I promised myself I wouldn't go here, and yet...My favorite baseball movie

Yeah, I figured this was too easy. But this past week, I finally saw "Pride of the Yankees," and I felt like I had to check in on this topic.
I can't believe that people think of this film, a Lou Gehrig biopic, as an all-time classic. I was taken aback by the poor acting and the surprisingly slap-sticky plot. Perhaps some of its flaws reflect its era, both in terms of baseball culture and Hollywood culture, but "Citizen Kane" came out the year before "Pride," and "Citizen Kane" is still brilliant. So it's not like it was impossible to make a great movie back then.
Gary Cooper was 41 years old when this film came out, so to see him as a student at Columbia is absurd. And Cooper doesn't even try to take on Gehrig's persona. He carries the aura of "Hello, I'm Gary Cooper, and you'll accept me as Lou Gehrig." The scene in which Gehrig makes his big-league debut _ first, he slips on a bunch of bats and falls on his rear end and then he gets hit in the head by the opposing first baseman's throw _ seems like something out of "The Naked Gun." Very bizarre.
The film redeems itself somewhat at the end, as Cooper handles Gehrig's terminal illness well. But this is still a movie that has not aged with dignity, assuming that people at that time viewed it as high-quality.
My two favorite baseball films both star Kevin Costner: "Bull Durham" and "Field of Dreams." The former works as an incredibly unsentimental look at the game and its players. I love all of the minor-league touches, including the presence of Max Patkin, who used to stop by visiting clubhouses at the old Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia and shoot the bull with the players.
I love "Field of Dreams" because it is SO sentimental, and fantasy-based, and the acting by Costner, James Earl Jones, Burt Lancaster and Amy Madigan is terrific. If you don't get choked up during the final scene, then you're more cynical than I am.
For the record, I am a big enough Costner fan that I thought even "For Love of the Game" was watchable.
What's your favorite baseball movie?
The Mets just can't get anything going. And yet, by losing two of three to the Nationals so far, they've picked up a game on Florida.
Luis Castillo, meanwhile, is a perfect example of how Omar Minaya has produced high highs and low lows in his time as Mets GM, as we discussed yesterday. How in the world could the Mets have given a four-year deal to this guy?
Speaking of which: Hank Steinbrenner. Oy vey. With each word that comes out of his mouth, he sounds more ignorant. More effort? Really? That's the Yankees' problem? Not sure about that one.
I love that Hank speaks his mind and shares state secrets with the media. But we're rapidly approaching the point where we're going to have to put Hank's rantings in their proper perspective, because they're occurring in a vacuum. Hank isn't doing anything on the personnel front. His only real-world impact is that he's annoying Brian Cashman and possibly pushing the GM out of the organization.
As I flipped channels late last night, between the Mets' post-game show on
As I mentioned here recently, I loved the 
My apologies for the delay this morning. Crazy technical difficulties.
So I now admit: It is somewhat vexing that Santana isn't mowing through the NL with more ease. Yes, his overall numbers are just fine, and yes, we know he historically improves alongside the warm weather. But still. I'm surprised that Santana has needed to work so hard to not even get very deep into games.
Consider this: Santana has thrown 110 or more pitches in four of his eight starts this season. Last year, he reached that number in just six of his 33 starts. And it's not like Willie Randolph and Rick Peterson are pushing Santana late into games. They're just trying to get him to finish six innings.

M-Crash asked me this morning to check Derek Jeter's VORP, so I did.
At 7:43 last night, I commented here on the blog that I intended to do a column on Jason Giambi for today's Newsday. I figured it was time to check in on Giambi's horrid start to the 2008 season, and ponder whether the Yankees would actually consider releasing him.