Recaps

[dbacks.com] D-backs end strong road trip with sweep in Chicago - “Since the All-Star break, it’s been that kind of mentality of grind through games [knowing you’re] always going to be there at the end of it,” said right-hander Zach Davies, who allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings Sunday. “You know, you’re not going to win all of them, but it’s great to end a road trip like that and get a sweep and just play good quality baseball.”

[Arizona Sports] D-backs OF Jake McCarthy’s clutch RBI secures sweep of White Sox - McCarthy split the right-center field gap for a go-ahead RBI double in the top of the ninth inning Sunday against the Chicago White Sox. The knock gave Arizona a 3-2 lead, and closer Ian Kennedy finished the game off in the bottom half to secure a three-game sweep in Chicago. McCarthy continued his big stretch, as he entered Sunday’s game with a slash line of .396/.459/.528 since Aug. 9. He finished the series 5-for-9. “It’ll be a happy flight,” McCarthy said. “It’s nice to go on the road and gain some momentum.”

[South Side Sox] Loser crap: Diamondbacks 3, White Sox 2 - I fear we may have broken our sibling site. "I spent the first three innings of today’s game watching my nephew play in his first football game, so I was able to use the space of those innings to create a list of things that were more exciting than watching this White Sox game."

Team Corbin Carroll news

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks planning to call up minor league phenom OF Corbin Carroll - [It] will mark the arrival of the organization’s most-anticipated prospect in more than a decade. Carroll, 22, is expected to be in the lineup on Monday night at Chase Field, where he likely will make his major league debut against the Philadelphia Phillies. Carroll has put together a monster season in the upper minors this season, hitting a combined .307/.425/.610 with 24 homers and 31 stolen bases.

[MLB Trade Rumors] Diamondbacks Reportedly Promoting Corbin Carroll - This will be something of a belated birthday present for the youngster, who just turned 22 years old a week ago. Selected with the 16th overall pick in the 2019 draft, Carroll has been one of the most intriguing prospect in Arizona’s system ever since. Baseball America ranked him 5th in the organization and 90th in all of baseball in 2020, before Carroll jumped to Arizona’s #1 slot in 2021. He’s currently ranked 5th overall by BA, 3rd by FanGraphs, while ESPN and Keith Law of The Athletic consider him the best prospect in the sport.

[Dbacks.com] What to expect from Corbin Carroll - Carroll’s 155 wRC+ (weighted by league) ranked 13th-best among 719 full-season qualifiers, and he was the only player in that group to bat at least .300 while walking at least 15 percent of the time. It’s all especially more impressive given that Carroll played only seven games in 2021 before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury on a swing for High-A Hillsboro, making this ascendant campaign essentially his first full Minor League season.

[The Athletic] Diamondbacks calling up top prospect Corbin Carroll - “He’s an 80 runner underway who can play plus defense in center, makes a ton of hard contact and has plus power, along with an incredible work ethic,” Law said of Carroll in his prospect rankings. “The only reason I might pump the brakes on his hype is that both of his home parks this year are strong hitters’ environments, although he’s hit well on the road too.”

And, elsewhere...

[Sports Illustrated] MLB Players Association Seeks to Unionize Minor Leaguers - Unionization would represent a seismic shift for the minor leagues, which have operated on relatively low budgets for more than a century. The unionization effort comes amid the backdrop of a Congressional inquiry into MLB’s long-standing antitrust exemption and its impact on minor league wages. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred was criticized for his recent response to a question about minor league wages at the All-Star Game in Los Angeles. “Look, I kind of reject the premise of the question that minor league players are not paid a living wage,” Manfred told reporters.

[Reuters] Rare Mickey Mantle card sells for record $12.6m - A Mickey Mantle baseball card in mint condition sold for $12.6 million on Sunday, becoming the most valuable piece of sports memorabilia to be sold at an auction. The rare Mantle card, sold by Heritage Auctions, surpassed a record of $9.3 million set in May for the shirt worn by Diego Maradona, when he scored the contentious 'Hand of God' goal at the 1986 World Cup. The card was brought to Heritage by Anthony Giordano, a waste management entrepreneur from New Jersey, who bought it for $50,000 in 1991.

Finally. Makakilo specifically emailed me this, and I have absolutely no desire to risk the wrath of any volcano gods, so here we are... :)

[CBS Sports] Hawaii beats Curacao for LLWS championship - Hawaii powered its way to the 2022 Little League Baseball World Series title on Sunday afternoon, defeating Curacao 13-3 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Hawaii, representing the United States’ West region, had a dominant run in the 20-team tournament. The team from Honolulu Little League outscored opponents 60-5 and went 6-0. Hawaii defeated Tennessee in the United States title game on Saturday.

Outpost Earth (2019)

Rating: B-

Dir: Brett Piper

Star: Erin Waterhouse, Titus Himmelberger, Kristen Gylling, Mason Carver

I remain a sucker for stop-motion animation. When done well – Ray Harryhausen or Henry Selick – it’s awesome. Even when not done well, there’s still an otherwordly quality to it, which often works better for some things e.g. monsters, than bad practical effects – and certainly better than bad CGI. Piper is probably master of the cheap end of stop-motion, having been doing this kind of thing for decades.

To be absolutely clear, you need to have a tolerance for this kind of thing. If you’re at all wanting anything polished and slick, this is potentially going to be the worst film you’ve ever seen. I knew what to expect from the Piper brand, and so was ready to cut it the necessary slack. I read another review which compared it to lo-fi music, and that’s a very good analogy. It’s the imperfections here, resulting from the production method, that give it character and separate it from your typical Hollywood product. For example, as shown above, there’s a giant, golem-like creature (whose identity will come as far less of a surprise to the viewer than the movie characters), which feels almost like a Piper nod to King Kong, made on a budget of a couple of hundred bucks.

Full review