puts them at 87-75, which could be a playoff record.

Aaron: Hi Keith, thanks for these chats. Early thoughts on Andrew Vaughn?
Keith Law: He’s looked a little overmatched, but not so much so that they should bench or demote him (not like, say, Ryan Mountcastle).

ralph: What do you think will happen if/when MLB bans the shift?
Keith Law: Joe Sheehan suggested players will sell out for pull power even more and K’s will go up. I’m still holding out hope that actual baseball people will fight this one … it’s the dumbest suggested rule change of all. It’s entirely reactionary.

TC: Do you have a timeline for when TLR will be blasted into space towards the sun? I don’t know how that locker room can continue to play for him.
Keith Law: Derek Van Riper asked me this on the podcast yesterday, which you can catch on Apple or Spotify. Short answer: I don’t think the owner is going to rush to fire his buddy.

Brian: Small sample size & high BABIP aside, what more does Owen Miller have to do to get some at bats with Cleveland and their anemic offense? He has hit at every level of the minors thus far. Also, what round do you see his brother Noah getting drafted this year? High enough to pass on Alabama?
Keith Law: He’s semi-blocked at the moment; I don’t think they’re rushing to bench Cesar Hernandez when he’s making more than most of his teammates combined, and Miller shouldn’t displace Rosario. But I would expect Miller to be up by midyear. Noah Miller is in my top 50 and I can’t imagine he goes to school.

Mike: What ever happened with Gregory Polanco? Why did he not turn into the star that people expected him to?
Keith Law: I think it’s injuries. He got pretty close in 2018, at age 26, but that has been his peak and maybe it always will be.

Les Deeny: Any early guesses on where Corey Seager lands in the offseason? My gut says it could ultimately be the Giants who pry him away from the Dodgers. Tell my gut it’s wrong.
Keith Law: I really have no idea on that. I just wait to see where they end up and write about it.

Derak: What is happening with Alek Manoah? Doesn’t seem like anyone could have predicted this breakout but maybe the Blue Jays did by jumping him up to AAA so fast. Has what he’s done this years changed your outlook on him? Is he showing the high quality pitches necessary to develop into a top 20 pitcher?
Keith Law: Had there been a full 2020 season, he would likely have started at high A and finished in AA, so starting this year in AAA isn’t that surprising if you think of this as where he would have been anyway – especially if the Jays felt like they saw enough progress from him at the alt site last year. I don’t think anything’s changed on him yet, though – the stuff is pretty close to the same as always (and I liked him a ton in college) so 3 starts shouldn’t change our minds.

Kevin: Would you be totally against a 1st half 2nd half winner baseball playoff format?
Keith Law: Yes. Like, “man the barricades” against it.

Gary: I expect the dodgers to trade for some bullpen help seeing as how they only have like 3 guys they trust at the moment. But could Josiah Gray spend some time in the pen?
Keith Law: I favor that kind of development path.

Jeffrey: Do you think Larnach stays up and will we see Adley this year?
Keith Law: When Kirilloff and Buxton return, that’s four outfielders for three spots. They could boot Sano and move someone to first, but if that’s not happening, one of the two rookies gets sent down.

Deej: Sat in the vaccinated section of a ballpark earlier this week. It felt incredibly weird to be sitting that close to other people. Have you been back in a crowd yet?
Keith Law: I’ve been to an airport, which was the weirdest and most uncomfortable part of the trip. Do most people just not know where their noses are?

Guest: Would a lower seam and deader baseballs result in a more interesting game?
Keith Law: Deader baseballs might. Not sure about the lower seams – that seems (no pun intended) like a recipe for unintended consequences.

Punk in Drublic: SSS not withstanding, any minor leaguers you are hearing about that you are viewing significantly different than you ranked them since there are actual games and players may have added velo, improved or added a pitch, or hitting approach?
Keith Law: I think it’s a little too soon for that.

Guest: Any hope for Logan Warmouth? He’s been a dud at every level and suddenly he’s got an .938 OPS in triple A. Or is this just a case of sample size?
Keith Law: And that’s why I think so.

ivy: Is there any hope of the Orioles being competitive in the next three years?
Keith Law: Barring a major budget increase, no, I don’t think their minor league talent is close enough for that.

Tony LaRussa: You better be using a typewriter and not a laptop or I’m fining your ass $100.
Keith Law: And you’re going to call me out to the media, too.

Kevin: What kind of expectations do you still have for Kyle Wright? Maddening inconsistency and already 25
Keith Law: I can’t figure him out. His stuff is good enough, yet he gets hit way harder than he should, especially his fastball. There’s no obvious reason why he should be performing this poorly.

JR: I know you’re not a football guy and like me I’m sure you’re happy the Tebow clown show is gone from baseball but now he’s resurfaced in the nfl. Taking a roster spot from someone more deserving in the name of selling tickets and merchandise.
Keith Law: I saw some more defenders come out of the woodwork when that news broke. He may really believe what he says he does, but I find it hard to reconcile that with the obvious selfishness of his professional sports careers.

David: Hi Keith,
Do you think Jaden Hill or Gunnar Hogland will be available when the 2nd round starts? I’m wondering if either would be a worthy gamble for the Pirates.
Keith Law: I would guess not.

Joe: Any Orioles minor leaguers you have gotten good reports on so far?
Keith Law: Yep, and I wrote about it here.

Jordan: I know there are at least a few MLB scouting departments that are highly skeptical of taking a prep arm in the first round, but should someone like Jackson Jobe be an exception to that thinking with the kind of stuff he possesses at 18-years-old?
Keith Law: I don’t think so – I’d argue that’s the sort of base-rate neglect bias that teams should be trying to avoid, the “this guy is DIFFERENT” mentality. Unless you know some tangible reason why Jobe  is more likely to stay healthy than all the other athletic hard-throwing high school pitchers who’ve gone in the first round and failed, you should be very wary of taking him in the top half of the first. And that has nothing to do with Jobe specifically. High school pitchers fail more often, period.

John Mozeliak: Is this .250/.300/.500 version of Tyler O’Neill sustainable and can he be a solid regular outfielder moving forward?
Keith Law: I really have little to no interest in corner players with that profile. They’re too easy to find or create in this offensive environment.
Keith Law: Oh, also, I’m not sure how any hitter can last with plate discipline like his. 35 K and 3 BB? In the last 20 years only one MLB hitter has qualified for the batting title with a K:BB ratio of 11 or higher, and that’s Tim Anderson, who has the benefit of being a shortstop.

Aaron C.: Who, in your opinion, is the most infamous prep draftee who should’ve took the money?
Keith Law: Oh that’s easily Matt Harrington. But I could offer others – Karsten Whitson, who reneged on TWO deals, came up in a chat with a scout recently because Whitson is coaching now. Plus all the kids who take themselves out of the draft entirely because their college coaches conned them into doing so – how many of them have gotten paid? Chris Harvey did it to matriculate early at Vanderbilt, got 217 PA total the whole time he was there, and wasn’t even drafted. We’ll see how it works out for Mike Vasil, who could have had $2 million easy in 2018, this July.

Michael: If you had to give a player a 20 rating for a skill, which would be the one that wouldn’t stop them from being an impact player?
Keith Law: Plenty of 20 runners have been superstars.

JR: Are you still wearing a mask indoors even if the business doesn’t require for those that have been vaccinated (per recent cdc guidance)? I thought I would for a while but am already finding myself ditching it at places that don’t require (and yes I’ve been vaccinated)
Keith Law: I went to Trader Joes today and still wore my mask, even though I’m two weeks past my second shot. I’m not wearing it outdoors unless required, or if I were too close to other people, although the latter hasn’t happened yet.

J: I know it is early and SSS but Pedro Leon’s start is… not great, Roberto.  Anything gleaned or heard?
Keith Law: First four games: 11 K in 17 PA. Since then: 9 K in 36 PA. Does it mean anything? Probably not. But the problem with these tiny samples so far is that they can be skewed too easily by what amounts to one bad series. He has not been good in any sense of the word, though.

Dr. Bob: Dylan Carlson is showing why everyone was so high on him. I got to watch him several times here in Springfield, MO. The ball just came off his bat differently than the other players and he was so much faster than everyone else.
Keith Law: He’s athletic and patient and has great instincts on both sides of the ball. Great, great job by the Cardinals’ scouting and development staffs there.

Joe: Have you heard any reports on what is happening with Sean Burke.  Moved back to Sunday with really short outings.  Just managing innings with basically two years off?
Keith Law: Stuff has been way down. He was on my top 50 last month but I took him completely off my Big Board (top 100) last week.

Sedona: Will Luzardo reach his ceiling of front of rotation arm?
Keith Law: I don’t think that’s really his ceiling – I think he’s a #2 if he stays healthy. That’s still very good, of course, but if he ends up a top 15 pitcher in baseball that would beat my best expectations for him.

Jeffrey: Now that Madrigal has established himself as a home run threat, should the White Sox move him to clean up?
Keith Law: Don’t give Tony any ideas.

J: So the Athletic’s article about pitchers and foreign substances was intriguing, and opened up a weird line of thinking. Will a pitcher recently called up from the minors, whether its a Lynch or a Gilbert, or a less-heralded guy like Peacock or Benjamin, having a learning curve about ‘doctoring’ the baseball? IOW, is it a competitive disadvantage for rookies?
Keith Law: That’s an interesting point I hadn’t considered. Are they also using similar gunk in the minors? Why not? But if MLB wants to boost offense, enforcing their own damn rules on doctoring the baseball would be a great place to start. Otherwise, I’m busting out my Microplane grater and asking the Phillies for a tryout.

Matt: If Antifa is responsible for the Insurrection, why doesn’t the GOP want to investigate what happened./s
Keith Law: We all know the answer.
Keith Law: Just from a pragmatic perspective, is the GOP’s continued playing towards its base, away from the center, really the right strategy? Doesn’t it reduce your ability to win a lot of close elections? Hotelling’s law says that in a two-party system you’d expect the two parties to move towards the center so they could each capture about half the market. Instead, the Democrats are drifting left, but the Republicans are lurching to the right.

Aaron C.: Crack Shack or Juniper & Ivy? Got some friends from the east coast coming into town over Memorial Day weekend. (We’re all 2x vaxxed!)
Keith Law: Depends on what you want. Crack Shack is fast and casual and good for a loud meal outside. J&I is incredible but it’s fine dining, still good for a social meal but you’re inside and it’s upscale.

Ciscoskid: would a prep RHP profile of avg FB plus CB, avg CHG with body projection with maturity a safer profile than a plus FB avg CB/CG/SL
Keith Law: That’s Braxton Garrett, although he was a LHP, and he blew out too. We really don’t know.

Jason S: Pavin Smith hits the ball hard, but he’s not hitting hrs. Is there a lot more power potential with him with a Duran swing adjustment?
Keith Law: The word from the Dbacks last fall/winter was that he had made an adjustment to drive the ball more. Either he didn’t hold it, or he’s not using it in games, just in scrimmages etc.

Dan: I have kids who are too young to get vaccinated. The end of masking means that I’m reluctant to take them to e.g. the grocery store. The positivity rate here is about 0.5%. Am I being stupid?
Keith Law: No, you’re being cautious. The good news is that their chances of getting sick if they get the virus are lower than their odds would be if they were 12 or older. But they can still catch it and transmit it.

Murph: Assuage my fears that the Orioles aren’t going to do something dumb at #5 and will take one of the two remaining of Rocker, Davis, Leiter, Mayer, Lawler and House.
Keith Law: I don’t know that House belongs in that tier. I mean, he definitely doesn’t. He’s 11 on my Big Board. But yes, I have heard them on him.

Kevin: I’m an no better, so this is not a dig, but I bought one of the signed copies of The Inside Game, and if you would have showed me the signature separately I wouldn’t have guessed it said Keith Law. Looking forward to reading next month on vacation!
Keith Law: For better or worse, that’s been my signature for 30+ years.

KDC: Should Seattle trade Haniger?
Keith Law: Yes.

Gabe: Mount Rushmore of games? (For me: Ticket to Ride, Pandemic though I might never wanna play again, Carcassonne…tie between Dominion and Splendor for that #4 spot though maybe Winspan’ll take it if I can ever carve out time to play it)
Keith Law: 7 Wonders would be on mine. I don’t mean to dodge the question, but it depends on whether this is just my four favorite games, or four games that I think stand as giants in the board game space for their influence or impact. Catan doesn’t make the first quartet, but it has to be #1 in the second quartet.

Jesse B: The Corbin Carroll injury sucks. He was probably going to move up to AA soon. How does this change his timeline? Still play Fall ball and start next season in AA ideally?
Keith Law: I don’t know if he’ll be ready for the Fall League (if there will be a Fall League, even) but I hope he can. I assume he’d then start in AA.

Todd Boss: The Nat’s low-A team is 0-15, with a -115 run differential.  Can they ever win a game?  🙂
Keith Law: Oh my god. I thought you were joking. They’re really 0-15 with 39 runs scored and 154 runs allowed. They’re slugging .213 and the team ERA is 8.09.

Alex: With Witt Jr. struggling at the start and the Royals plummeting out of the race, is there any chance we see him this year?
Keith Law: I would assume not, but maybe he turns it around and works his way up in September. Remember all the calls for him to make the major-league team back in March? Yeah. Maybe spring training stats just don’t mean anything.

Tim: Read another writer say Henry Davis may not stick behind the plate and could be a possible 3b.  Do you see him sticking at C?
Keith Law: Yes. Without a doubt.

Jason: Do you think the Rs would actually splinter and a new actual conservative party could emerge, or is it more likely that the dam breaks against Trump?
Keith Law: I’m no expert, not even knowledgeable about these things, but it sure looks like the party is heading right for the cliff with two feet firmly pressed on the accelerator.

Tom: It was interesting to hear you appear on a conservative (blanking on his name)’s sports podcast last month to talk draft etc. Was there any hesitation on that one (or conservative podcasts in general)?
Keith Law: I declined to appear on a show where the host was spreading Big Lie and COVID denialist stuff on Twitter. That’s not “conservative,” though, that’s batshit.

Sam: Are you going to be live during the draft again this year?
Keith Law: Man, I hope so. Do you know something about my health that I don’t?

Bru: Top athlete from another sport that you’d love to have seen play baseball? Wilt for me.
Keith Law: Wilt was 7’1″, too tall for baseball unfortunately. How about Federer? What if he grew up in California playing baseball?
Keith Law: That’s a good place to end this week. Thank you all for reading & for your questions. My first mock draft for 2021 will be up next week at The Athletic, and just a reminder that my book, The Inside Game, is now out in paperback and available for your Father’s Day purchasing needs. Thanks again!

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→ May 16, 2021
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Stick to baseball, 5/16/21.

I’ve had three posts up in the last week for subscribers to the Athletic: my ranking of the top 100 prospects for this year’s MLB Draft; a special Q&A about that ranking; and a post on my trip to see Vanderbilt and Alabama, when Jack Leiter was a very late scratch for his start. He did pitch yesterday and his velocity was completely normal.

Over at Paste, I reviewed Flourish, a new, quick-playing card game from the designers of Everdell.

If you’d like to buy The Inside Game and support my board game habit, Midtown Scholar has a few signed copies still available. You can also buy it from any of the indie stores in this twitter thread, all of whom at least had the book in stock earlier this month. If none of those works, you can find it on Bookshop.org and at Amazon.

For more of me, you can subscribe to my free email newsletter, which will return this week (tomorrow, I hope).

And now, the links…

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→ May 8, 2021
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Stick to baseball , 5/8/21.

I got back out to a minor league game last week and wrote about the prospects I saw for subscribers to the Athletic, focusing on Jackson Rutledge (Nationals) and Grayson Rodriguez (Orioles). I’ll have a post up Sunday or Monday on Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter, followed by a ranking of draft prospects later in the week.

Over at Paste, I reviewed the new card game Flourish, co-designed by the person behind the outstanding 2018 game Everdell.

On the Keith Law Show this week, my guest was Louisville catcher Henry Davis, one of the top prospects in this year’s MLB Draft; I also answered a number of your questions, mostly about the draft but also one about my three-legged cat. You can subscribe on Apple podcasts, Amazon, and Spotify. I also appeared on the Athletic Baseball Show on Friday, which will be my regular slot for most of the year.

If you’d like to buy The Inside Game and support my board game habit, Midtown Scholar has a few signed copies still available. You can also buy it from any of the indie stores in this twitter thread, all of whom at least had the book in stock earlier this month. If none of those works, you can find it on Bookshop.org and at Amazon.

For more of me, you can subscribe to my free email newsletter

And now, the links…

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→ May 7, 2021
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Minari.

Minari was the last film we caught before the Oscars, completing our run through the eight Best Picture nominees (and all of the Director and Acting nominees, except for Hillbilly Elegy). Nominated for six films, with Youn Yuh-jung winning Best Supporting Actress, it is a lovely, funny slice of nostalgia base don writer-director Lee Isaac Chung’s childhood, and gives a different take on the immigrant experience in America.

Steven Yeun stars as Jacob Yi, who moves with his wife Monica (Han Ye-Ri, formerly of Hello My Twenties!), daughter Anne, and son David (Alan Kim), the last of whom is Chung’s stand-in in the film. Jacob has brought his family to rural Arkansas, where he intends to build a farm and grow traditional Korean produce he can sell to restaurants and the growing immigrant communities of the American South. He and Monica will work as chicken sexers to earn enough money to get the farm started, but Monica isn’t on board with the whole farming plan, and the whole family has trouble assimilating until Monica’s mother Soon-ja (Youn) arrives to help Monica take care of the kids and provide substantial comic relief.

What happens from there is almost beside the point, although there is certainly drama to come, and the family will be forced to confront the cracks threatening to tear them apart, to choose how they’ll respond when everything is on the verge of falling apart. This is far more a study of its characters, of Jacob and David specifically, and of its time and place – Arkansas in the 1980s, in an overwhelmingly white community that by and large welcomes the Yi family, even if sometimes they don’t exactly go about things in the best ways. Chung’s script is full of heart, and empathy for its characters – there really are no antagonists here other than the vagaries of nature and fate.

Chung tells the story mostly through David’s eyes, although there are a few scenes with his parents by themselves, and the growth of the relationship between David and the grandmother he doesn’t know becomes one of the emotional touchstones in Minari. The movie takes its name from a resilient, edible dropwort, also known as Korean watercress or Chinese celery, that David’s grandmother plants on the banks of a stream near the family’s farm; in addition to the metaphor of the vegetable itself, water, or the lack thereof, is one of the recurring symbols of Minari, showing up right at the start when Jacob encounters a charlatan with a divining rod but refuses to pay him for his “service.” Soon-ja is unflappable, even as David rejects her at first, and her often coarse humor is one of the film’s best facets, and a surprising contrast to her dour, reticent daughter’s exterior affect.

Minari‘s magic is in how Chung manages to take something so small and make it feel so broad and universal; nearly everything in this movie is about the Yi family and what happens within their household, right up until the one big dramatic twist at the end – and even that event functions as another way to explore and demonstrate the way the family holds together. The story is sweet, sometimes bittersweet, but not saccharine, and full of heart. It’s frequently funny, between Soon-ja’s witticisms and the extremely eccentric farmhand Paul (Will Patton), and its tragedies feel real, not forced.

Youn’s win for Best Supporting Actress was well-deserved, and there seemed to be no real pushback before or after her victory. The film was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (for Yeun, who deserved the same honor for Burning but was snubbed), and Best Original Score. I loved Minari, but wouldn’t have voted for it in any of the other categories, just because it was up against two movies – Nomadland and The Father – I liked a bit more. It did, however, make my top 5 among 2020-eligible movies; I’ve seen everything from that cycle I intended to see except for First Cow and a couple of international films. So here’s my almost-final rankings for 2020:

1. Nomadland

2. The Father

3. A Sun

4. Minari

5. Promising Young Woman

6. Wolfwalkers

7. Never Rarely Sometimes Always

8. Judas and the Black Messiah

9. A Personal History of David Copperfield

10. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

11. Collective

12. The Nest

13. Boys State

14. Palm Springs

15. One Night in Miami

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→ May 4, 2021
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The Martian.

So, I haven’t actually seen the movie The Martian, because I told myself I really wanted to read the book first, and 2015 was one of my in-between years when I didn’t see all the Oscar nominees. (I did see Spotlight, all five animated nominees, Ex Machina, and The Force Awakens, and nothing else from that year until we watched What Happened, Miss Simone? last year during the lockdown.) And then … I never read the book, until a few weeks ago, when I got the book on sale as an e-book, and I actually read the book. I suppose now I should see the movie, because the book, while flawed, is pretty good.

The book, which came out in 2011, is a perfect exemplar of hard science fiction: Author Andy Weir spends a significant portion of the text getting the science right, but it is mostly in service of the greater story. Mark Watney is one of the astronauts on a manned mission to Mars, and a series of accidents on the surface, spurred by a massive dust storm, has Watney left on the surface, presumed dead, while the ship takes off without him. Of course, he’s very alive, and has to find a way to survive until the next manned mission arrives – and get himself to that site – or, possibly, communicate with NASA to let them know he’s still alive. Eventually (mild spoiler), NASA figures it out, and they arrange a rescue mission that captivates the world.

There’s a lot of technical detail in The Martian, especially for a novel aimed at a popular audience, enough to give me some bad Red Mars memories, but Weir manages to keep those details from bogging down the text too much by putting all of those specifications in Watney’s voice. The narrative settles quickly into a rhythm where Watney conceives a plan, goes through the details (for the reader), and then executes it. Some plans work, some don’t, and in the latter case we do the whole thing over again. It only works, though, because Watney is a smart-ass, with plenty of the smart and, especially once he starts communicating with others, plenty of the ass, too.

What works a little less well, however, is the way that Weir throws one obstacle after another in Watney’s way, which might work in some contexts but here does become repetitive, in a “not again” sense – just when it appears that he’s on a path that might lead him to a rescue, even though you know even that will still be arduous and difficult, Weir pulls the threadbare rug out from under his main character. Later in the book, after Watney has reestablished a bare minimum of communication with NASA, which helps the text tremendously – there is no actual dialogue involving the book’s protagonist until that point, since he is, obviously, alone on a whole planet – Weir cuts it off. It’s not that the rescue thus becomes more difficult and unlikely; it’s that the text benefited so much from having Watney involved in even limited dialogue with another human.

In the end, though, it works, because Weir has created a great lead character in Watney, and that carries the story – not the technical details, as accurate as they may be. (There’s a bit of a Terraforming Mars vibe, here, although that game was directly inspired by Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy.) Watney is a wiseass, and the wit helps balance out the dry (pun intended) details for the long stretches where it’s just him, alone, trying to figure out how to survive long enough to get to the next step, and maybe keep himself alive until the next planned manned mission arrives on Mars. I don’t think The Martian is for everyone, but if you can hang with the technical stuff, there’s a smart, occasionally fun Robinson Crusoe-in-space story here that I enjoyed quite a bit.

Next up: I’m reading an advance copy of Elizabeth Hinton’s America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s, which comes out on May 18th.

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→ May 3, 2021
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Music update, April 2021.

April didn’t bring quite as much new music as March did, or as May will with its five Fridays, but the first three songs on this list are among my favorites of the year, and I’m guessing they’ll all still be very high when my annual top 100 rolls around. As always, you can access the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

Wolf Alice – Smile. I loved Wolf Alice’s first album, My Love is Cool, but was more lukewarm on their sophomore LP, Visions of a Life, which won the 2018 Mercury Prize. This song, though … this is the good stuff. Wolf Alice is at their best when they churn out huge, often heavy guitar riffs, and contrast them with quieter moments that make use of singer/guitarist Ellie Roswell’s impressive range of vocal styles. Now I can’t wait for their third album, Blue Weekend, due out June 11th.

AJ Tracey – Little More Love. The British rapper/singer’s new album Flu Game didn’t live up to this single, but this is a banger.

Manchester Orchestra – Telepath. ManOrch’s latest album, The Million Masks of God, just came out on Friday, and it’s both excellent and a real surprise, showing entirely sides of lead singer/guitarist Andy Hull as a lyricist and a songwriter. This song could have easily come from Lord Huron or Josh Ritter, except for how distinctive Hull’s voice is.

CHVRCHES – He Said She Said. Speaking of lyrics, this feels like a possible return to form for Lauren Mayberry after the disappointing, mailed-in feel of the trio’s last album Love is Dead.

Freddie Gibbs – Big Boss Rabbit. Gibbs is the best male rapper working right now, bar none, and he’s absurdly prolific.

Moses Boyd and SW2 – Bridge the Gap b/w Dirty South. I couldn’t decide which of these two tracks to include – they’re both superb, and yet very different from each other – so I put them both on the list, because I’m the boss here. Boyd’s drum work is revelatory, and he might be even more prolific than Gibbs. I doubt I’ll ever fully grasp jazz the way an aficionado would, but Boyd has made me a bigger fan of the genre than I ever was. (Also, no one seems to know who SW2 are. I wonder if they’re connected to SAULT at all.)

HAERTS – Why Only You. This track comes from the duo’s third album, Dream Nation, which was due out March 12th but doesn’t seem to have actually come out on that date, or any date since. We have four singles so far, and they’re all good, so I’m still eager to hear the full LP.

Paul McCartney feat. Khruangbin – Pretty Boys. I think this the third most-talented Beatle’s first appearance on my playlists, but that’s due to the tremendous work here by Khruangbin.

Royal Blood – Boilermaker. The singles I’ve heard so far from Typhoons, which just came out on Friday, made me think of Queens of the Stone Age’s sonic shift on their last record, Villains, thanks for the production work of Mark Ronson. Turns out that QotSA’s Josh Homme helped produce Typhoons, so I’m not crazy – and just like with Villains, the addition of dance elements and more funk influence in the rhythms really works.

Jorja Smith – Gone. Smith has been all over the place since her Mercury Prize-nominated debut album Lost & Found back in 2018, but she’s finally releasing another EP, Be Right Back, on May 14th, featuring this song and “Addicted,” but neither of the two songs she released in 2020 (“Come Over” and “By Any Means”).

Sarah Chernoff – Remains of the Way. Chernoff just released Transitions, a five-song EP, last April, highlighted by this song, which makes the best use of her voice while bringing a little more uptempo vibe to the backing music.

Jade Bird – Black Star. This lovely acoustic cover of the Radiohead track, from her RCA Studio A Session, remagines the song as a bittersweet ballad.

Little Simz – Introvert. This track starts out almost like a sketch you’d find on old-school hip-hop records, but then transitions into a typically great Little Simz joint, the lead single from the London rapper/actress’ fourth album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, due out September 3rd.

Teenage Fanclub – In Our Dreams. If you’d played this song for me and told me it was by Teenage Fanclub, I would have assumed it was from somewhere in the mid-1990s – it’s that sort of slightly muted power-pop, and while one of the group’s vocalists, Gerard Love, departed the band in 2018, this still pretty much sounds like Teenage Fanclub to me.

Sports Team – Happy (God’s Own Country). This is Sports Team’s first new track since their Mercury Prize-nominated album Deep Down Happy, and the likely lads, several of whom went to the University of Cambridge, manage to sound reminiscent of Gang of Four, the Libertines, and Art Brut all at once.

Elvenking – The Moon and Magic. An Italian power/folk-metal band, or so Wikipedia tells me, although I would have guessed Elvenking were Norse in origin given their sound and subject matter. I think a lot of bands in this weird niche appeal to me because the guitar work often sounds a lot like the bands I enjoyed while first learning guitar in the late ’80s, before groove & death metal competed with grunge and pulled this sort of music apart at the seams.

Bala – X. I wasn’t familiar with this Galician duo, both women, but I’m into the guitar work here, as well as the rapid tempo shifts, drawing from thrash and punk while incorporating the kind of guitar/drum sound popularized by Royal Blood, the White Stripes, and Drenge.

At the Gates – Spectre of Extinction. These melodic death metal legends have been as good or better in their return (2014 to now) as they were in their heyday (through 1995’s Slaughter of the Soul). It’s not for everyone, not with those throat-shredding vocals, but the guitar work is fantastic.

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→ May 1, 2021
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Stick to baseball, 5/1/21.

I had two posts for subscribers to The Athletic this week, one on how the Rockies’ next GM might start to turn the franchise around, and a draft scouting notebook looking at several day-one candidates, led by Fordham lefty Matt Mikulski.

On the Keith Law Show this week, my guest was MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis, talking about this year’s MLB draft class. You can subscribe on Apple podcasts, Amazon, and Spotify. I also appeared on the Athletic Baseball Show on Friday, which will be my regular slot for most of the year.

If you’d like to buy The Inside Game and support my board game habit, Midtown Scholar has a few signed copies still available. You can also buy it from any of the indie stores in this twitter thread, all of whom at least had the book in stock earlier this month. If none of those works, you can find it on Bookshop.org and at Amazon.

For more of me, you can subscribe to my free email newsletter.

And now, the links…

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→ April 26, 2021
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Oscars 2021: What the actual?

I didn’t think anything on Sunday night would really merit a reaction post, but, well, here we are. You can see my preview post with picks and predictions here.

  • I don’t intend for this to be a hot take, but I suppose it is, at least compared to the consensus I’ve seen on Twitter: Anthony Hopkins’ and Frances McDormand’s wins were driven more by age than by race. Both played roles about people aging, and facing some of the scarier aspects of getting older – losing one’s memory, and losing one’s home/income – and for an Academy electorate that has always favored films around those sorts of themes or just older people in general, those two films were probably too tempting to overlook. It may be spun as more #OscarsSoWhite fodder, and I don’t know how to argue against that position without seeming insensitive to the broader point, but I believe those two awards were much more about an aging voter pool than a white one.
  • Hopkins would have been my pick for Best Actor anyway, even though of course I wanted Boseman to win and to give Taylor Simone Ledward, his widow, one more opportunity to speak before a national audience. Her acceptance speeches for him in this awards season have been moving, and graceful, and powerful, and I immediately thought of her sitting in the audience or at home (I don’t know if she attended), feeling stunned and hurt by the announcement of Hopkins’ name, especially since the whole telecast seemed set up to end with her speech. But I also believe Hopkins’ performance was just better: a bigger, more difficult role, more central to the film. I thought it was the best performance of the year by any actor, leading or supporting, just edging out Carey Mulligan’s in Promising Young Woman (my pick, obviously, for Best Actress).
  • Yeah, so I think Stephen Soderbergh, or whoever chose to flip Best Picture and the two lead acting awards, will not be invited back to do the telecast any time soon, which is a shame because the first two hours or so were quite good. The more intimate setup worked extremely well on camera, and the choice to give viewers some background on nominees made the awards more interesting and personal than when we’re just getting recaps of movies that I’d already seen. Writers, editors, costume designers – they’re just names to people like me who don’t work in the industry. Those biographical bits should stick around forever.
  • No one will remember that part thanks to the choice to flip the last two parts of the show, though. I can only assume this was a bet on Boseman winning, and his widow closing out the broadcast, and that the producers told Joaquin Phoenix that if anyone else won he should say the name quickly and bid everyone “good night!” before the place went down in flames.
  • I am glad that much of the post-Oscars coverage is focusing on Chloé Zhao’s historic win – she is the second woman, and the first woman of color, to win Best Director. That’s 70 Best Director awards given to men (one to a pair of men, for West Side Story) and two to women.
  • I didn’t think the comedy bit worked, especially with Glenn Close so clearly reciting a script (which was cribbed straight from Wikipedia), although I give her credit for dancing to “Da Butt” – all on the same night she tied the record for the most career nominations (eight) without a win.
  • I did enjoy Frances McDormand’s big “I already have two of these” energy, though.
  • While most of the outrage I saw on Twitter was over Best Actor, I think the worst choice of the night was in the Best Documentary Feature category, where My Octopus Teacher, about a middle-aged white man with all the personality of Wonder Bread befriends an octopus. The underwater cinematography is beautiful, but when the octopus is a more interesting character than the human, that’s a problem. The other four nominees in that category were all about some important issue – Time (Black people caught up in the carceral state), The Mole Agent (the elderly, especially those in nursing homes), Crip Camp (the disabled, and the push for disability rights), and my pick for this award, Collective (government corruption) – and were all more interesting and broader in scope. Instead, we get a film about a white guy with what appears to be no job and plenty of money futsing around like a tourist in the waters off South Africa, talking to squid. Not only do I think My Octopus Teacher was a bad choice to win the award, I don’t even think it should have been nominated. Transhood, on HBO Max, was much, much better.
  • Another Round winning Best International Feature over Collective wasn’t a whole lot better, although at least in this case Another Round is a decent movie, just sort of trivial, and, as writer-director Thomas Vinterberg said in his excellent acceptance speech, it’s a movie about a bunch of middle-aged white guys.
  • Did anyone look better than Riz Ahmed and his wife, author Fatima Farheen Mirza? I say no, as I shop online for black mock turtle necks.
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→ April 25, 2021
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Oscar picks, 2021 edition.

The Oscars are happening tonight, about two months later than usual, so I’ve put together this post with some loose predictions, my own picks for each award, and, most importantly, links to every one of these films I’ve reviewed. I’ve seen all of the Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay nominees, and all but one of the films in the four acting categories, as well as all five documentaries and all five animated features, with 50 total films seen from the 2020 awards cycle (which ran fourteen months).

Best Picture

The Father
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
Minari
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Who will win: Nomadland

Who should win: Nomadland

I don’t feel that confident in the prediction here; I’m a little concerned that Chicago 7 will win, as it’s such an actor-focused, Very Important Film that it might resonate with the same voters who picked Green Book two years ago. I’ve seen Minari, and loved it, but haven’t posted a review yet.

Snubs: A Sun didn’t even make the Best International Feature cut (it was on the shortlist), but it belongs here, as does One Night in Miami, the exclusion of which I simply do not understand. Never Rarely Sometimes Always would have been a good if out-of-the-box choice. I haven’t seen First Cow yet.

Best Director

Another Round (Thomas Vinterberg)
Mank (David Fincher)
Minari (Lee Isaac Chung)
Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)
Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell)

Who will win: Zhao

Who should win: Zhao

This award and Best Picture used to be more closely linked than they are now, but I’m not sure I see them splitting the votes this time around. Vinterberg’s nomination seems inexplicable, unless it’s a sympathy vote, as his daughter was killed in a car accident during filming; she helped inspire the script and he dedicated the film to her.

Snubs: Regina King was supposed to be a lock for this category for One Night in Miami. I would have given Florian Zeller a nod as well for The Father.

Best Actress

Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holliday
Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

Who will win: Mulligan

Who should win: Mulligan

Davis could win this, but I don’t think this is particularly close on the merits. Mulligan gave one of the two best performances I saw this year, and if pushed I think she gave the best one. I was very glad to see Kirby get a nomination even though she has no chance to win – she is that movie, and she’s clearly a star on the rise.

Snubs: Carrie Coon for The Nest and Sidney Flanigan for Never Rarely Sometimes Always would both have been better choices than Day, who does a fine job with a terribly written part.

Best Actor

Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins, The Father
Gary Oldman, Mank
Stephen Yeun, Minari

Who will win: Boseman

Who should win: Hopkins

Boseman’s going to win, obviously, and he was very good … but Hopkins was just better, in a more significant role. I wouldn’t want to see the reaction if Hopkins were to win.

Snubs: I’m good with these five. Dev Patel was great in A Personal History of David Copperfield.

Best Supporting Actress

Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman, The Father
Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari

Who will win: Youn

Who should win: Youn

I feel like this is a lock, and of the four I’ve seen – I haven’t seen Hillbilly Elegy and see no good reason to do so – I’d put Youn and Colman as 1 and 1A, Bakalova second, and would give Seyfried a participation trophy. Maybe Close gets some sort of lifetime achievement thing here, especially after losing to Colman a few years ago when she was supposed to win, but people forget that The Wife was actually a shit movie.

Snubs: Tilda Swinton was superb in The Personal History of David Copperfield, certainly deserving of Seyfried’s spot.

Best Supporting Actor

Sasha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7
Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
Leslie Odom, Jr., One Night in Miami
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
LaKeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah

Who will win: Kaluuya

Who should win: Kaluuya

I’ll say this – if Raci wins, it’ll be an amazing story, and I’ll cheer for him. But Kaluuya was slightly better in a much more significant role, and he’s one of the best actors going today. Of course, he was really the lead actor in Judas, but that’s another story entirely, I guess.

Snubs: I’m also good with these five, although Kingsley Ben?Adir was pretty amazing as Malcolm X in One Night in Miami.

Best Documentary Feature

Collective
Crip Camp
The Mole Agent
My Octopus Teacher
Time

What will win: Time

What should win: Collective

I just don’t know; I thought Time was the shoo-in here, but Tim Grierson thinks My Octopus Teacher – easily my least favorite of these – is going to win, and no matter what, Collective should win, because it’s the best story and it’s told so effortlessly.

Snubs: Transhood. It’s on HBO Max. You should watch it.

Best Writing, Original Screenplay

Judas and the Black Messiah
Minari
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7

What should win: Promising Young Woman

What will win: Promising Young Woman

The screenplay categories have become a way to honor a film that has no shot at Best Picture (or maybe anything else) with a little pat on the head to say, “good job, we liked your little movie.” In this case, though, I’m good with Promising Young Woman taking this award home but not getting Director or Best Picture; the script itself is daring and novel and gets at least some of the credit for enabling Mulligan’s performance.

Snubs: A Sun, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, The Nest.

Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
The Father
Nomadland
One Night in Miami
The White Tiger

What should win: One Night in Miami

What will win: The Father

I could go either way here with those two screenplays; The Father is a better movie, because of Hopkins and some directorial choices, but Miami gets a very slight edge for me in the writing department.

Snubs: A Personal History of David Copperfield. You may remember the original.

Best Animated Feature Film

Onward
Over the Moon
Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon
Soul
Wolfwalkers

What should win: Wolfwalkers

What will win: Soul

Pixar just has such a huge advantage in this category that it seems contrarian to predict any non-Pixar film to win, but I’ll pull for Wolfwalkers, another hand-drawn film from Cartoon Saloon, even knowing it probably has no chance. Soul might be fourth for me among these nominees.

Snubs: The only other eligible film I saw was A Whisker Away, an anime film you can see on Netflix, which offers a far better story than Onward.

Best Animated Short Film

“Burrow”
“Genius Loci”
“If Anything Happens I Love You”
“Opera”
“Yes-People”

What should win: “If Anything Happens I Love You”

What will win: “Burrow”

“If Anything Happens I Love You,” available on Netflix, follows a couple after their only child has been killed in a school shooting. It’s devastating, and the style of the art further evokes those emotions. But I always assume Pixar is going to win this category. (I haven’t seen “Opera,” which appears to only be streaming on the subscription site ShortsTV.)

Snubs: “Cops and Robbers,” also on Netflix, can’t quite match the animation quality of “Yes-People” or the style of “Genius Loci” (which bored me), but the story, told as spoken-word poetry, is more relevant and more powerful. I don’t think dialogue gets you far in this category, though.

Best International Feature Film

Another Round
Better Days
Collective
The Man Who Sold His Skin
Quo Vadis, Aida?

I’ve only seen Another Round and Collective here; I’d vote for Collective of the two, but I think A Sun was better than both. The last two are now both on Hulu, so I’ll get to them eventually.  

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