Quality of the Umpiring Down, Quality of Broadcasting Up in Postseason
Instead of two outs and one on in a tied game, a blown call causes San Diego to get eliminated from the playoffs.
Usually, McClelland is one of the umpires I can stand, but he totally botched that call and it cost a team their playoff spot.
Of course, Trevor Hoffman did that as well, twice. So did Bud Black for having the managerial blinders on that most do when they put in their closer, and didn't pull Hoffman when he was struggling.
I kind of worry that if Torre sticks around, some year that will happen with Mo. When he's no longer the best option to be closing games, will he still be used in that capacity? Will our last memories of Mo be as a closer trying to hang on to something that has clearly passed him by? I'd rather see him be a setup guy than to see that.
On a side note, I have to say I was fairly impressed with TBS's coverage last night. I'm not sure if it was because the game was a last minute scheduling change and they didn't secure enough advertising, but in between innings going to a studio desk for a live discussion of the game is a fantastic idea. Cal Ripken isn't exactly the most interesting fella on the planet, but still it's the idea itself that has merit. Also I thought in general the booth announcers were generally far less annoying than what we've been subjected to in recent postseasons (Miller and Morgan, Buck and McCarver, Sutcliffe and O'Brien, etc). I wanted to name them, but to be honest I'm not 100% sure who they all were so I'll just neglect to mention any of them.
Of course being better than ESPN and FOX isn't hard, but it's nice to see someone trying.Labels: announcers, padres, tbs, umpires
posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 5:58 PM
2
comments
2 Comments:
about mclllll - all i can figure is that he originally correctly noticed that holliday (sp?) didn't actually touch the bag, but then, while waiting to see whether barrett applied the tag before holliday went back for the bag, (1) was distracted by holliday's apparent pain, (2) was momentarily confused by barrett having dropped the ball, (3) was momentarily confused/convinced by holliday making no attempt to reach back for the bag, and/or (4) decided, fuck this, i'm starving/have a hot date/fill in your umpire-wants-to-end-the-game cliche here. either that, or my original assumption is wrong, and he actually believed holliday got the bag the first time but had a brain fart and didn't immediately give the safe sign. either way it's not cool- he had a perfectly good view of the foot fully blocking the bag, i thought.
I am very saddened that the Friars were eliminated on a suspect call, but also that the '98 World Series will not be repeated. The last week of Diego's games have pretty much been sad and on a downfall, which wouldn't have boded well going into post-season play anyways. The Pads' season is over, and so probably is mine... But hey, at least I'll be off to enjoying watching the Yankee games.
Post a Comment
<< Home