Nestor Cortes Deals While Tyler Hardman Delivers

New York Yankees left-hander Nestor Cortes looked really good in his second rehab outing with Double-A Somerset Patriots on Friday night. He is making his way back to the Big League's coming off rotator cuff inflammation.

Cortes gave up only two hits over four innings of work, striking out five on just 49 pitches. Cortes stressed that he felt great after the outing, and will try to hit 60 pitches before the Yankees make a determination moving forward.

Before going down with the rotator cuff injury, Cortes was 5-2 in 11 games with a 5.19 ERA. The Yankees could definitely use Cortes back in the rotation as they make a playoff push for one of the American League Wild Card slots.

Meanwhile, the Double-A Patriots continue to get incredible contributions from Tyler Hardman. Hardman went 6-for-6 with two homers and four RBI.

Hardman now owns 26 homers making him the minor league leader in said category. He is also five home runs away from tying the club record for home runs in a single season.

His 55 RBI also lead the team. While he is hitting .236, one has to wonder how long before the Yankees promote Hardman to Triple-A.

Hardman wasn't the only one having a great night for Somerset in a dominating 10-0 victory. Jeison Rosario went 3-for-3 with three runs scored; Jasson Dominguez had a two-run single; Trey Sweeney had an RBI single, and Elijah Dunham had an RBI double.

The Patriots and Bowie Bay Sox continue their series Saturday night at TD Bank Ballpark where fireworks will take place following the 7:05 game.

Christopher Nolan is one of the best directors of our era. His way of storytelling is complex and resonates with audiences worldwide, leading his films to gross billions at the box office. The English filmmaker developed an interest in the industry from a young age. Growing up, Nolan was influenced by Ridley Scott's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Star Wars (1977). At just seven years old, he'd borrow his father's Super 8 camera and shoot short films with his action figures. He'd create makeshift sets with his brother Jonathan built from clay, flour, egg boxes, and toilet rolls. At age 11, he aspired to be a professional filmmaker and worked as a script reader, camera operator, and director of corporate and industrial films.

However, with no support from the British film industry, Nolan was struggling to get his projects off the ground. Despite that, Nolan created his first feature film, 1998's Following, which he wrote, directed, photographed, and edited with a £3,000 budget. Following won several awards during its festival run and was well-received by critics. The success allowed Nolan to make Memento two years later, which became his breakthrough film. After that, Nolan approached Warner Bros. with the idea of making a new Batman film based on the character's origin story. He wanted to approach it with a more realistic world than a comic-book fantasy. Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy set the bar for future superhero films in the way he achieved a gritty, realistic tone. With 12 films under his belt, each seemingly his best work to date at the time of their release, it's hard to pick a favorite.

Take a look below at our top five picks of Nolan's best films.

We’re told early on in the film that we shouldn’t try to understand it, but that we should feel it. Starring Robert Pattinson and John David Washington, this 2020 thriller was a fun watch in an empty theater during Covid. Like some of his earlier films, an abstract concept -- in this case, inverting time to experience things in reverse -- makes for an exciting and captivating watch. Also, like his previous films, our future selves hold power over our present-day selves.

As an adaptation of a 1995 novel by critically-acclaimed author, Nolan's 2006 film starring Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as dueling magicians in late 1800s London showcases how far a person is willing to go to perform the ultimate magic trick: teleportation. Their characters' obsessions with one another teeter the line of charming and sinister.

This 2000 film starring Guy Pearce is told in reverse. It's about Leonard Shelby, who’s been desperately trying to avenge his wife’s death. Because he suffers from short-term memory loss, he forgets everything within minutes. So, his body has hints all over via tattoos. But, the tattoos are revealed to him one at a time and sometimes in hidden places or designed in reverse to be read in a mirror. This is an exhilarating watch, especially for the first time, as we experience everything as it happens to Leonard.

Nolan's second Batman film is hands-down one of the most influential movies of our time. This is our most revisited Nolan film, due to the power it holds of being more than just your average superhero flick. Christian Bale's Batman is tormented by the late Heath Ledger's ruthless, disturbing tactics and every droning moment of the film pulls you in (We'll thank the score, by the legendary Hans Zimmer, for that).

Of all of Nolan's films, this one was the most intriguing conceptually and visually. The 2010 film follows high-tech thieves with the ability to break into people’s dreams and steal hidden ideas from their subconscious. In order to secretly plant an idea in a person’s head, they have to enter that person’s dream -- several dream levels down. Should they go too far down the dream levels, they'll be stuck in a dream forever and their brains will melt. This film makes us appreciate the misdirection used throughout and how dangerous the power of ideas are when implanted.