Archives for May 2016

Inherit the Wind Entry #11: Publicity Pictures

Photographer John Lamb (R) and Director Mark Neels (L) set up a publicity shot.

It’s Sunday, May 29th. We are 11 days away from opening night and John Lamb is in for a visit. And today we’re taking pictures.

John does all the photography for Clayton Community Theatre and several other groups. When you come, you will see his pictures on display in the “lobby.” Those aren’t the pictures that he’s taking today, though. He is here to take “publicity pictures” and “head shots.”

First, the head shots. We all file past him and get an individual picture taken. These actually will be on display in the lobby – come to think of it. You’ll see a close up of each of us with our name underneath. But the action shots that you will see will be shot later. John will come back during one of the dress rehearsals and take pictures of the actual show. Sometimes he comes twice.

Publicity shots are a different animal. Several of the principles will be posed in – what we hope will be – intriguing shots. Nothing that comes out of this will be very much like the actual show. You may see some of these in newspapers in coming days.

On the plus side, publicity picture day gives us a first glimpse of some of the costumes.

Here is the Judge:

And the counsel for the defense:

Henry Drummond - the devil himself! — Henry Drummond – the devil himself!

And then there is Rachel.

Rachel the Reverend's daughter looking innocent. — Rachel the Reverend’s daughter looking innocent.

Rachel might be as close as this show has to a protagonist – in the classic sense. None of the other main characters really change much – their individual existentialist moments not withstanding. In general, it is actually the townspeople of Hillsboro who make the major character journey of the play. But Rachel is the kind of focal point of everything that goes on with the rest of the town.

And while all of these pictures are being taken, the rest of us wait:

While publicity shots are happening, here's what the rest of us are doing -- waiting. — While publicity shots are happening, here’s what the rest of us are doing — waiting.

We understand, of course. It’s all part of the process. It is funny though. A process that began several weeks ago with a lot of waiting, has returned to waiting.

After the pictures came the runthrough. Less and less the cast members are watching the show from the seats and more and more we’re spending the show backstage.

This means more waiting

Actors do a lot of this - waiting to go on. — Actors do a lot of this – waiting to go on.

And more waiting:

Tech week is coming up, so there is more waiting ahead.

Baseball

Cards, Martinez Shut Out Brewers

Big games from Matt Carpenter and Matt Holliday backed a dominating performance from Carlos Martinez in a 6-0 Cardinal win (box score). The team’s fourth shut out of the season.

One of the basic problems resolved by Carlos yesterday was not only not walking people, but not walking them with no one out. Previously this month, Carlos had faced 45 batters with no one yet out in the inning and he walked 7 of them. Only three of them scored, but they set up two big innings against him – a 3-run fifth by the Dodgers and the 6-run second inning by Chicago. Even the walks that didn’t come home to roost directly, still set up stressful innings. He gave up three no-out singles yersterday, but made them hit the ball, got a few double plays, no walks, and kept the pitch count and stress level low.

The other big favor he did himself was getting the last out of the inning. In his excellent April, opposing batters hit .206 against Carlos with two outs (7 for 34). For most of the month of May, that third out has been agonizingly illusive. In the Cubs big inning against him, 5 of the 6 runs scored after two were out. For the month, up until yesterday, batters hitting with two outs went 10 for 30 (.333) against Martinez, driving in 8 runs, including 3 game-winning runs. Three other batters walked, bringing the on base percentage against Martinez to .429 with two out.

Yesterday, Alex Presley’s second-inning single was the only two-out noise the Brewers managed in the eight innings Martinez worked. Quite a difference.

As for Trevor Rosenthal, he still can’t seem to make an appearance without granting that two-out walk. Yesterday, it was Kirk Nieuwenhuis. Trevor has now faced 13 batters this month with two outs and walked 4 of them. Add in his 3 hits allowed, and batters enjoy a .538 on base percentage against Rosenthal with two outs in May.

As you look at Matt Carpenter’s numbers, you always wonder if he gets too patient at times. Batting with nobody out in an inning in April, Carpenter hit .226 – less than an ideal figure from your leadoff hitter. He did walk 9 times, so his on base percentage was .400 (which is an excellent number for a leadoff hitter). He didn’t walk in any of his three at bats yesterday with no one out, and only has 3 no-out walks for the month. But his two hits brought his average to .340 and his slugging percentage to .723 with nobody out in May.

Beginning with his third-inning home run against Washington’s Gio Gonzalez last Saturday, Matt Holliday has 8 hits in his last 11 at bats.

His home run (hit with two out in the seventh) was his second in his last 12 plate appearances, his sixth of the month, and his ninth of the year. Three of the six in May, and four of the nine have been hit with 2 outs.

The only time Holliday was retired was the only time he hit with nobody out – he struck out in the first inning with two runners on. Matt is only 5 for 26 this month (.192) when batting with nobody out. In April, Matt hit .353 with nobody out.

Going back to his pinch-single on Sunday, Aledmys Diaz is now three for his last six. All of Aledmys’ plate appearances came with less than two outs. For the season, Aledmys hits .364/.380/.628 when batting with less than two outs. With two out, Diaz is 12 for 51 (.235) with no home runs and 4 runs batted in.

With four more strikeouts yesterday, Brandon Moss has now struck out six straight times and 8 times in his last 11 plate appearances.

Yadier Molina now has one infield hit to show for his last 21 at bats. Beyond that, he is 6 for his last 53 (.113) and has grounded into 4 double plays in his last 10 double play opportunities.

Just when Randal Grichuk seemed on the verge of turning his season around, he’s fallen into a 2-for-22 skid.

Cardinal batters hit .367 (11-for-30) yesterday when there were less than two outs. They were only 1 for 9 once Milwaukee got the second out of an inning.

From the “Just Like Old Times” department, Martinez’ effort gives the Cards 4 quality starts in their last five games – a first for 2016. This happened for the first time last year in the first five games. On their way to 103 quality starts last year, the pitching staff had two streaks of five consecutive quality starts, two streaks of six games, and streaks of seven, eight and thirteen consecutive games with quality starts.

Baseball

Cards Whipped in Washington but Wacha a Positive

Lost in the carnage of the Sunday afternoon blowout (box score) was a return to form by Michael Wacha and some nice grinding at bats from some of the hitters.

Matt Holliday has been among the team’s better hitters all season when going deep into an at bat. Matt had two, 5-pitch at bats yesterday afternoon, getting a single in one of them. He is now 10-for-25 (.400) this season in at bats of five-or-more pitches.

Prior to yesterday afternoon, Brandon Moss had only extended a plate appearance past seven pitches twice all season. He drew a 9-pitch walk against Wily Peralta on April 14, and struck out on eight pitches against Jon Moscot on April 17. Yesterday he battled Stephen Strasburg to eight pitches twice, homering in the fourth and striking out in the sixth.

Moss’ home run was the 69th this season for the Cardinals. They have now hit as many in 51 games this year as they had at last year’s All Star break after 89 games.

Jedd Gyorko had the games longest plate appearance, grinding out a 9-pitch walk in the eighth. It is the third time this season that a Gyorko at bat has lasted nine pitches, and he has now walked in two of those.

Gyorko’s two hits, though, both came on the first pitch of an at bat. Jedd is now 6 for 18 (.333) when hitting the first pitch.

Nothing much came of it, but Matt Carpenter also put together an 8-pitch at bat (eventually flying to center in the third). Three of his five plate appearances lasted five pitches or more. For the month of May, 58 of Carpenter’s 105 plate appearances (55.2%) have extended to at least five pitches. Even though Matt was 0-for-5 yesterday and is down to .241 for the season, he is still a very tough at bat.

For the game, 17 of the 39 Cardinal plate appearances lasted a least five pitches (43.6%). Against a pitcher like Strasburg, even when your at bats are sound, you still may not end up with a lot to show for them.

Perhaps the greatest positive of an otherwise disappointing game was a return to form by Michael Wacha against a very tough lineup. Nearly 40% of the batters he faced (9 of the 23) pushed their at bat to 5 or more pitches. This has been an area of difficulty for Wacha this season. Up until yesterday afternoon, the batters that have pushed him to more than 4 pitches in an at bat hit .314/.415/.471 against him. Yesterday, Washington was 0-for-8 with a walk when the at bat lasted more than four pitches.

The game began to slip definitively away on Jonathan Broxton’s first pitch in the seventh. The danger of everyone suspecting that Jonathan will be bringing that first pitch fastball is that if he mislocates, the hitter will more than likely be ready for it. The league is now 5 for 9 against Jonathan’s first pitch (including a double, a triple, and now a home run). All of those extra bases have come this month, as batters are 4 for 5 against Broxton’s first pitch in May.

Ramos’ home run off Tyler Lyons (the seventh he’s surrendered in just 24.2 innings) came on the first pitch. Five of those home runs have been hit this month (in just 16 innings), three of them on the first pitch.