No, the headline isn't for Brandon Inge, but it does involve him.
In what ended up being my most viewed/hit blog post (and thanks for reading), "Broadcast Laziness", I took some shots at last weekend's MLB on Fox Team that included Matt Vasgersian and Mitch Williams. Their call of Miguel Cabrera's walk off home run vs. the Chicago White Sox was to say the least, uninspiring.
Yesterday, Vasgersian was back to call the Tigers game vs the Minnesota Twins, only this time Hall of Fame pitcher and Twins analyst Bert Blyleven was by his side. Vasgersian's comment before Brandon Inge hit this week's walk off shot set himself up for what would be a very good call.
Brandon Inge's walk off home run
It was an exciting call, perhaps because of the hard luck season that is, Brandon Inge, but if you're going to call a potential national telecast, you should probably leave a mark on your audience. And not the mark Joe Buck leaves, as he calls games in a rather monotone voice (that is, when his voice isn't injured like it is now). Vasgersian in my mind made up for the listless call he made last Saturday, and I'm sure it was much appreciated to whoever was watching.
Showing posts with label MLB on Fox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MLB on Fox. Show all posts
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Broadcasting Laziness
The big buzz around the Motor City tonight was the awesome comeback the Detroit Tigers laid to the Chicago White Sox. Down 8-1, the Tigers clawed their way back into the game... 8-5 as the teams were taken off the field in the bottom of the 8th inning for what would be a 36 minute rain delay.
Fast forward slightly to the bottom of the 9th, with the score 8-6, Ryan Raburn at the plate as the tying run, Fox broadcasters (and MLB Network talking heads) Matt Vasgersian and Mitch Williams become part of 2 of the worst HR calls in recent memory. Raburn crushes his 2-run, game tying shot to left, only to hear Mitch (the color analyst) mutter "It's gone" before Vasgersian gives a rather spirited HR call. Not to be outdone, Vasgersian takes Miguel Cabrera's HR call and erases his pretty good call from the previous blast and offers up this broadcasting gem:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=18781581
Now, I know for a national audience, there needs to be a good balance of objectivity and good play calling. While the former was there, the latter sure wasn't. The bigger problem was, neither one of these guys were deep into what has really happened with either club in recent weeks, making them sound rather ignorant when it came to talking about the clubs and their tendencies. Which leads to the next problem, this wasn't really for a national audience, more for the regional crowd instead. Fox's three broadcasts today included the actual national broadcast, which feature the Red Sox and Rangers from Fenway Park, the Cardinals and Reds from St. Louis, and the Tigers and White Sox. As you might imagine, the Tigers/White Sox game was delivered to the smallest audience, which begs the question, why not mix and match?
In this case, it's my assumption that Fox and Comcast Sports Net aren't at all affiliated with each other, so you wouldn't see a possibility of Ken (The Hawk) Harrelson or Steve Stone working with the likes of Mario Impemba and Rod Allen. But it really needs to be fixed like that, because if you're going to suck the emotion out of what should be the most exciting play of the game, why the hell should anyone watch? Vasgersian's HR call was boring, worse than "matter-of-fact" like, with he and Williams sounding like they were both at home on the couch drinking a couple of cheap beers instead of actually doing "play calling", which is what they were being paid to do. At least if you bring in the local talent for the regional broadcasts, you're likely not going to cheat the fans who know that the people who are calling the game actually know a thing or two about how their team operates. Except the egregious thing here is, these clowns actually work for the MLB Network, and they still called the game like they did little to no research whatsoever. Fox would have been better off bringing in long time announcer and play-by-play dinosaur Dick Stockton to call the game. At least for his stuttering and bouts of forgetfulness, he probably wouldn't have been any worse that the two talking heads we were forced with today.
Fox has to get this right, for the love of baseball and humanity. If you want people to watch your sport in October, especially when those people don't necessarily have a rooting interest for who's playing, they'll need to find someone who can call the game with passion, knowledge, and a genuine love for the game.
Vin Scully comes to mind...
Fast forward slightly to the bottom of the 9th, with the score 8-6, Ryan Raburn at the plate as the tying run, Fox broadcasters (and MLB Network talking heads) Matt Vasgersian and Mitch Williams become part of 2 of the worst HR calls in recent memory. Raburn crushes his 2-run, game tying shot to left, only to hear Mitch (the color analyst) mutter "It's gone" before Vasgersian gives a rather spirited HR call. Not to be outdone, Vasgersian takes Miguel Cabrera's HR call and erases his pretty good call from the previous blast and offers up this broadcasting gem:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=18781581
 |
| Vasgersian |
 |
| Williams |
In this case, it's my assumption that Fox and Comcast Sports Net aren't at all affiliated with each other, so you wouldn't see a possibility of Ken (The Hawk) Harrelson or Steve Stone working with the likes of Mario Impemba and Rod Allen. But it really needs to be fixed like that, because if you're going to suck the emotion out of what should be the most exciting play of the game, why the hell should anyone watch? Vasgersian's HR call was boring, worse than "matter-of-fact" like, with he and Williams sounding like they were both at home on the couch drinking a couple of cheap beers instead of actually doing "play calling", which is what they were being paid to do. At least if you bring in the local talent for the regional broadcasts, you're likely not going to cheat the fans who know that the people who are calling the game actually know a thing or two about how their team operates. Except the egregious thing here is, these clowns actually work for the MLB Network, and they still called the game like they did little to no research whatsoever. Fox would have been better off bringing in long time announcer and play-by-play dinosaur Dick Stockton to call the game. At least for his stuttering and bouts of forgetfulness, he probably wouldn't have been any worse that the two talking heads we were forced with today.
Fox has to get this right, for the love of baseball and humanity. If you want people to watch your sport in October, especially when those people don't necessarily have a rooting interest for who's playing, they'll need to find someone who can call the game with passion, knowledge, and a genuine love for the game.
Vin Scully comes to mind...
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Not JV's Best Day, but Good Enough
Justin Verlander was quick to point out that he didn't have his best stuff vs the Minnesota Twins on Saturday, saying "name a pitch, I had trouble finding consistency with anything," after securing his 20th win of the season. A 6-4 win, and Verlander becomes the major's first 20-game winner of the season, and for the first time in his career. Verlander also becomes the first pitcher to hit that mark before the end of August since Curt Schilling did it in 2002.
But while he wasn't at his best, he was still helped by one of the better offenses in the American League. Miguel Cabrera had a solo HR in the first, but his RBI hit following another Delmon Young RBI single gave the bullpen just enough insurance to help close this game out. The Tigers recent run vs the Twins, which includes an 11-3 record this year, and 15 wins in the last 18 meetings, is reminiscent of the runs that Minnesota handed to the Tigers over the course of the last decade.
The injury-riddled and otherwise snakebitten Twins will send out struggling lefty Brian Duensing to the mound to face a suddenly, but maybe only moderately consistent Brad Penny as the Tigers face the Twins for the last time at Target Field this season. They'll do so with a 6.5 game lead over the second place Indians, with the hopes of finishing the road trip 6-1 before they go home for 4 games vs the Royals.
-----
As for yesterday's Fox broadcast, Fox paired Tigers play-by-play man Mario Impemba with newly inducted Hall of Famer and resident self-lover Bert Blyleven to call the game. Even with the Dick Stockton/Rod Allen combination, which may have been the most awkward pairing ever, the game calling wasn't horrible. However, I was disappointed with the way Bert needed take over and interject during the course of the ballgame. I think Bert is a decent analyst, but Saturday's display made me think that Mario wasn't needed at all in the booth. Bert was also nice enough to joke about Miguel Cabrera's "donkey strength", which after 5 years of living in his market I knew he was joking, but that doesn't mean everyone did too. I myself am fully aware that these regional telecasts need the balance, but having 2 potential alpha-dogs talking over each other makes the broadcast messy. And with Hurricane Irene postponing a lot of games, this was probably broadcast with a bigger audience than just the Detroit and Twin Cities markets. Do better, next time, Fox. Though I know that's hard to do.
Anyone who did catch yesterday's game and watched some of the advertising, probably caught an MLB postseason moment that included this:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=12602373
Enjoy that. Again and again.
 |
| Justin Verlander (AP Photo) |
But while he wasn't at his best, he was still helped by one of the better offenses in the American League. Miguel Cabrera had a solo HR in the first, but his RBI hit following another Delmon Young RBI single gave the bullpen just enough insurance to help close this game out. The Tigers recent run vs the Twins, which includes an 11-3 record this year, and 15 wins in the last 18 meetings, is reminiscent of the runs that Minnesota handed to the Tigers over the course of the last decade.
The injury-riddled and otherwise snakebitten Twins will send out struggling lefty Brian Duensing to the mound to face a suddenly, but maybe only moderately consistent Brad Penny as the Tigers face the Twins for the last time at Target Field this season. They'll do so with a 6.5 game lead over the second place Indians, with the hopes of finishing the road trip 6-1 before they go home for 4 games vs the Royals.
-----
As for yesterday's Fox broadcast, Fox paired Tigers play-by-play man Mario Impemba with newly inducted Hall of Famer and resident self-lover Bert Blyleven to call the game. Even with the Dick Stockton/Rod Allen combination, which may have been the most awkward pairing ever, the game calling wasn't horrible. However, I was disappointed with the way Bert needed take over and interject during the course of the ballgame. I think Bert is a decent analyst, but Saturday's display made me think that Mario wasn't needed at all in the booth. Bert was also nice enough to joke about Miguel Cabrera's "donkey strength", which after 5 years of living in his market I knew he was joking, but that doesn't mean everyone did too. I myself am fully aware that these regional telecasts need the balance, but having 2 potential alpha-dogs talking over each other makes the broadcast messy. And with Hurricane Irene postponing a lot of games, this was probably broadcast with a bigger audience than just the Detroit and Twin Cities markets. Do better, next time, Fox. Though I know that's hard to do.
Anyone who did catch yesterday's game and watched some of the advertising, probably caught an MLB postseason moment that included this:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=12602373
Enjoy that. Again and again.
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