BCB After Dark: You make the call

Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the hip nightspot for night owls, early-risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Thanks for stopping by for our final show of the week. We’re waiving the dress code tonight. Seat yourself anywhere. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

The Astros trounced the Braves, 7-2 to tie the World Series at one game each, which is good news for those of us who are just cheering for a seven-game series. It’s not so good for those of us who are cheering for close games, as neither of the first two games were very competitive. Game 2 also featured a first when Max Fried pitched to Alex Bregman. That was the first time a Jewish pitcher threw to a Jewish hitter in World Series history.

I’ve got more on tonight’s game in the baseball question part of the show.

Last time I asked you whether you thought Nico Hoerner or Nick Madrigal would have the better overall career as a Cub. By a margin of 59% to 41%, you thought the new guy Nick Madrigal would have the better Cub career. As I’ve mentioned before, I normally don’t vote in these polls and if I had, I honestly don’t know which one I would have voted for. Madrigal is the better hitter, but Hoerner is the better glove. I think it’s more likely that Hoerner improves his hitting than Madrigal improves his fielding, but will he? And Madrigal could still improve his hitting as well, which would have him winning a few batting titles. In any case, they’re both good young players and Cubs fans are lucky to have them both on the team, even if they play the same position.

Here’s the part where I talk about jazz and movies. Feel free to skip to the baseball question at the end if you wish. You won’t hurt my feelings.

I’ve been saving today’s jazz track for tonight—the last edition of BCB After Dark before Halloween. It’s Lambert, Hendricks & Ross’s 1962 classic “Halloween Spooks.” It’s more of a classic in the genre of holiday songs than it is in the genre of jazz vocal hits, but it fits the season. It’s something that should be in everyone’s Halloween party music mix, especially if there are children at the party. It’s fun and not really scary.

I normally do just one film essay a week, although in recent weeks I’ve been doing double duty simply because I had something more to say that week. But I’m afraid your luck has run out as I’ve been far busier than normal this week dealing with life’s little aggravations.

So I’m just going to ask you about your holiday viewing habits. Is there any special movie that you like to watch around Halloween? I’ve said before that I like the watch the old Universal monster movies from the 1930s and early 1940s.

But what about Christmas? How early in the season can you watch a Christmas movie? I know that some radio stations start playing Christmas music at midnight on November 1. That’s way too early for me, but I usually do start putting on Christmas music the week of Thanksgiving. On top of that, my wife and I will watch an occasional Hallmark Christmas movie during the holiday season in order to make fun of it together. If you enjoy those films un-ironically, then more power to you, but we play Mystery Science Theater 3000 with them.

But are there special holiday films you like to watch? Are you more It’s a Wonderful Life or Die Hard? (As far as I’m concerned, if you think Die Hard is a Christmas movie, then it’s a Christmas movie for you. Enjoy it any way you want. It’s a Wonderful Life wasn’t intended to be a Christmas movie either. Although it got a premiere in December of 1946 in order to be eligible for that year’s awards, it didn’t get a wide release until January of 1947.)

Are there other movies you like to watch during the upcoming holiday season? And you can pick whichever holiday you want. If you’ve got a favorite Festivus film, share it.

Welcome back to those of you who skip the jazz and movie discussion. Tonight’s poll question comes from Game 2 of the World Series that was either played earlier this evening or last night, depending on when you are reading this.

In the sixth inning, the Astros had Yordan Alvarez on third and Kyle Tucker on first with only one out. Batter Yuli Gurriel hit a grounder to shortstop Dansby Swanson that looked like it was going to be an inning-ending double play. Except second baseman Ozzie Albies dropped the ball and Alvarez scored from third base to make the score 6-2 Houston.

The controversial part of this was that second base umpire Ted Barrett called Tucker safe at second base and the replay official upheld the call. This despite it clearly looking like in real-time that Albies dropped the ball on the transfer to his throwing hand, which means that Tucker should have been called out.

Here’s the play.

As you can hear from the broadcast commentary, John Smoltz definitely thought Tucker was out. A lot of people I saw on Twitter thought Tucker was out too.

So I’m just asking you: Should Tucker have been called safe or out? Did Albies drop the ball on the transfer to his throwing hand or did he never have control of the ball to make the out?

To be clear, this call ended up making no difference in the outcome of the game. Had Albies been able to successfully turn the double play, it would have cost the Astros a run and it would have been 5-2 instead of 6-2. But the error did not lead to any additional runs later in the inning. And the Astros ended up winning 7-2, so even a 5-2 lead probably would have been safe at that point.

But because we need something to talk about: Should Tucker have been called safe or out?

Thanks again for stopping by. We’ll be back again next week with another week of BCB After Dark. We hope to see you there. Try the veal next time. Be sure to tip your waitstaff.