Off-Day Bantering: Baseball on the radio

Update: Just I pressed publish we get the news that Vladimir Guerrero has decided not to compete in the home run derby. As much as I might actually watch it if he was in it, I get his decision. I think it is the right move for him.

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Yesterday I found out that, once again, that I didn’t pick up the ability to play golf in the year since I last picked up a club. I did have some good shots, but there were many more bad shots. In my defense, I hoped that there would be a driving range at the course, so I could try a few swings before we started counting swings.

It was good to spend the day with my son.

And I’m only slightly sore today, with the odd twinge any time I twist in any direction. If I were a Blue Jay, I’d be day-to-day.

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The Jays optioned Jeremy Beasley back to Triple-A. They needed to open up a roster spot for.....someone. I don’t know why they don’t announce that they are activating Springer simultaneously, but maybe they want to make sure he doesn’t fall down some stairs or something between now and tomorrow night’s game.

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I had my first extended listen to the Jay's‘ simulcast radio broadcast on the drive to where we played. It was ok for a bit, but Dan and Pat have this habit of getting into a conversation and forgetting a game going on. On TV, that’s ok. You can watch the game.

On the radio...you need to be told what is happening. At one point, Dan said, ‘First pitch to Marcus Semien, ball outside.’ Then there was a conversation about Pat’s batting average with the bases loaded. On TV, I might have found it charming. Pat said ‘sometimes you get lucky’ and that it is ‘good to be remembered for something’, which was cute. But then I heard the crowd cheer, and about 15 seconds later, Dan says Semien struck out. I don’t know if it was on a full-count or 3-1. or what. I didn’t know if it was swinging or if he took a pitch or where the pitch might have been.

I’ll admit I switched over to the Orioles broadcast after that and went back and forth some. Every time Dan and Pat would irritate me by not telling me what was going on, I’d go back to the Baltimore one.

I did get to hear the Orioles guys say that Alek Manoah definitely threw at Maikel Franco on purpose. They said that ‘it was part of baseball,’ but they didn’t like how close to Franco’s head the pitch came. I don’t know. It looked to me like the pitch slipped from Manoah’s hand, but I can understand why they would feel it was on purpose.

Anyway, for me, there were too many moments in the Jays’ broadcast where they didn’t tell us what was going on and you had to piece it together from crowd noises. I also could have used more reminders of the score, the count, and other things that at on the screen when I’m watching on TV.

TV and radio are so different. watching on TV, I kind of like when they go off and talk about things other than the game (unless it is a rant about how terrible baseball is now). I can see the game, I don’t need to be told Semien struck out swinging. But on the radio, I want to be told what is happening. That’s the most important thing on the radio. The rest is filler.

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I missed where Pat said that Marcus Semien should bat ninth when Springer comes back. That alone should get him fired from any job in baseball.

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All-Star voting is happening. I’d love to see Teoscar Hernandez get some more votes and get a spot. Vlad is the top vote-getter.

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Also Zach Logue was Triple-A East pitcher of the week.

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I’m not sure I would be ready for ‘full capacity’, but seeing live baseball again would be great.

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The New York Times has a guest column by Kat O’Brien, a former sports reporter, breaking her silence about the baseball player who raped her. It is not a fun read, but this little bit is worth noting, it seems to be something us guys do and shouldn’t:

In the last few months I’ve told a few people my story. The first two men I told (both people I am close to) first pledged that they believed me, acknowledged that what happened was horrifying and not my fault and in the next moment asked, “But you really couldn’t get away?” They might as well have cut me with a knife. I tell no one for 18 years out of shame and self-blame, and now you ask me if I couldn’t have gotten away? From a professional athlete who weighed 70 or 80 pounds more than me?