Night Beat

Important Events this Evening.

• Francisco Liriano is out indefinately. If this has ruined your fantasy season, I have little sympathy. You picked him up from the waiver wire in May. Admit it.
• Deadline trades can pay off. Ryan Shealy's single pushed the Royals past the Red Sox. Reggie Sanders apologized to mlb.com: "But this team is not as bad as it looks on paper. It really isn't." Runelvys Hernandez (it is often pronouced 'Fat Elvis') was a little less humble: "We can compete with the best teams in the world now and we're going to show our fans we're going to get better and better". Rah rah.
• The NL Standings are a mess again - LA now leads the West by .5 over Arizona and San Diego, the Cardinals' central lead is back up to 3.5 and the Reds are only up .5 on the two Western teams and 2.5 more on Houston. Check back tomorrow for more confusion.
• The Yankees lost to the White Sox. There was an error by Rodriguez that led to some runs. It's true what they say - collective opinion of him changes on every play. Today he threw the ball into right field. I can still see it rolling on the grass of U.S. Cellular when I close my eyes. The Twins lost, so Chicago leads the Wild Card again.
• I had forgotten how funny Shoot the Piano Player was at points. Though the focus is on the melancholy, introverted mood of Charles Aznavour (his asides are heartbreaking, especially when walking with the waitress and debating whether to take her hand), the two bumbling criminals are hysterical, and perfectly drawn. So much character comes out when one talks about his father's advice on women, and the other shows the young boy his 'metal tie' from Japan. A quiet movie with an abrupt, sad ending.