Have you ever watched one of the old games rebroadcast on ESPN Classic? We were watching an old Reds game from the 70s and it was awesome. No lame graphics or sound effects, almost no ads or sponsorships, and best of all the commentators told you what was going on in the game and then SHUT THE HELL UP. Who was it that decided that every second of air had to be filled with yammering voices? Sorry, but I’ll take “man of few words” Joe Morgan over “yakkity-yakkity-yak!” John Miller any day.
After sending Poochie (no, wait, I mean Scooter) back to his home planet, I think a much better pitch demonstration technique would be to show Al Leiter showing us how to hold the ball followed by a few pitches at a target. Of course the bullseye for that target would be around McCarver’s testicles.
And I] have bad taste? Never mind that John Miller is the best, most eloquent person to paint a perfect picture of what’s going on using only his knowledge and wit, his sentences make sense! I mean, I want to like Joe Morgan as well, but he just won’t let me.
I think FOX figures if you liked Peter Puck, you’ll love Scooter.
Al Leiter has a long history of broadcasting. I think he is pretty solid. In fact, a booth of him and Buck (who I enjoy) would be decent. For like the last five, Leiter has worked the playoffs (whether in booth or in studio) for ESPN or Fox assuming the Mets were not in the playoffs. This means for the last five, Al Leiter has been working for ESPN during the playoffs! 
If they MUST pimp a show, I wouldn’t be terribly bothered if they showed some love to Arrested. It needs all the help it can get!
Jeannie Zelasko, sorry, just looks like a crack ho with that hair and lipstick, is as about as insightful, and needs to get off my screen. Kevin Kennedy is damn lucky he isn’t selling used cars for a living. And what TV executive ever thought Tim McCarver was a net positive?
Put Buck and Leiter in the booth, alone, and drag everyone else out and shoot 'em, the Scooter guy first. Then maybe we’ll have a decent broadcast.
I’d like to think that they learned their lesson last year. What WERE they thinking, having Bernie Mac, a WHITE SOX fan, sing “Take Me Out To the Ball Game” at a CUBS game?! He probably purposely changed the line to “Let’s root for the champions,” just to jinx them. :mad:
To clarify: the last time the Mets were in the playoffs was 2000. They also appeared in 1999.
Just for fun: Al Leiter has pitched in 17 games in 10 postseason series and has been on the losing side in only 2 of the 10 series he’s played in. He has pitched for the World Champion Blue Jays of '93, the World Champion Marlins of '97 and the NL Champion Mets of 2000 (they lost to the Yankees). He also pitched for the Mets in '99 when they lost the NLCS to the Braves. In his four career World Series starts, he is 0-1 with an ERA of 3.76.
OK, until tonight, I regarded Joe Morgan as an annoyance, but he’s moved on to full-blown moron.
[seven replays of A-Rod plainly, clearly, blatantly swatting ball out of the Sox’ glove]
Joe Morgan: Well, he was running and pumping his arms. I don’t know if you can call this.
John Miller: He not only knocked the ball out of his hand, he knocked the glove off.
Joe Morgan: Well, he was running and pumping his arms, so I don’t know if you can call that.
[close-up of outstretched arm hitting elbow]
Joe Morgan: Well, if you look here, you can see that he was running and pumping his arms, so I don’t know if you can call that.
[cut to A-Rod saying, “I swatted the ball out of his hand, stupid.”]
Joe Morgan: I dunno, Alex, you were running and pumping your arms, so I don’t know if you can call that.
John Miller: You fucking douchebag; look at the goddamn tape!
Joe Morgan: And as you can see here, A-Rod clearly knocks the ball out of his hand.
Normally I cut the guy some slack, after all, the guy’s job is to bullshit for three hours, but Tim McCarver just said that Foulke’s leadoff walk is just as bad as giving up a leadoff homerun. Now, it’s 4 to 2. 4 to 3 with no one on and no one out, is much better than 4 to 2 with no one out and a man on first.
C’mon Tim, you don’t need to overstate everything, do ya?
I know, I boggled when I heard him say that. I figured maybe a leadoff walk is worth a run on Planet McCarver.
Well, don’t you know that a leadoff walk always comes around to score on you? That’s classic “fill in the empty moments” baseball announcer stuff.
Maybe that does make some sense. The Sox lead 4-2. A leadoff homer and it’s 4-3 with the tying run at the plate. A leadoff walk and its still 4-2 but the tying run is still at the plate. The runner at first forces the pitcher to go from the stretch and/or distracts him from the only meaningful run standing at the plate.
I can’t believe I just stood up for Timmy McCarver.
But, a leadoff homer is more likely to get the fans at Yankee Stadium cheering at jet engine levels than a walk, thus making concentrating on the succeeding batters all the more difficult.
Given the choice, I’d take the walk.
When a guy walks, there is still the possiblilty of erasing him with a double play, which would not be possible in case of a home run; therefore, I conclude that McCarver is an idiot.
That was a very dumb comment about the walk being as good as a home run. I mean, VERY dumb. Yes, in both instances, the tying run is coming to the plate, but that’s it.
It’s like saying the only way to score a run is with a homer.
I remember the other day (Sunday?) he said, “I was talking to (some outfield I can’t remember) and he told me, ‘being a batter is more like being a producer than a director.’”
(brief silence)
Joe Buck: I don’t know what that means.
Neither did McCarver. But it sounded good. “oooh. that sounds good. I’m going to say it. It don’t mean shit, but it sures sounds deep. if I say it, they’ll stop calling me a moron.”
After that comment, my wife and I concluded (facetiously) that McCarver was drunk. No one in the booth asked him to explain the comment, and in fact, there was no commentary other than simple ball-and-strike calling for a while. We imagined that shortly after speaking, McCarver had passed out and pissed himself and that the other guys were trying to revive him so they could finish the telecast.
Do we really have to have closeups of six different fans and four different players between every stinkin’ pitch? Og forbid that the camera show the pitcher for more than two consecutive seconds. Freakin’ annoying.
Seems to me that the camera guys/production managers for the ALCS are worse about this than the NLCS guys, though they haven’t been innocent either.
Hey, the poor guy’s probably gotten 10 hours of sleep in the last four days. He’s running purely on caffeine.
It was ridiculous though… Matsui has killed the Sox this series; it’s probably a good idea to walk him.
In Boston, it was praying fans. In NY last night in the 9th inning, it was the pan down the Yankee dugout. A-rod, Jeter, some guy in a beanie, Sheffield. Two pitches later: A-rod, Jeter, some guy in a beanie, Sheffield…yup, they haven’t moved…two pitches later: A-rod,…
I haven’t seen much of the NLCS, but I think Fox is pulling out all the stops for the ALCS (in a really stupid way) because this is The Big One. This involves The God-Almighty Freakin’ YANKEES, the team EVERYONE wants to see in the World Series.
There isn’t a big enough Rolleyes smiley for this.
Red Sox would be OK, in a pinch. Fox could hype the “1918” thing until our ears bleed. But if the Series had matched up Minnesota and Houston, probably somebody in Fox Sports would’ve been fired.
-
How can the only person in the building not to see Bellhorn’s homer clear the wall be the LF umpire himself (Joe West, right?) ? What’s the guy’s friggin’ *job * except to watch where the ball goes? Bring your seeing eye dog tonight, Joe.
-
How can the only person not to see A-Hole interfere with Arroyo be the guy whose job is to watch it (and don’t bother me with that “Minkey was blocking his view” crap, it’s his friggin’ job)? Randy Marsh, go back to South Park,Stan wants his daddy back.
-
How can any ump signal safe on a runner who hasn’t even reached the bag yet? You again, Randy.
-
How much do these schmucks get paid?
-
Where do I sign up?
A-Hole was just doing something he thought he could get away with - and with good reason; the turtles weren’t watching the game anyway.
-
Joe West was the home plate umpire for Game 6 and I thought he did a good job especially since he made sure the calls were right. The LF umpire was Jim Joyce.
-
No comment
-
Marsh’s call was not “safe”, but the “ball is in play”. It would have been clear to anyone on the field. Besides Rodriguez touched first anyway before he went to second.