BCB After Dark: Guarding your back

Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the hidden hotspot for night owls, early-risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Thank you for stopping by again. The waitstaff will be by to take your order soon. The show will begin any minute.

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 Cubs had a dramatic 6-5 win over the Reds tonight. There was a walk-off pinch-hit RBI single for Javier Báez tonight [VIDEO] that I don’t think many of us will forget for a while.

You are free to discuss tonight’s win and El Mago’s walk-off here if you wish.

Last week I asked you about Kyle Hendrick’s last start against the Cardinals and the decisions made by manager David Ross. The Cardinals won that game and there was a lot of second-guessing about whether Ross handled the game correctly. If you don’t remember what happened, you can go back to last week’s article and refresh your memory.

In any case, 57% of you thought that Ross should have pinch-hit for Hendricks in a tie game in the top of the seventh. In second place, 20% of you felt that Ross handled the situation correctly, it just didn’t work out.

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

I feel like some Billie Holiday. Do you feel like some Billie Holiday?

Here’s Holiday performing “God Bless the Child” [VIDEO] and “Now Baby or Never” with the Count Basie Orchestra. Holiday co-wrote both songs and she later claimed that “God Bless the Child” was written after a fight with her mother in 1939. This recording appears to be from 1955.

I have an apology to make. I was going to do an essay on William A. Wellman’s 1943 classic The Ox-Bow Incident, starring Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews. Harry Morgan and Anthony Quinn are also in supporting roles. But I intended to write up the essay before tonight’s Cubs’ game and I just didn’t have time to get it done before it started. I figured that I could just write it up during the game, but then the Chafin trade went down and I was busy writing and researching that. So you may have to wait a while for my thoughts on The Ox-Bow Incident.

I will quickly say that I found it very interesting how much Wellman got out of the actors in such a small and claustrophobic Western. The movie was under some pretty tight budget and travel constraints because it was made in the middle of World War II. And of course, Fonda is terrific.

Here’s Fonda telling you why you should watch it. [VIDEO]

Maybe I’ll get around to giving it a full writeup later. But if you have seen it, please give your thoughts in the comments.

Welcome back to those of you who skip the jazz and movies. On Monday I published an essay about the new name for the Cleveland baseball team, the Guardians, and I said the name was “fine.” I also made the argument that a “fine” name would become a good name in time.

I didn’t include a poll in that article because I was saving it for this piece. You can’t expect me to come up with two poll questions in 24 hours, can you? (Three with the Chafin trade. Be sure to vote in that!)

So I’m going to ask you to vote on the new Guardians name. I am asking you not to weigh in on the old name—frankly, that argument is tired at this point, the discussion is over and no one is changing anyone’s mind at this point. But now that the Cleveland baseballers have a new nickname, what is your impression? Is “Guardians” a home run or a double? Is it just a solid single of a name? Or maybe they just struck out. I argued that a name that was just acceptable was actually a good thing, and that “Guardians” certainly meets the definition of acceptable. But maybe it’s better than acceptable to you? After having three or four days to get used to it, has your mind changed?

We’ll see you again tomorrow night. Be sure to tip your waitstaff.

There is one announcement, and I’ll make it again in tomorrow’s After Dark. I’m going to be on the road Wednesday and Thursday night, so Tuesday night/Wednesday morning’s After Dark will be the last one for the week. I’ll return to a three-night a week schedule next week.