I didn't mention MATCHSTICK MEN or CABIN FEVER. Here's what I think.

MATCHSTICK MEN: Great performances, a neat twist, but not nearly as fun as I'd hoped. I had basically pegged some surprises very early and it made it all the less fun for me to find out that I was right. I have seen a million con artist, gambler, heist movies this year and they all feel the same. MATCHSTICK falls just below STUEY and GOOD THIEF.

CABIN FEVER: Speaking of a million of one genre, here's the virus-scare horror film, already covered horribly by DREAMCATCHER (which, I guess wasn't a virus, but the "scare" acted like a virus) and covered wonderfully in the first half of 28 DAYS LATER. This movie has no balls, and therefore isn't as scary or titillating as it should be. There are some funny moments at the end of the movie, that are almost worth watching the movie for.

Game 1 Braves/Cubs...Russ Ortiz simply got himself in too much trouble too many times to win the game. I'd love to pin a lot of frustration on Robert Fick for not turning a double play, but it is specifically the way Ortiz approached every batter post-Sammy Sosa that lost that game. And he threw a pitch to Kerry Wood as if Kerry Wood is half a fag with the bat. A high, lazy fastball that I thought was a homer when Wood hit it.

Game 1 Yankees/Twins...I will say this a hundred times more about the 21st Century Yanks, that their greed for home run hitters has ruined their ability to pull out games that are winnable. With a struggling Eddie Guardado on the mound, every hitter who came up tried to hit a home run, including Hideki Matsui, and why the hell is he doing that when you need 3 runs, not 2 (Home runs are rally killers, essentially in one swing of the bat you get all the remaining runs you will get in the inning with a HR). Soriano tried diligently to knock it out of Yankee Stadium, as did Nick Johnson. In the past, you'd see Paul O'Neill get a dinker, Jeter a dunker, Bernie a double, some random aging slugger come up and tie the game with a big hit, THEN the game-changing HR from a Knoblauch or a Brosius or somebody. Home runs were often big parts of Yankee wins of the past, but ONLY at appropriate times.

Game 1 Marlins/Giants...where I weep that Jason Schmidt, an Atlanta-bred product, pitches lights out while Russ Ortiz loads the bases with impunity. The Giants are such a tough team. They can beat anybody.