For a movie that features a feat of perfection, For Love of the Game has a lot of flaws. Meet Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner), 40-year-old pitcher with the Detroit Tigers. See Billy fall in love, get an out, fall out of love, get an out, fall in love, and see him get another out. And after one inning of play, it's three up, three down, two hearts broken and more of all this coming up.

On a road trip to New York five years ago, Billy--sensitive athlete that he is--stops at the sight of Jane Aubrey (Kelly Preston), a fashion mag writer and a motorist in need of assistance. Hours later, Jane is seeing him play against the Yankees and helps him get play at the Waldorf. Minutes later, they make a pact to form a relationship based on occasional moonlight dinners and conjugal visits when he's in town with his team.

Fast forward to five years later--Jane's going to London to not see Billy. In the morning before "his greatest start", Billy is fighting a hangover, dealing with a breakup, realizing his team is being sold and coming to the conclusion his career could be over. Play ball!

To keep some sense of normalcy, Billy tells his manager he won't pitch without trusted offenseless catching buddy Gus Sinski (John C. Reilly, Hard Eight) on the other end. But it's hard to believe two things:

1)With all these emotional distractions, how does Billy concentrate and get into his zone, especially when we see glimpses of his mental flashback?

2) When did a major league batter ever strike out on a 30 mile-an-hour "fastball"?

I know this a movie, it's make-believe, but it's scary when Costner says he tried to show what kind of performance a real athlete would deliver. There is some solid tension that builds as Chapel gets out of jams and gets closer to the perfecto--but then again, the nature of baseball games reaching their own climax tends to do that. I'm sure it wouldn't come close to the excitement of watching every live pitch from David Wells or David Cone in their Yankee Stadium efforts.

Of course, there are cliches galore--light-hitting Sinski scores the game's only run after legging out an improbable double. Center fielder Mickey Hart (no, Jerry Garcia isn't in right), best known for an embarrassing bonehead play, comes through with a hit-saving catch. Chapel's best friend and former teammate predictably fails to break up the bid for the Yanks.

I think the baseball-film genre would have been better off if Costner never got the call from the minors and continued to give advice to Nuke LaLoosh.

But the romance provides relief for Chapel, right? In between at-bats, we see Jane and Billy's relationship grow and recede. It's the partnership with the most on-and-offs since George Steinbrenner would fire and rehire Billy Martin.

After a while, you stop questioning how Jane and Billy stayed in love with each other because it's too exhausting to do so. There's some touching as-a-family moments with Jane's teen daughter Heather, but that only makes you want to flip the channel from Lifetime back to Fox Sports.

Back to the game--which post-breakup Jane is viewing while waiting in the airport. Does Billy decide to retire rather than end his career as a non-Tiger? Does Jane, so overwhelmed by the command Billy has on his heater, long for more hot nights with our baseball star? Let cliches be your guide again.

This convention is a little surprising, considering unconvential director Sam Raimi (Darkman) is behind the camera. Coming off his last and best work, A Simple Plan, you would think some of the uncanny storytelling would rub off by accident into For Love of the Game.

I've seen many exciting baseball games and many exciting motion pictures--unfortunately For Love of the Game doesn't get past lukewarm on either front.