Let's jump right into things with my hometown team, the Los Angeles Dodgers:
Wears 13 and was ranked 13. Coincidence?
A lot of this lineup is health dependent, as it features two oft-injureds - Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramirez - in crucial spots. Incredibly expensive fourth outfielder Andre Ethier (he's making $13mm in 2014 and is under contract for three more years after that) is around in case Kemp's ankle/shoulder/something else flares up. Former top 30 prospect Dee Gordon and LA's newest Cuban import Erisbel Arruebarr(u)ena provide options at shortstop - although it's possible we might see one of them take over anyway with Ramirez shifting to 3B like he tried to do in Miami a couple of years ago. We might also see one of them try the shift to 2B if LA's next-most-recent Cuban import Alex Guerrero can't handle the position.
Josh Beckett is ostensibly healthy going into the spring, but his inconsistencies over the last four years prompted the Dodgers to pick up lefty Paul Maholm on the cheap as insurance, causing his fantasy rankings to plummet from 283 to 456 now that he's not guaranteed a rotation spot. But given the injury history of the Dodgers in general, I wouldn't be surprised if Maholm made more than a few starts this year. The bullpen looks downright scary with not two, but FOUR former closers backing up Kenley Jansen. In addition to Wilson and Howell listed above (who closed for the Giants and the Rays, respectively), the team also has Chris Perez (Indians) and Brandon League (Mariners), plus burgeoning youngsters Paco Rodriguez and Chris Withrow. I don't predict a lot of late leads slipping away from this squad.
I mentioned the competition swirling around Arizona's shortstop and bullpen in my intro to this Projected Lineups series, but the real story about this team is the Mark Trumbo experiment. Sure his right handed power bat will provide protection for Paul Goldschmidt in the lineup, but does he have what it takes to play the outfield every day? Gerardo Parra might just have enough range for both of them, but he's better suited in right field. I wouldn't be surprised if Cody Ross had a lot of late-inning replacements. On the pitching side, last year's stats would suggest a 5th starter spot battle between Brandon McCarthy and Randall Delgado, but seeing as McCarthy is both more expensive and a free agent after this season, it makes sense for the D-Backs to let him build up some value for a potential mid-season trade.
Remember when the Giants won two of the last four World Series titles? If things go right for them this year, they might be able to make another deep playoff run. The protection is there for Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, and Angel Pagan (if they can all turn out full healthy seasons), with Hunter Pence signed to a long-term contract and Brandon Belt developing into a very solid hitter. San Francisco also needs a return to form of their former star pitchers Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum, plus they're banking on Tim Hudson (left) (replacing his former Big Three teammate from Oakland, Barry Zito) and Ryan Vogelsong to recover quickly from injuries that ended their respective seasons last year. Everything has to go perfectly, but I could see this team having a good chance to compete.
Although they tied with the Giants last year, I would not say the same about the Padres' ability to compete, even if everything goes right. I know San Diego is a popular sleeper pick this year, and I do see a lot of upside in a rotation with two former aces that also share the last names of one of the country's most recognizable presidential tickets (Ian Kennedy and Josh Johnson). But I just can't get past that mess of an outfield. Will Venable is the only must-start of the bunch ever since he started hitting against both lefties and righties. Carlos Quentin has big power upside, but his injury history and sometimes troublesome temperament are red flags. Ditto Cameron Maybin, except add in defensive upside, and omit the thing about temperament. If manager Bud Black wanted to go with a platoon at a corner outfield spot (with Venable possibly shifting to center field), Seth Smith and Chris Denorfia fit the bill, but neither are very exciting players. I feel like the best scenario they can hope for in 2014 is that Chase Headley returns to his 2012 form and can fetch a good return via trade. Rumor has it the Yankees are looking for someone to play there...
Ouch. Just, ouch. This team is living, breathing proof that a couple of fantasy studs does not an effective major league roster make. Beyond CarGo and Tulo (and the occasional homer from Wilin Rosario), this team doesn't have much that shines out. And to make matters worse, both of their top two pitchers have joined the perpetually-hurt Brett Anderson in dealing with injury concerns. At least they have Boone Logan to get those tough lefties, though, am I right? Going back to the top of the order, I firmly believe that Drew Stubbs will win the centerfield/leadoff battle over Charlie Blackmon and Corey Dickerson. But a better course of action might have been to NOT try and re-create the 2009 Minnesota Twins by signing Justin Morneau, which would allow them to move Michael Cuddyer to 1B and let two of those promising young outfielders play. But hey, I'm just a guy with opinions on the internet...
Tune in next time, as we travel across the country and look at the biggest-spending division in the league!
I've decided to start with the AL West, not because my unabashed favorite team plays there, but because the Non-Roster Invitee dropdown menu starts with three teams from the division. Going in order of last year's standings, here's my projected lineup (with 2013 stats and pre-2014 rankings) for a team I've spent a lot of the off-season thinking about: the Oakland Athletics:
Coco Crisp just signed a decent extension, which at his age might lay the groundwork for him ending his career as an Athletic, which I for one would thrilled to see, given the energy he's provided at the top of their lineup these last four years. I know the prevailing statistical theory is to bat your best hitter in the 2 hole, and last year that was definitely Josh Donaldson, but I'm not so sure some regression towards the mean isn't in his future. Plus, I think Donaldson plays with a lot of emotion, and I think he gets a mental boost out of being the guy in the prototypical power spot. I think it's for the opposite side of that same reason (i.e. keeping the pressure off) that Bob Melvin keeps Yoenis Cespedes out of the cleanup spot. That and the splitting up lefties and righties, and the fact that Brandon Moss is no slouch himself, what with the 30 HR and .337 average last year.
You like to see John Jaso at catcher rather than DH to optimize his bat, but even if you completely disregard positional scarcity, Jaso is a very talented hitter who gets on base prolifically. Also if Tommy Milone indeed fails to make the rotation, having Derek Norris play regularly is the only way to justify the 2011 trade for Gio Gonzalez. I would personally have the offensively minded Alberto Callaspo spend most of the time at 2B with Eric Sogard serving as a frequent defensive replacement, but I have a feeling we're going to see more of a straight platoon.
With Ron Washington's penchant for putting power in the leadoff spot (cf. Ian Kinsler until he was traded this off-season) I don't think there's much chance new acquisition #1 Shin-Soo Choo moves from the top of the order. But however the Rangers organize their 1-5, this is an extremely formidable lineup. Then again, I thought the same thing when it was A-Rod, Rafael Palmeiro, Andres Galarraga, and Ken Caminiti instead of Adrian Beltre, Prince Fielder (new acquisition #2) and Alex Rios. 2001 taught us that you can't win without pitching, and without a healthy Derek Holland and possibly Matt Harrison to start the year, there might be a lot of spot starts for Nick Tepesch and Tommy Hanson. I guess it's not too late for Texas to sign Ervin Santana, but I hope it doesn't come to that...
Where's this year's splashy free agent signing from the Angels? Joe Smith is a very capable bullpen arm and Raul Ibanez might hit the occasional home run, but they're no Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols, or C.J. Wilson. Maybe Los Angeles (or is it Anaheim?) are taking the smarter, more subtle approach. They certainly are with Mike Trout's placement in the order, assuming he stays at #2 like he did last year. The MLB.com player preview certainly believes Pujols can stay healthy enough to play 1B, which would give relative unknown Kole Calhoun the chance to start in the outfield, since they pegged him with a ridiculously high ranking (in my opinion) for a player with just 247 MLB at-bats. Some people have also made some noise about Calhoun batting leadoff, but he would have to have an incredible spring for Mike Scioscia to trust him with that responsibility.
Seattle has one big new face and two rookies in high positions. Robinson Cano's monster 10-year free agent deal was undoubtedly the roster move news of the winter, but as I asked of the Rangers, do the Mariners have enough pitching to support their $240 million man? James Paxton and Taijuan Walker are two of the biggest names in pitching prospect-dom, and they performed very well in limited action last year. (Plus their buddy Danny Hultzen might join them in at some point in 2015 after he recovers from shoulder surgery.) But with Hisashi Iwakuma facing some injury issues (in addition to the dreaded regression towards the mean) and the built-in uncertainty with rookie pitchers, King Felix might have to rule a kingdom of one. Health is also a question for this team's next two big offensive acquisitions, Cory Hart and Logan Morrison. Both of whom are recovering from knee injuries, and with Franklin Gutierrez out for the year, one of them will be asked to play the outfield regularly.
The Astros have the hardest lineup to figure, but in a sense, they're also the team for which it matters the least. Moving unknowns like Robbie Grossman or spare parts like Jesus Guzman up or down in the batting order won't make the difference between 90 or 100 losses. The upside is that before too long we might see such talented prospects as George Springer (OF) and/or Jonathan Singleton (1B) take over and contribute before long. Going by the rankings on the pitching side, I must be missing something, because MLB has Dallas Keuchel (490, 20.8 ppg last year) ranked way above Jarred Cosart (624, 47.9 ppg and with more upside)... Unless the thing I'm missing is that Houston wants to keep the bigger prospect from hitting early arbitration by letting other folks start meaningless major league games. If so, then I am missing it no longer.
There you have it! Next time I will switch leagues but stay in the same geographical area for the NL West.
It's finally happening. After almost four long months without any baseball, all 30 teams have reported to their Spring Training camps (I'm looking at you, Colorado Rockies, the last team to have to show up) and start playing honest-to-goodness games tomorrow. Well, actually it's just the Yankees and the Tigers taking on a couple of college teams tomorrow, but the NEXT day, teams start playing honest-to-goodness games against each other. And that's a good enough reason for me to finalize my first 40-Man Rosters document of 2014. And in conjunction with this document, I will return to blogging with a series of posts outlining my take on what each team's lineup might look like.
I know that rosters aren't anywhere close to being finalized, as there are still some high-ish profile free agents out there (I'm looking at you, Ervin Santana, Stephen Drew, and Kendrys Morales). But if David Schoenfield at ESPN's SweetSpot blog can conjecture about starting lineups, I see no reason why I shouldn't give it a shot. But before getting into the lineups, I'd like to talk a little bit about the recent trends in fantasy rankings. Not a lot has changed since I first looked at MLB.com's Player Preview (which was, not coincidentally, the day they were released), but the movement of players up and down the hierarchy can tell us a lot about how the season might play out, even in the early going.
Here's a rudimentary chart of the top 30 players to show a statistically significant trend:
As you can see, the highest ranked player on this list - both in his old and new rank - is Matt Kemp, whose gimpy ankle will likely keep him from being ready for opening day in Australia... not that anyone is excited about the trip anyway. Kemp remains the team's #2 ranked outfielder - he was behind Cuban phenom Yasiel Puig either way - and while a change of 8 spots doesn't seem like much, it's a lot more telling when no one else around him changed at all. Depending on his health, Kemp is still a top 50 player, but this recent trend should give potential drafters pause. Cole Hamels, another high profile #2 (pitcher, behind Cliff Lee on the Phillies) dropped some ranks after it was revealed that shoulder troubles will keep him from starting on Opening Day. My prediction is that overall he'll do just fine pitching between Lee and newly acquired A.J. Burnett.
The top player to trend up is Nelson Cruz who just recently agreed to terms with the Orioles (although the deal has yet to be officially announced). My guess is that the gain of more than 20 ranks is due to the assumption that he was going to sign with the Mariners and play his home games at spacious Safeco field rather than the much more forgiving Camden Yards in Baltimore. Cruz's fellow new Oriole Ubaldo Jimenez actually LOST 10 ranks upon ending his 2014 Free Agency. I don't know if that also had anything to do with the park factors of his projected location vs. his actual location, but it seems curious nonetheless. Staying with Baltimore, projected closer Tommy Hunter got a bump of more than 40 ranks, presumably because the pundits believe that he'll have more opportunities to save games with a Cruz-enhanced offense.
I mentioned Seattle earlier as being linked to Nelson Cruz, and it seems like his signing elsewhere has affected the makeup of Seattle's outfield - that and the announcement that Franklin Gutierrez will sit out all of 2014 to nurse an ailing stomach. The two most likely candidates to take over center field, Dustin Ackley and Michael Saunders, both jumped nearly 30 ranks, although corner outfield/DH candidate Corey Hart dropped more than double that as his surgically repaired knee is still giving him some trouble. Barring a re-signing of Morales, look for Justin Smoak to start the season at 1B with Logan Morrison doing most of the DHing.
On the pitching side, Seattle's new closer Fernando Rodney jumped 20 spots in the rankings upon his signing, which pushed potential incumbent Danny Farquhar down a staggering 285 spots from 244 to 529, the largest difference not counting players who will miss all of 2014 due to injury (Cory Luebke) or voluntary choice (Ryan Dempster). Meanwhile, Seattle's top 2013 point scorer Hisashi Iwakuma lost nearly 50 ranks due to a finger issue. I personally think his new spot more accurately represents his value, as one terrific season shouldn't be enough to place anyone in the top 100.
It looks like there might be a battle for the closer's role in Arizona this year, based on the dramatic slide in rank of trade acquisition Addison Reed (who cost the Diamondbacks the 2013 Futures Game MVP Matt Davidson (-126 ranks), who is himself losing significant ground to Conor Gillaspie (+151) in the battle for the White Sox 3B job... but I digress). Reed's loss of 59 ranks coincides with J.J. Putz going up 47 and Brad Ziegler gaining 67. Neither setup man is within 200 ranks of the former White Sox closer, but it's surprising to see his bullpen mates gaining such significant ground. Another positional battle in the desert is taking place at shortstop, where incumbent Didi Gregorius is closing in on challenger Chris Owings. While the rankings still suggest that the job is Owings's to lose, what was once a 239 point gap (653 - 414) is now down to just 75 (545 - 470). Neither of these players are fantasy draftable at this stage, but it's an interesting competition between prospects to keep an eye on.
Jerry Crasnick recently wrote an article on ESPN's Spring Training blog entitled "Rangers' rotation one big jumble" and the rankings seem to reflect that opinion. Yu Darvish is solid at the top, but his #2 from last year, Derek Holland, will be out for most of the first half with a fluky knee injury, and fellow lefty Matt Harrison's back issues will likely keep him from being ready to start the season. None of the above pitchers moved at all in the rankings (ditto recently extended Martin Perez), but the same cannot be said of the placeholders behind them. The rankers seem to see a lot of upside in Alexi Ogando's move back to the rotation (he jumped more than 100 spots to be the team's clear number 2 starter), but the drops of 2013 spot starter Nick Tepesch (-59) and new acquisition Tommy Hanson (-97) do not bode well for the bottom 3/5ths of Texas's rotation. The jump in Neftali Feliz's value (along with the corresponding drop in Joakim Soria's) reflects the former starter turned closer turned starter's return to the 9th inning role.
I hope these findings help some fantasy players avoid some downwardly trending pitfalls and/or draft some upwardly trending sleepers. Now if you'll excuse me it's time to bury my head in some rosters and analysis until I have some lineups ready to post!
If it wasn't clear enough already that the completion of the Super Bowl signals the unofficial start of the baseball season, MLB.com on Monday released its 2014 Player Preview. This comprehensive list ranks more than 850 players who can be expected to contribute to a major league team in some way. Needless to say, as soon as the list was released, I was hard at work crunching these numbers with an eye toward maximizing the value in my upcoming fantasy draft, since at the end of the day, these rankings really cater to fantasy managers. (At least I hope no real life general managers have to rely on them for player evaluation...) Based on my first run through the data, here's a preliminary position-by-position breakdown of how I will try to fill my roster come draft day.
But before we get into the actual positions, let's go over the top-ranked players overall. When making your first round pick in the draft, you generally want to grab whichever top 10 (or 12) player is available without worrying too much about positional scarcity. It's in the later rounds where you have to look more carefully at what's out there, what positions you need, and how you can get the most value in those picks. So firstly, here's a look at the "ideal" fantasy lineup, consisting of the top-ranked player in each position.
On a side note, this will likely be very similar to my first user-generated lineup on MLB 14: The Show, at least until I get a feel for the controls and all that. That will be followed by an All-Acquired team for each league (the AL squad being headlined by Robinson Cano, the only player on this best-of chart to have changed teams in the off-season), then Divisional All-Stars, and finally Astrology teams, if I'm feeling bold. But moving back to the chart, I've done two things for the sake of comparison. On the left side of the chart, I've put each player's 2014 ranking next to his 2013 ranking as of Opening Day (in italics to avoid confusion). On the right side, I've put each player's actual 2013 points (in bold) next to ESPN Fantasy's projected points for 2014.
Starting on the left side, a couple trends are evident at first glance. One is that things at the very top haven't changed much since last year: Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera are still firmly entrenched as the most talented players in the sport, with three other members of last year's top ten remaining in the top ten. Another is that pitchers have taken a significant jump forward in draftability from last year. The recently richly rewarded Clayton Kershaw was the top-ranked pitcher both years, but this time around he's squarely in the top ten, while his 2013 rank (21) would have placed him FOURTH among all pitchers in 2014.
But after the top guys are off the board, who should you go for first (aside from NOT catchers)? To try to shed some light on this problem, I looked at the top potential starters at each position and did a little averaging. For the infield positions, of which there are usually only one spot per team, I looked at the top 30 players, one for each Major League team, as opposed to one for each team in the typical fantasy league (10 to 12). For outfielders, I took the top 90, with a special insert for the top 30 center fielders, as I know some leagues differentiate between them and the corner spots (as they should, in my opinion). I modeled the sample size of pitchers after the info given in the Sports Illustrated Baseball Preview issues in recent years: five starting pitchers (for a total of 150, with inserts for five groups of 30) and two relievers.
So without further ado, here's a breakdown of the baseball positions organized by draftability. Analysis to come later:
1. Outfield
Average Rank: 184.5
Median Rank: 194 (Michael Brantley)
Range: 1 - 369 (90 players)
2. First Base
Average Rank: 190.3
Median Rank: 221 (Brandon Moss)
Range: 3 - 427 (30 players)
3. Shortstop
Average Rank: 227.9
Median Rank: 222 (Andrelton Simmons*)
Range: 13 - 472 (30 players)
4. Second Base
Average Rank: 232.5
Median Rank: 218 (Chase Utley)
Range: 7 - 502 (30 players)
5. Third Base
Average Rank: 236.3
Median Rank: 245 (Todd Frazier)
Range: 2 - 547 (30 players)
6. Starting Pitcher
Average Rank: 250.0
Median Rank: 241 (Travis Wood)
Range: 6 - 510 (150 players)
7. Relief Pitcher
Average Rank: 272.1
Median Rank: 257 (Huston Street*)
Range: 42 - 473 (60 players)
8. Catcher
Average Rank: 295.5
Median Rank: 340 (Russell Martin)
Range: 53 - 500 (30 players)
First of all, outfielders are a little tricky because they comprise three distinct roster spots, but since they are all three taken from the same player pool, I grouped them all together above. But suppose you wanted to look at each outfield spot individually, ordering them by total rank, we can do that too:
1a. OF1
Average Rank: 44.4
Median Rank: 40 (Jose Bautista)
Range: 1 - 102 (30 players)
1b. OF2
Average Rank: 189.7
Median Rank: 194 (Michael Brantley, you guessed it)
Range: 103 - 263 (30 players)
1c. OF3
Average Rank: 319.4
Median Rank: 318 (David Murphy)
Range: 272 - 369 (30 players)
A pretty consistent distribution: the gap between the median overall rank and the median top 3rd rank is 140, while the gap between the overall and bottom 3rd is 135. What these a, b, and c numbers should tell us is that your first outfielder should absolutely be a top priority - no surprise given that four of the top ten players are outfielders. Also, to speak to another point, three of those top four are center fielders, a position with a better average ranking than all outfielders taken as a whole (171.3), albeit with a much smaller sample size.
Again, keep in mind that these ranks deal with the depth of the real Major Leagues rather than the depth of a fantasy league (it's hard to imagine a fantasy player being content with Michael Brantley or David Murphy on their opening day squad), but I think it's important to keep track of the bigger picture.
It makes sense that first base is next, given that it's the easiest position to master defensively, leaving the door open for offensively-minded players, and good shortstops generally have a lot of value for the exact opposite reason (i.e. positional scarcity). But the rest of the infield and the entire starting pitcher category are grouped fairly close together. Perhaps we can get into more detail if we break down the starters from 1-5:
6a. SP1
Average Rank: 65.8
Median Rank: 64 (Anibal Sanchez)
Range: 6 - 119 (30 players)
6b. SP2
Average Rank: 156.8
Median Rank: 158 (John Lackey)
Range: 122 - 189 (30 players)
6c. SP3
Average Rank: 241.2
Median Rank: 241 (Travis Wood, sensing a theme?)
Range: 190 - 297 (30 players)
6d. SP4
Average Rank: 341.1
Median Rank: 333 (Trevor Cahill)
Range: 301 - 389 (30 players)
6e. SP5
Average Rank: 445.1
Median Rank: 444 (Jake Arrieta*)
Range: 392 - 510 (30 players)
This breakdown seems to suggest that your staff ace should be your next priority after a slugging everyday outfielder to build your team around. And why not, after all? Based on the huge numbers put up by the top pitchers each year, I've been a big proponent of making my second overall pick a pitcher, even when they were ranked in the 20's rather than the teens. I'm not sure if the system scales properly as we go down the starting rotation, because there's no way I'm taking my second pitcher before a top tier first baseman. But then again, maybe I should be... I mean, the numbers are there, right?
Just to finish it off, here's the breakdown of the two reliever spots, just so we can insure that every roster spot (except DH) gets a blurb:
7a. RP1
Average Rank: 148.4
Median Rank: 134 (Addison Reed)
Range: 42 - 257 (30 players)
7b. RP2
Average Rank: 395.7
Median Rank: 398 (Luke Gregerson*)
Range: 273 - 473 (30 players)
Look, obviously any set of data as vast and complex as fantasy rankings requires more than a cursory look through the numbers before any conclusions can be drawn, and the rankings are changing every day. But luckily, we still have a couple months until the baseball season gets started in earnest. Let the statistical geekiness commence!
As anyone who pays attention to the dueling statistics of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs knows, a big part of evaluation in baseball is the concept of a replacement level player, the hypothetical average minor leaguer against whom all other players can be measured. At this point in the season, teams generally amass a stockpile of guys, most of whom profile as replacement level players, in the form of non-roster invitees. These are either players signed to minor league deals trying to earn a roster spot with their play in Arizona and Florida or top prospects getting their first action playing with big leaguers.
Teams have been sporadically announcing their list of NRI's and I've been more than sporadically keeping track of these announcements. I specifically noticed that the Yankees announced which 26 players they're inviting to spring training because last year New York brought a whopping 43 players to camp, more than would fit on a single page of a standard Excel spreadsheet. Of course, there are still two weeks until pitchers and catchers report to spring training for them to hand out more invitations to new signees or members of their organization, but for now, here is a much more manageable list of this year's invitees with some accompanying information.
Let's start with the far left-hand column, noting rankings on MLB.com's list of 100 prospects. Note that there's only one: outfielder Mason Williams (not to be confused with the composer responsible for the soft 70's pop tune Classical Gas). He didn't put up great offensive numbers mostly for the class A advanced Tampa Yankees in the Florida State League, but according to MLB's Bernie Pleskoff, his defense is his best tool currently. It's a lock that Williams won't make the big league roster out of spring training at age 22, both because he still needs some minor league seasoning and because New York's outfield is chock full of more experienced and more expensive options.
Moving to the right, a green highlight in the Position column denotes whether the player was a rookie in 2013, while a yellow highlight in the names column represents a player signed during the off-season. Obviously only a handful of players on this list saw big league action last year (as is normally the case), which is why I included minor league stats as well. Of the 2013 major leaguers, the most interesting might be Scott Sizemore (pictured above), not just because he played for the A's, but because of what's going on with New York's third base situation given Alex Rodriguez's suspension. If the former Detroit prospect can stay healthy (his two games in 2013 constituted his only action since 2011), he could pick up a bunch of playing time as new infield additions Kelly Johnson and Brendan Ryan have only 45 games at 3B between them.
Honestly, looking at this list, I'm finding it not that impressive. The highest offensive output came from catcher/infielder Peter O'Brien, and he played in a couple of pretty low levels of the minors. None of these pitchers will likely compete for a rotation spot, as only one of them (Bruce Billings, signed away from the Oakland organization) was a full time starter last year. It's just nice to grab onto anything remotely interesting that's happening in the baseball world in the dark winter months.
In other news, both active players named ChadTracy signed minor league contracts today. Isn't that something?
I can't believe it's been almost two months since my last activity on this blog, but anyone who's checked out my YouTube page recently should have a good idea of what I've been up to during that time. That's right, my Movie Scores Power Hour is now online and ready to view! Unlike my previous effort - chronicling some of the best moments in Batman: The Animated Series - this one needs only the audio to fulfill its function. The video portion, while not entirely necessary, includes provides useful information about each minute-long clip - title, year, director and composer of the movie from which it was taken, along with a piece of key art (i.e. a poster) and a screenshot or two. Below is the full video for your viewing / listening enjoyment:
Rather than go through clip by clip, as I did in my multipart companion to the Batman: TAS Power Hour, I'll just give some overall thoughts and bits of clarifying information that will hopefully make the experience more enjoyable (and thus drive up views). First, here's a leaderboard of composers who appear on the list more than once. Please keep in mind that while I think I got a great deal of the most iconic scores in film history, this was by no means meant to be an objective "best of" list - there's no such thing as a creative work that's completely separate from its creator, and my personal preferences often and proudly come to the fore throughout this hour.
John Williams - 11
Hans Zimmer - 4
Howard Shore - 4
Bernard Herrmann - 3
Jerry Goldsmith - 3
Nino Rota - 3
Elmer Bernstein - 2
Ennio Morricone - 2
James Horner - 2
Randy Edelman - 2
That's right, a whopping ELEVEN (this one goes to 11) clips from the modern day master of film music John Williams. And what's more, six of those eleven are paired with director Steven Spielberg. (No wonder two of those pairings show up in the top 10.) Fittingly, Mr. Williams is represented in the leadoff track, the opening title from the original Star Wars, for a long time my favorite movie and still my favorite film score (when taken over over the whole trilogy). My second favorite score appears all throughout this power hour as the cue to drink / introduce the next clip. I'm a sucker for a good leitmotif, and the different themes that Howard Shore crafted for the Lord of the Rings trilogy perfectly set the tone for a deep fantasy universe. In fact, three of his four appearances in this power hour are Middle Earth related, which happen to mark the halfway point.
Before we reach that milestone, however, we hear all four entries from Hans Zimmer, a composer who is as prolific as he is bombastic. The placement of Zimmer's contributions highlights the "block" structure around which I formatted this power hour. We hear from him first in the "superhero block" where his collaboration with James Newton Howard on The Dark Knight is contrasted directly with Danny Elfman's seminal theme from 1989's Batman. (The relatively short block is finished off by the Superman theme by, who else, John Williams.) Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard (the power hour's only female contributor) then start off the "epic/war movie block" with Gladiator. This block goes in chronological order going by subject matter, featuring the Roman Empire, 13th century Scotland, the American Civil War, World War I, and three entries from World War II. This block segues flawlessly into the "music you've heard in every trailer ever" block, starting with Zimmer's unforgettable Crimson Tide theme followed by Randy Edelman's ubiquitous Dragonheart (see if you don't have an "oh, THAT one!" reaction halfway through, and ending with Clint Mansell's haunting orchestral anthem (played by the Kronos Quartet, yes like the winter storm) for Requiem for a Dream. (Remember the trailer for Two Towers? Are you getting the LotR theme?)
I haven't seen Hans Zimmer's score for Inception (his second collaboration with Christopher Nolan on this power hour) show up in any trailers yet; even though it definitely has the proper triumphant epic tense feel, it might just be too recognizable on its own. As we head towards the halfway point, I tried to stick with the triumphant theme, grouping a couple of inspiring sports movies (the third sports-related film, the unmistakable and used-everywhere Chariots of Fire, earned a spot in the top 10) with a couple of inspiring John Williams scores based on space (including the second track from a Star Wars film). The halfway point is marked by repeats, as we see the second appearance of The Godfather - the haunting opening waltz is easily a top 10 track, but the melodious love theme is a distinct motif that also merits consideration. (Andy Williams's version also serves as a warning not to attempt to transform movie scores into pop ballads by adding lyrics. Don't listen unless you want your impressions of this great piece of music forever shaken...)
After the aforementioned trip to Middle Earth (with a detour to Hogwarts, making it a true "fantasy block"), we get the "Hitchcock block" made up of two of the three collaborations between the master of suspense and composer Bernard Herrmann that are featured in this power hour. The first of the three - the revolutionary staccato strings from Psycho - occurs in the top 10 as it's just too genre-defining to relegate to the second half. A bit of trivia that I have to mention every time I talk about Psycho (and stop me if you've heard this before) is that Hitchcock originally wanted the shower scene to play without any music at all. But that was before Herrmann showed the director what he was cooking up.
Next, the "western block" segues into the "Italian block" - one of the two Sergio Leone-directed / Ennio Morricone-scored "spaghetti westerns" in the hour appears here, the other (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) absolutely merited top 10 honors. Then we're back into scary movie land, where John Williams also makes an appearance with the driving strings of Jaws, followed by the score John Carpenter wrote for his own movie Halloween, and Jerry Goldsmith's extensively researched inversion of a high mass for The Omen. I actually lost some sleep over editing this clip, not because I was anxious about getting it just right, but because it would get in my head and I would be too scared to drift off.
Now a few clips from here is where I made the only glaring mistake in play order that I would like to have back. I got into some noir with Chinatown (also Jerry Goldsmith) and The Third Man (same lead actors as Citizen Kane, but with a much more fun musical theme), it would make perfect sense to go right to another dark story like On the Waterfront before starting to inject some fun as we head into the final 10, but instead I broke the tension with the jaunty Adventures of Robin Hood (which, at 1938, is the oldest film on the list, beating Gone With the Wind by one year). But like the weavers of Persian rugs who purposely included an imperfection because no one should be perfect but Allah, so I will graciously endure my error.
After a track from Titanic gets us back in the excited and hopeful mood (the addition of that movie was the biggest note I received from my fiancee / executive producer upon screening the first cut for her), we enter the final stretch by getting into some more groovy tracks from the 60's (The Pink Panther), 70's (Enter the Dragon, written by Mission: Impossible! composer Lalo Schiffrin), and 80's (Ghostbusters, which I know is not technically part of the score, but if it's in the movie, it's fair game [cf. the next track MORTAL KOMBAT]). In the final five is the only track from the 2013 movie season, Pacific Rim, which I included because, although I haven't heard many of the Oscar-nominated scores, I can't imagine any of them being more fun than Ramin Djawadi's (Game of Thrones, anyone?) heroic rock anthem.
A double dose of John Williams ends the hour, including the third track from the Star Wars series and the second track from Jurassic Park. Some might question the inclusion of two tracks from the same movie when so many great scores and composers went unrepresented (an unfortunate side effect when working in a 60-song format). But first of all, it's a distinct musical theme, and second of all, I've spent hours of his life waiting in line at Universal Studios listening to this particular riff on repeat, and I couldn't think of a better backdrop for a roll of credits of any kind.
So there you have it: a few words to supplement a few of my favorite movie scores of all time, arranged in a fun and interesting way. Watch it a few times and then tell all your friends! Enjoy!!!
One thing I'm thankful for: the Rule 5 Draft. Every December, MLB holds this event, a rare occasion where each team gets the chance to unabashedly pilfer talent from the organizations of their competitors. However, there are a couple of important stipulations: 1) Any player taken in the Rule 5 Draft has to remain on his new team's active (i.e. 25-man) roster for the entirety of the upcoming season or risk being returned to his original team. 2) Only players NOT on a team's expanded (i.e. 40-man) roster are eligible to be drafted in the proceedings. It's this second stipulation that led to more than 100 players being added to their team's respective 40-man rosters prior to last week's November 20 deadline to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft.
Naturally my heart was all aflutter with all these roster moves, even though there was not a household name in the bunch. The closest thing to a recognizable player is Cardinals AAA CF Oscar Taveras, Baseball America's #3 ranked prospect going into 2013, but who had his 2013 season with the Memphis Redbirds marred by a high ankle sprain (628 points, 13.4 points per game). But there are some very impressive talents on this list of players who figure either to be part of their respective teams' immediate of long-term plans. Here they are, arranged by position in graphical depth chart format:
Let's start with the highest-scoring player (in terms of minor league stats, of course) both because he scored the most points and to address any possible confusion. The confusion of the type blovy8 experienced when he noted in the MLB Trade Rumors comments section: "The odds are against you whenever you try a link to Michael Taylor." This refers to the fact that the link in the article leads not to Michael Anthony Taylor, the Nationals farmhand who got called up last week, but to Michael D. Taylor, major leaguer for the Oakland Athletics in 2013. The Michael Taylor in question was drafted in the 6th round by Washington out of Ft. Lauderdale FL in 2009, the same year as the other Michael Taylor was involved in the flurry of moves involving Matt Holliday and the A's. Playing exclusively for the Potomac Nationals, the fast A or A+ league in the Washington organization, our Taylor showcased a combination of speed on the basepaths (51 SB) and doubles power (41 2B), which means he profiles as a traditional leadoff hitter who could make a push to make Denard Span expendable before his 2015 contract option comes due.
Next on the list in terms of raw points is Colorado's class A SS Rosell Herrera, a 21-year-old switch hitter from the Dominican Republic. I know the South Atlantic League is on the lower end of the minor league skill spectrum, but putting up a .343/.419/.515 slash line (.933 OPS) before you're allowed to drink is impressive at any level. I would bat him second in front of Ji-Man Choi, 1B who played all over the Mariners system last year. Although he didn't score as many fantasy points as Boston's plate discipline expert Garin Cecchini (95 BB to 86 K between A+ and AA in 2013) to the former San Diego contact hitting specialist Dean Anna (he and his .331 AVG were traded to the Yankees on the Rule 5 protection deadline, which makes him not your typical November call-up), Choi bats left handed and displays the combination of power (18 HR in 122 games) and bat control (.295 AVG) you'd like to see in a typical number 3 hitter. Plus he contributes to the international flavor of this lineup.
For pure cleanup hitter power, you have to go with Tulsa Drillers LF Kyle Parker in the Colorado organization. His 23 HR (most among the players called up) and .288 AVG form a good statistical base for the former 1st round pick (in 2010 out of Kentucky). Across the outfield and next in the order, I'd put Mississipian lefty Carlos Moncrief, who showed a decent power/speed combination (17 HR, 15 SB) to go along with an .824 OPS for Cleveland's Akron Aeroes in AA. Michael Oelman, Baltimore's closest internal option to replace Matt Wieters behind the plate, outslugged Yankees #1 prospect (according to MLB.com) Gary Sanchez at the A+ level. In other offensive news, since the deadline in question, RF runner-up Randal Grichuk has been traded to the Cardinals in the Peter Bourjos-David Freese deal.
The most impressive pitcher, statistics wise, has to be Kendry Flores, another young Dominican (he'll be age 22 in 2014) who most recently played exclusively at class A. In his 22 starts last year, Flores posted a not quite Cliff Lee-esque, but still very impressive 8.06 K/BB ratio (137 K's to only 17 walks) with a WHIP under 1 (0.918). In an ironic twist, Kyle Lobstein, the next-best 2013 pitcher to be protected from this year's Rule 5 Draft was acquired by the Tigers from the Rays in LAST year's Rule 5 Draft. Although Lobstein wasn't kept on Detroit's 25-man roster last year (he made almost as many starts in AA as in AAA), the two clubs worked out a trade to allow the former 2nd round pick from Flagstaff AZ to stay in the motor city. Oakland's Raul Alcantara actually scored a couple more points per game than Lobstein, but he also pitched in lower levels (A and A+) albeit with a much improved 3.11 combined ERA compared to the 5.09 he posted in 2012, his first year since being acquired in the Josh Reddick-Andrew Bailey trade.
This team's number 4 starter is one whose name I'll bet Houston broadcasters are practically salivating over trying to pronounce: Asher Wojciechowski. I'm sure the Elias Sports Bureau has a file on this, but I'd be willing to bet that the former 1st round pick by Toronto has to be in the running for the curviest name on the back of his jersey award. Anthony Ranaudo, another former 1st round pick who dominated in both AA and AAA, rounds out the rotation. He represent's Boston's second player on this chart, tying Colorado, Cleveland, Detroit, and Tampa Bay for the most of any team represented. In the bullpen, AA closer Jeff Walters, the only representative from the Mets organization, is the most impressive, but as I've heard and agreed with many times before, these stats are unfairly inflated by saves and a pitching position whose top performers averaged just under 60 innings last season can't be as valuable as those who averaged more than 150 innings.
I know we're still months away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training, but it's never too early to get a head start on analyzing your favorite team's 40-man roster. I for one am looking forward to being fully informed the next time a top contract is selected for any major league roster. Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the offseason!
But just because I'm overly critical of the ending, doesn't mean I didn't thoroughly enjoy playing most of Arkham Origins. A friend of mine described the game as "standing on the shoulders of giants, but not doing much more than that," and while I agree with that statement, it's always fun to cavort around Gotham City as Batman. And there were actually some elements of this game that I enjoyed more than the previous installments, such as the much more detailed and involved leveling up system and the extremely impressive crime scene investigation feature. And I will say that the side missions are arranged in such a way that it's actually fun to wander around the city completing them rather than it feeling like a chore. And I was a fan of the shock gloves in particular, even if it made Batman's hands and forearms look even more bulky and Gears of War-ish.
Now here's what I didn't like about the Origins experience. Number 1 has to be the bugginess. I know that with a map roughly three times the size of Arkham City, you should expect a fair amount of open world jank. But when such programming limitations keep you from actually completing the objectives of the game - such as in the above video of me trying desperately to interrogate an Enigma data handler - that's out of the realm of acceptability. Also, what is up with him being called Enigma instead of Riddler? Granted I'm assuming the name change comes after collecting all the datapacks and destroying all the relays (I'll get around to completing those missions after I finish playing my buddy's copy of Bioshock Infinite, which I temporarily traded for my copy of The Last of Us), but I struggle to see how that trope could possibly add anything to the villain's character. In my opinion, it's much more interesting when he simply introduces himself as The Riddler.
Firefly was one of the assassins in the main story mode.
My other main beef was with the story, particularly the extremely convenient side effect of Venom that it permanently damages its user's memory. This is far too perfect a deus ex machina to deal with the fact that in this universe, much like Christopher Nolan's, Bane knows Batman's secret identity. It's just a damn good thing he didn't get around to telling his army of mercenaries before he perma-fragged his brain with his ultra-steroids. And what's the significance of having eight assassins? Since it was Christmas themed, they could have at least gone with 12, like in the song. And why were some of them integral to the main story while others were relegated to optional side missions? And if the assassins were the focal point of the story, why were there other optional side missions involving non-assassin villains? The whole effort just seemed stilted and disjointed to me.
But again, despite all my railing against the shortcomings of this game, I will return to it to eventually finish all the side missions and hopefully level up to capacity (although I'm not sure I will be able to complete some of the Dark Knight Challenges seeing as "predator rooms" are rather scarce what with the story mode completed and all). And it's not just the completionist compulsion I feel that will bring me back - I legitimately enjoy the gameplay and the fun of exploring the city, even if the snow and the few strands of lights here and there fall somewhat short of the Christmasy ambience I was hoping for. But perhaps the main reason I will enjoy going back for more is that I will get to wear the batsuit from the classic 1960s TV show, which I earned for preordering a copy of the game for PS3. It's just too bad they didn't include a hot pants Robin skin as well...
As I was tying up Copperhead and locking her into a shipping container to await the arrival of the police, she plead with me to let her go in exchange for the location of where Joker was holding his meeting with all the remaining assassins. However, since Electrocutioner was still at large, the unique electromagnetic signal produced by his gloves would lead me right to the lot of them. At the risk of sounding like a reality TV ingenue, everything happens for a reason: I gaffed and forgot to adequately secure an unconscious supervillain, but his freedom made it easier for me to accomplish my new objectives. It wasn't, however, a mistake I would make again.
The signal from the gloves led me to the historic Royal Hotel, outside of which there was an entire squad of heavily armed SWAT Officers guarding the front entrance. At first this seemed like too tall an order, even for me, and began to search for an alternate route. But then I remembered what happens in the main menu sequence if you wait around long enough before pressing start - a thrilling scene of me jumping directly in front of a couple of armed thugs and escaping without a scratch. [Another thing that happens in the main menu is that Christopher Drake's evocative musical score integrates Carol of the Bells into the main theme for an extra-Christmasy feel, but that's not totally relevant here.] So I used the disruptor on two of the outlying officers, threw a smoke bomb, and jumped right in. It wasn't my most graceful encounter - the fight involved mostly mindless evading and a whole lot of quickfire Batarangs - but I came out on top in the end... only to find that the front door was locked anyway. I guess you can't believe everything you see in an opening title sequence.
I eventually found my way into the hotel lobby via the underground parking structure. I rode an elevator - featuring some Christmas-themed elevator music, which was not as cool as if it had been James Bond-themed, like in GoldenEye - up into the lobby, which was being patrolled by a group of thugs that had been converted from Black Mask's service into the Joker's. By the way, when I mentioned that Roman Sionis was Italian, it was not just based on his given name (Rome is the capital of Italy after all), but also on hearing his henchmen refer to each other as "paesan" and use the exclamation "madon" - as in "Madon, that Vicki Vale is hot. What I'd like to do to her..." It was rather frustrating taking them all out, not because they posed a particularly difficult threat, but because I was at the point in my Dark Knight Challenge progression where I had to perform four "exotic" takedowns - vent, corner, explosive gel, and hanging ledge - and no matter where I stood on the ledge directly above my last opponent, the takedown prompt just wouldn't come up. I guess that Sonic Shock Batarang is nothing more than a pipe dream.
After receiving an A grade for clearing the room, despite missing out on that fourth elusive takedown, I was rewarded with the object of my search in a most shocking fashion. The Electrocutioner himself crashed through the skylight and landed with a dull thud, following an exchange that almost certainly involved the Joker revealing himself as the man behind the (Black) Mask to the three remaining assassins and pushing poor Buchinsky out of the penthouse window. (I can only assume this is how it went down, since I wasn't there after all...) I never like to see anyone full-on die, but like the Native Americans before me, I didn't let any part of him go to waste, as I scavenged his extra cool shock gloves. Good thing I did too, because as I made my way up to the penthouse, I found that Joker had converted the hotel into his own personalized death trap, including setting up a twisted Simon Says-esque game that I was forced to play in order to save an innocent victim's life, and decking out the ballroom with twisted amusement park funhouse roller coaster rides. He certainly wasted no time in establishing his own unique dramatic style.
Upon reaching the penthouse, I found to my horror that the Joker had rigged buildings all over the city with explosives, with all the detonators set up in a row right here in the room. I watched helplessly as the Clown Prince of Crime blew up a building right in front of me, the explosion visible through the frosted window of the penthouse. Thankfully it was only an empty construction site - he was only making a point with that one, but I knew I had to stop him before he could take any lives. I easily overpowered him physically (pictured) and got a couple of good punches in, when I found to my annoyance, that the mercenary known as Bane had stuck around to act as the Joker's personal bodyguard. Bane proved himself the most cerebral of the assassins, assuming (correctly) that I would make my way to Joker, whereupon the giant of a man would be lying in wait. This incarnation of Bane drew more from The Dark Knight Rises than from the Animated Series, seeing as he had a host of mercenaries at his call and that he began our encounter wearing a stupid jacket - but at least it wasn't furry and at least his mask didn't cover his mouth, making him at least semi-understandable.
We exchanged our first few punches to the strains of Rossini's overture to The Thieving Magpie (shades of A Clockwork Orange), but when the fight brought us outside onto the landing, Bane stripped off his jacket and activated his supply of Venom, the supersteroid that somehow amplifies both his skeletal and muscular structure. At this point, he didn't approach the size and strength he would attain in our Arkham Asylum fight - perhaps the Venom had been building up in his system all that time, causing a more massive reaction to the drug - but he was still by far the most formidable opponent I had ever faced. When he got into a Venom-induced rage, he would charge over and over again, forcing me to madly dodge out of the way each time. Not even a Batarang to the face would slow him down (funny how he would become MORE susceptible to that trick later in his career) and God forbid I happened to dodge anywhere near a corner, because he would turn on a dime and hit me three or four times without fail. Thankfully, since he was not quite as superhuman in size as he would eventually become, I was able to straight up counter some of his attacks and use combat takedowns to damage his Venom pack, but no matter how many times I did so, there was always some left in the tank for him to utilize. Plus there was the usual influx of Joker's thugs to worry about.
All through my sojourn through the hotel, Alfred was in my ear about calling Captain Gordon to help me with the fight against Bane. I was of course against it, being in the lone wolf stage of my character development, but towards the end of that fight I was glad that Alfred made the anonymous call against my wishes. Just as I thought I could take no more punishment, two helicopters appeared out of the sky and opened fire chasing Bane into a helicopter of his own, manned by his mercenary crew. Unfortunately Joker's men returned fire and sent the police helicopters into a tailspin, and then Bane returned fire on us - with a rocket launcher, no less - blowing the Joker clean off the ledge of the hotel and into a deadly free fall. Staying true to my character, the only thing I could do in response was to leap after him and try desperately to save my new arch enemy...
Upon emerging from the sewers I encountered a singing telegram of sorts delivered by three rabbit mask-wearing goons, delivering a message from someone called the Hatter. As they concluded their rhyme, just as I was about to engage in this "Very Low Threat" encounter, their masks began to spark and they fell unconscious. I saw how tonight was going - lots of distractions that didn't seem to impact my main objectives whether I went after them or not - and since I knew of a suspicious looking hat shop just across the street from the Gotham Merchant's Bank in the Burnley district, I decided to indulge in a little side quest. Inside the shop, to no great surprise, I encountered a little man dressed as the Mad Hatter from Lewis Carroll's classic tale who had kidnapped some poor blond number and dressed her up as Alice from the same story. He was using some form of extremely potent mind control to keep her from resisting, but whatever he set loose on me was even more potent, transporting my mind into a psychedelic Alice in Wonderland themed platforming adventure.
Even though this character's nefarious kidnapping and cosplay obsession presumably weren't part of Black Mask's plan with the assassins, I could see how this fellow, no matter meek he might appear, could be a very effective contract killer, what with his ability to control minds and all. MY mind, however, was too strong for him and I was able to navigate his mental obstacles and rescue the girl by use of the Reverse Batarang, a tactic that would become useful years later when Ra's al Ghul held his daughter Talia at knifepoint after our battle at his Lazarus Pit in Arkham City. But unlike Talia, this Alice lookalike, once rescued, did NOT maintain her composure - she just kept crying and wailing despite all my reassuring words, showing absolutely no gratitude for the fact that I had just saved her life. I thought this town must really be going downhill if even the hostages have no class...
After taking care of business at the hat shop, I crossed the street with just enough time to stop Joker from accessing Roman Sionis's funds in the bank. Only when I entered the vault, it looked like Sionis's alter ego Black Mask had everything under control... that is until I saw the real (i.e. unmasked) Roman Sionis brought out in handcuffs and beat senseless by whoever had donned his trademark outfit. I knew who it was even before the madman took off the mask and revealed, for the first time, his pale white skin, green hair, and ghastly painted on grin: The Joker. It seems it wasn't enough for him just to steal the money, he had also administered a deadly toxic laughing gas to the Bank Manager, who died with her face in a hideous grin that still haunts me to this day. Oh, and he also blew up the vault, giving me just enough time to dive to (relative) safety - as safe as a bank lobby filled with armed thugs could possibly be. Which for me is actually pretty safe.
After dispatching with the thugs and exiting the bank, I ran into (you guessed it) another distraction. This one was an unattended baby carriage placed in the road by Shiva, not the Fantasy Football trophy, but a little-known ninja sword expert of Asian descent. I chased her around the city a little before heading to Sionis's former Steel Mill because I knew the vital experience I would gain by defeating someone of her caliber would aid me not only in this quest, but in quests for years to come. [A metagame note here: the Critical Strikes upgrade unlocked by defeating Shiva is frequently the very first upgrade I purchase when playing Arkham Asylum (and believe me, there have been enough times to gather a considerable sample size). The fact that it's not available until so late in the game suggests that Batman somehow learned this extremely useful move during first encounter with Shiva, which is an effective use of the "your enemies define you" flavor.]
I fought my way through the Steel Mill, gathering an important piece of information in the process: Roman Sionis had a pacemaker installed due to the very real Long QT Syndrome. This fact was referenced before when I "reconstructed" the crime scene at Lacey Towers (when Penguin was nosing around the crime scene before the police got to it, he was visibly distressed at not finding a pacemaker scar on the body of the Black Mask decoy shot by Joker), but since it seemed out of place to see it then anyway, I just pretended that it was a bit of new information I got through hacking Black Mask's computer. After taking out an armored enforcer - a big mini-boss type character that makes me feel more like I'm playing Streets of Rage 2 than Arkham City - and clearing out a group of Joker's henchmen from the secret underground drug lab for which the Steel Mill was merely a front, I found the Italian gangster bound up in his office.I freed the poor bastard and was about to get into some world class interrogating, when I was suddenly ambushed and poisoned by another dextrous female assassin known as Copperhead.
The snake-inspired killer (just take a look at that tongue) had a deadly bite, but thankfully I was able to analyze the scene enough to find a sample of her poison, scan it, and send details to Alfred in the Batcave. He quickly formulated an antidote and sent it to me in the Batwing for an airdrop, but the catch was I had to make it up to ground level to reach the canister. On the way up, the poison caused some traumatic hallucinations, including one of Alfred being very mean to me, and haunting visions of two people I had failed to save that night: Commissioner Loeb and the still-grinning Bank Manager. I also had to do some hand-to-hand combat with Copperhead while doped up on poison, which gave the illusion that there were multiple copies of her (again, think back to the desert-based hallucinations of Ra's al Ghul brought on by drinking the Lazarus chemical in Arkham City). After a few tries (those hallucinations do make things a bit more forgiving) I held her (them?) off long enough to give myself a deep injection of antidote and finish off the pendejo (pendeja? She started it, it was her word for me) once and for all.
