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STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS' FALLS SHORT OF EXPECTATIONS; 'IRON MAN 3' AND 'GATSBY' HOLD UP WELL May 18, 2013 04:43 AM by Phil Contrino (boxoffice.com) Despite posting strong early numbers on Friday, Star Trek Into Darkness has cooled down. The sci-fi extravaganza is now on pace for $68 million from Friday-Sunday after tallying $22 million on Friday. That will put its 4-day total at $81.5 million. Even Paramount was expecting $100 million in four days. Negative word of mouth doesn't seem to be the culprit. Into Darkness is creating plenty of buzz on Facebook and Twitter, and it boasts an "A" from CinemaScore. The impact of Iron Man 3's monster debut combined with the impending release of The Hangover Part III and Fast & Furious 6 could be to blame. 2009's Star Trek made $82.7 million during its first four full days of release, or approximately $87.5 million when adjusting for inflation. Iron Man 3 wasn't hurt by Into Darkness as much as it could have been. The Disney release fell 50 percent during its sophomore frame. Everything from this point on is icing on the cake for Iron Man 3 now that it has hit $1 billion globally. Being sandwiched in between Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness would be daunting for any film, but The Great Gatsby is holding up reasonably well in the face of it. The period flick is on pace to drop 54 percent during its sophomore frame. Gatsby will hit $100 million in North America by next weekend, and its overseas rollout is just beginning. WB's gamble seems to be paying off. www.ew.com/movies J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness beamed into first place Friday, pushing Tony Stark and his Iron Man suit into the No. 2 spot. The highly-anticipated sci-fi sequel, which opened wide on Wednesday, made an estimated $22.0 million on Friday in 3,868 locations, including 336 IMAX 3D locations, bringing its domestic total to $35.5 million. This was somewhat shy of expectations: The first Star Trek of the Abrams era opened in May 2009 to a $26.98 million Friday in 3,849 theaters. As a director, J.J. Abrams has a limited history at the box office. His only other efforts are 2011′s relatively low-budget ($50 million) Super 8, and 2006′s Mission: Impossible III. But, big things are still expected from this sequel, which cost an estimated $190 million to make. With the help of the original cast — most of whom are bigger stars now — and writing team (including new addition Damon Lindelof), strong reviews from critics and an impressive “A” CinemaScore, and the tease of a menacing new villain in the form of Benedict Cumberbatch, the sci-fi epic is on pace for a $60 million three-day weekend.

Ramirez got deked out...should have been at 3rd base.

Joe Blanton 0-7 in 8 starts, most hits surrendered, 4th highest number of ER's....2nd most losses. Seems like a trap game.

Please pray for the Mariners' bullpen. Incredible comeback, three homers, one in the 8th, the other two with two outs and nobody on base against Chris Perez in the top of the 9th (Ibanez and Smoak) but the resilient Indians loaded the bases quickly against Oliver Perez. No outs. Three chances to score. Indians will be at 7 games over (19-7 stretch, best in the majors during that timeframe)...had 34,000+ in attendance Friday night against the M's. Indians win. Grounder to SS...Ryan made a great play but the throw hopped and Montero pulled his foot off home plate.

Darn, she's married, haha. I have one cure for Dave Wilder and the shaving scandal. Put her in charge of our Dominican Training Academy. In all seriousness, it would be cool if they could get her to shoot a commercial for the White Sox. Sounds like a fun job for Brooks or Rongey to track her down. We need all the celebrity endorsements we can get these days. At the very least, she can do some spots for Orgullo Sox, the Spanish side of the chisox.com website. Or invite her out to the stadium to throw out the first pitch when they have "Orgullo Sox Night," I think it used to be around the 4th of July.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 18, 2013 -> 09:42 AM) I thought he was going to say he almost died but Yaz gave him CPR Since he started broadcasting, I wonder how many times Hawk has name-dropped Mantle or Maris during a Sox program? Over that same amount of time, I wonder how many White Sox players have been mentioned by the YES Network? Other than NESN/Red Sox, I can't think of another team's broadcaster/s that talk more about the Yankees' glory years. TOO BAD THERE'S NO WAY TO GET A COPY OF THAT PICTURE AND MAKE IT AN AVATAR.

It would be like if you saw a full-length column recently saying that the White Sox should release Blake Tekotte or Deunte Heath. Columns like that are only interesting if there's two sides to it. For example, if there was another compelling pitching prospect that they were stowing away in the minors to avoid his arbitration clock or whatever...but the Marlins just suck, so that's probably not the issue, as they already have Fernandez up with the big league club. Kind of as if he only recently discovered the Marlins are a bad bad franchise and organization, and he's surprised they would carry such a player on their roster, as if they're deliberately insulting fans with his presence (not that they haven't done 10,000 other things to insult their fanbase.) And the Marlins respond, sort of. Marlins Designate Jon Rauch For Assignment By Max Fogle [May 17 at 9:28pm CST] The Marlins have announced that right-hander Jon Rauch has been designated for assignment. The move creates a spot on the 40-man roster for Duane Below, who was recently claimed off waivers from the Tigers. Rauch signed a one-year, $1MM deal with the Marlins in February, but pitched to a 6.89 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 15 2/3 innings. The 34-year-old owns a career 3.88 ERA with 7.2 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 over 594 big league innings. Before he signed with Miami, the Brewers were among the clubs with interest in Rauch.

I thought Harrelson was going to say he puked in front of the whole stadium when he swallowed the chaw!

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mariano-river...-222518842.html Great idea. For the White Sox, Konerko would be the obvious choice. Torii Hunter's name came up, it could be connected to the movie "42" as well as MLB Reviving Baseball in the Inner City Program...they already do something like that in Kansas City every year for the Negro Leagues Hall of Fame. Someone like Raul Ibanez who is an example of perseverance and never giving up. Ichiro or Pettite, etc. Jason Giambi, to talk about PED's with youngsters around the country.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ May 18, 2013 -> 02:04 AM) I am VERY surprised Sale dominated these guys again. When a guy nearly throws a perfect game against you, and then you face him again in the same week, you'd think you'd remember how NOT to go about things, and should be able to adjust by then. Figured we'd see Chris give up 3 or 4 runs. Naaaah. He's too pro for that s*** I guess. Like the White Sox against Guthrie?

This team is really maddening. When you want to throw in the towel for good on Dunn, he has another life. We have the best ERA in the AL now by 0.01 points over the Rangers, at 3.41. The worst defense, for now, but Beckham's on the way back. Probably the best set-up guy (Crain) and one of the top 3-4 closers in Addison Reed. Rumors flying that Konerko's back and/or knees are bothering him. The crazy thing is you don't know which direction to go again...the only area of the offense that you can seemingly address is either catcher/Flowers or Konerko. Dunn will be Dunn. Beckham will be back, and Keppinger will return to his proper role. We aren't going to find a full-time replacement for Paulie until we know 100% he won't be healthy for the rest of the season or he takes himself out of the line-up or retires. So that leaves Tyler. Has had some big hits and clutch homers. Still really struggling with RISP and with the K's. Only leading Lucroy, Avila and Montero in OPS (100+ AB's, so sort of like Gordon Beckham in 2012 without the very strong defense). Speaking of D, his defense has been a pretty big disappointment this year, yet most of the pitchers seem to be very comfortable with him (hard to argue with leading the league in ERA). That said, it's going to get harder and harder to argue he should be playing full time as we pull back into the race. Gimenez isn't the answer. Phegley might be offensively, but how will his defense and game-calling affect the best pitching staff? Lots of uncertainties. Plus, if we wanted to improve the ballclub and replace Flowers long-term or with a short-term rental, who could we possibly trade? Is it worth it trade Erik Johnson for the likes of John Buck, Carlos Ruiz, Nick Hundley, Kelly Shoppach (he would share time with Flowers), Wilson Ramos or JP Arencibia? Should we be content to just merely a veteran/experienced player to complement Flowers (like a Shoppach, Jose Molina or Miguel Olivo type)...? I'll give Hahn great credit for the Gillaspie move, negative credit for overpaying on Keppinger and an "inconclusive" (we had to let AJ go, and overpaying at age 37 is crazy) for Flowers/Gimenez. Still, is that the best plan going forward, to stick with both of those guys and just roll the dice, so to speak?) Some will say we have to let Flowers, Viciedo, Beckham and Gillaspie just play everyday and see what we have for 2014. As always happens with the White Sox, short-term victories collide with long-term development and the GM is left with quite the dilemma to solve. Meanwhile, KC has the 3rd best pitching in the AL (but not quite as good an offense, of course) and the Indians and Tigers are leading the division. Last year, we really only had to deal with the Tigers. Right now, it's three teams ahead of us (assuming the Twins eventually fade). The Sox are between a rock and a hard place, as usual.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 17, 2013 -> 11:22 PM) Well, you do. So that is enough I suppose Well, it's a bit crazy to try to grab headlines at yahoo.com with "Marlins should release XYZ player" I guess that's a new strategy in getting page views for sports fans. It was one of the worst-written articles I've seen about baseball in a long time. The intent/content wasn't so bad, it was just the writing was like something you would expect from a high school newspaper sports section.

Still have some baserunning issues (Scioscia outguessed Robin)....oh, well. Hard to complain too much. We have three guys scuffling in Konerko, Keppinger and Flowers and still about to win four in a row.

Yay, Dayan....way to recover from a bad start to the evening. Wise running for Viciedo/defensive replacement. Angels would still be 12 games back with Rangers' loss...back to 12 games under .500. LA was 8-15 to start 2012, but got back to 26-26 at the end of May (18-11).

"Ran into a buzzsaw in Chris Sale again." Starting to feel sorry for C.J. Wilson. If the A's rally against KC/Shields holds, only 2 GB of the Royals, 4 behind CLE/DET. Wow, Dunn is just on fire right now...CRAZY. "There's a lot of holes right now in Dunn's swing, but that one is the launch zone..."

14 2/3 scoreless innings in a row against CRAIN. Langston questioning Ventura not letting Sale finish the inning, lol. Typical pitcher.

Fathom is alive! What happened, you went to see Star Trek?

Mark Langston with an interesting comment. "Sale has that change-up that Randy Johnson never had which makes him MORE dominant...Johnson had the better fastball (high 90's) and nastier slider, and it's hard to say someone is more dominant that Randy Johnson...but..." Sale at 112. 119 his high. Complete control of 2 games in a row against the Angels. 23 innings without giving up a run now for Chris Sale. Reliever to come in against TROUT.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/miami-marlins...-213600974.html This yahoo contributor network is getting out of hand. Really, an article at the top of the page suggesting Wade LeBlanc, the last player on the roster, should be released? Does anyone actually care? COMMENTARY | Wade LeBlanc is the one player on the Miami Marlins that should be released immediately. He is almost 29 years old, so he is no longer a young prospect; his numbers are terrible; and he has shown no sign of improvement throughout his career. In fact, he seems to be getting worse. I am not sure why the Marlins keep this guy around. Not only does his fastball rarely, if ever, reach 90 mph, but it also seems like it is often a meatball right over the middle of the plate. When you throw at Greg Maddux-like speeds, you had better have some decent control or wicked movement on your pitches. LeBlanc has neither. It feels like the Marlins only keep him around because he is their token lefty in the rotation. Personally, I would rather not have one if LeBlanc is all they have. Aside from his debut for the San Diego Padres in 2008, when he posted an ERA of 8.02 in 5 games and allowed opposing hitters to hit .330 off of him, this campaign is his worst statistical major-league season of his career. This year, LeBlanc is 0-5 with a 5.79 ERA. He rarely gets missed at the plate, allowing 48 hits in his 37.1 innings and an average of .310. Essentially the opposing batter who is facing LeBlanc this season becomes an All-Star. When you are pitching for a team that averages roughly 2.8 runs scored per game, a pitcher like LeBlanc just is not going to cut it. The rest of the players would never say it, but I am sure they do not expect to win when LeBlanc takes the hill to start a game. Fortunately, LeBlanc has been removed from his starting role for now and placed in the bullpen, but I think it would be best if he was just released. His control issues will only be magnified coming out of the 'pen. In the end, there is really no hope for this guy to be a valuable part of this team now or in the future. His numbers in the major leagues have not shown any sign of getting better. At a time when the Marlins are rebuilding and focusing on young talent, I think they should call up a promising youngster and give him a chance to show what he has rather than let LeBlanc continue to bite the dust. Brett grew up in south Florida and has been a lifelong Marlins fan. He graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Sport Management. Follow him on Twitter @B_Zager.

All I know is seeing Jones or Lindstrom in the 8th inning is scary, compared to Crain recently. Will be Jimenez, Aybar and Trout for the bottom of the inning. Sale with 11 K's. Richards in.

Sale's last pitch before the walk at 96 MPH. Overthrowing to get Kendrick. 3 walks tonight so far. 100 pitches for Sale. Uh oh, Nate Jones up in the bullpen.

10 K's for Sale. Career high is 15 (TB). In 7 1/3. Hamilton getting the Adam Dunn homefield treatment. Maybe a little more vitriolic than anything Dunn got in Chicago because of some of Hamilton's recent comments in the media.

10 K's for Sale. Career high is 15 (TB). In 7 1/3. Hamilton getting the Adam Dunn homefield treatment. Maybe a little more vitriolic than anything Dunn got in Chicago because of some of Hamilton's recent comments in the media.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 17, 2013 -> 10:01 PM) But the starter only goes one or two innings max, so who cares. If anybody deserves such an honor, I think it's Mo. And it's not just an honorary roster spot, he is arguably the best closer in the AL. Again. At age 43. I'm 100% behind the #StartMo campaign. Leyland politely refused to talk to the Rangers' radio guys about it the other day before the game.

QUOTE (Noonskadoodle @ May 17, 2013 -> 10:08 PM) He just seems old school. With the no batting gloves & all. uh oh shades of 2005? HAHHAHA Kind of like Herb The Milkman Perry coming out of nowhere to be a key piece of the 2000 team. Flowers with 2/3 Sox K's on the night. Oh well, we're winning.