From an O's fan perspective, the TBS coverage is horrific so far

[Orange_Crush]

I am so frustrated with this crew that i have rewritten this post 4 times to remove stuff that is going to get me a warning. They didn't say one damn good thing about Chen all night other than "listen to that crowd" as he walked off the field.

I turned to MLB network immediately after my post game lap around the house screaming and Dan Plesak sounded like a lifelong Oriole in comparison. Hell, Billy, as magnanimous as he is sounded like a homer compared to Cal.

If only i could get the radio calls to sync with the TV broadcast...

I would like to hear Dan's obsession with the O's. He wasn't an O.

[simplysupreme]

Sager referred to the crowd as the loudest that he'd ever seen...

Ernie Johnson- "I can tell you what that meter read yesterday... zero!"

So pointless and obnoxious.

Don't know if I'm allowed to say this on the board but what a douche.

[allsighs]

I would like to hear Dan's obsession with the O's. He wasn't an O.

That is the thing, he was just giving a good pat on the back to the O's for a game well played. Nothing big, but after 3 hours of TBS it felt like high praise in comparison.

[BehindTimes]

If we win, I'd watch the games on YES if I had to.

Honestly, as much as I can't stand Michael Kay, YES is much less bias than this coverage. For those of you who DVR'd the game. Go inning by inning. Record how often each player has their named mentioned (either first or last). Don't count references to a player, such as he, but just the name. "Andy threw a good pitch there." "That's a bad break for Andy with the batter getting that hit." Etc. It's obvious where I'm going with this, but it will probably be shocking at just how one sided the commentators are, even if Cal Ripken did use the term we a few times.

[Palmoripken]

Don't know if I'm allowed to say this on the board but what a douche.

I wonder if Yankee stadium would be as loud if the same thing happened. And besides, I was there, it was still loud. Granted my section (10) was distracted because there was a guy who wouldn't sit down and had to be removed by the cops but I've never seen Camden Yards louder than I did last night even with that tough loss.

[SouthRider]

I am so frustrated with this crew that i have rewritten this post 4 times to remove stuff that is going to get me a warning. They didn't say one damn good thing about Chen all night other than "listen to that crowd" as he walked off the field.

I turned to MLB network immediately after my post game lap around the house screaming and Dan Plesak sounded like a lifelong Oriole in comparison. Hell, Billy, as magnanimous as he is sounded like a homer compared to Cal.

If only i could get the radio calls to sync with the TV broadcast...

What I find interesting - on MLB network - Billy said just about the same exact thing Cal said about the Hardy 3rd base mishap, but it didn't sound like slobbering Jeter worship.

[foxfield]

The only good thing about TBS is that strike zone. How can they have that for every pitch and MASN can't even display a pitch count?

In fairness, TBS does not have to save money to buy the bats. And they do not have to be concerned at all with growing the arms either.

[Palmoripken]

What I find interesting - on MLB network - Billy said just about the same exact thing Cal said about the Hardy 3rd base mishap, but it didn't sound like slobbering Jeter worship.

God that makes me glad the game was muted in favor of the Jets-Texans game at the bar I was at. Really, we get it, Jeter's a very good player and will make the HoF but do we have to hear that all the time? I was really glad to see "Mr. November" ground out on the first pitch to Hardy in the 9tu.

[The Wedge]

Honestly, as much as I can't stand Michael Kay, YES is much less bias than this coverage. For those of you who DVR'd the game. Go inning by inning. Record how often each player has their named mentioned (either first or last). Don't count references to a player, such as he, but just the name. "Andy threw a good pitch there." "That's a bad break for Andy with the batter getting that hit." Etc. It's obvious where I'm going with this, but it will probably be shocking at just how one sided the commentators are, even if Cal Ripken did use the term we a few times.

There was a point in the middle innings where Chen was looking pretty good, but in a little trouble. And for some inexplicable reason Ernie Johnson chose to say something "what do you think Girardi thinks about the performance he's getting out Pettite tonight?" For crying out loud, maybe save that for when HE'S pitching, wouldya? That's the crap that just drives us up the wall about this crew.

[garethcoker]

TBS really have no business covering the postseason - apart from that they paid for the right to host it. Their coverage is appalling. They have little-to-no broadcasting experience of major sporting events and it shows.

Radio all the way for me at the moment, as Joe and Fred (who has really improved in the games so far in the postseason) paint a better visual picture - without a picture - than the guys on TV do.

[24fps]

Yeah I find the announcers very boring in a series that is very exciting which says a lot

Yes. Ernie, John and Cal (Carl) are extraordinarily boring. In television, film and broadcasting there are no rules only sins and the cardinal sin is boredom.

[LA2]

Sager referred to the crowd as the loudest that he'd ever seen...

Ernie Johnson- "I can tell you what that meter read yesterday... zero!"

So pointless and obnoxious.

I can't believe Johnson said that. Just a flat-out lie.

[Palmoripken]

I can't believe Johnson said that. Just a flat-out lie.

Yeah no kidding. Johnson's a terrible PBP guy anyhow. Not sure how he does basketball games but if they're anything like how he does baseball, he should be out of a job.

[El Gordo]

Earnie s a major moron. Terrible. As much as Cal pisses me off right now ,I could probably bear him if I didn't have to put up with Earnie. Billy is worlds better. Smoltz is fine IMO. Fortunately I can listen to Joe and Fred on XM/Sirius, pretty much in sinc with the video, and not have to hear any of their prattle.

[spiritof66]

What a great night. I am still floating, but am almost back to terra firma and able to think about going to sleep. I wish I could have been there, in part because watching these two games on TBS was very frustrating, and the fact that Cal is a big part of the problem makes it more unsettling.

While I wholeheartedly agree that these broadcasts is horrific for O's fans, I think they are bad as well for baseball fans. The TBS crew is almost unbelievably deficient in its lack of preparation. So it's no surprise which team they know and talk about more, and Ripken does nothing to alter that balance. If I hadn't been following the game or seen the last inning tonight, I'd have thought from their accolades that Andy Pettite won the game. What a great comeback story! Except that he lost the game -- the damn details can get in the way of a good story sometimes.

These guys appear to have no idea what it is like to criticize or (except Smoltz) analyze what they see. They tell you what happened, swoon over good performances, excuse bad plays in imaginative ways, and toss in a few facts from a short list that must have been prepared for them.

I was very frustrated when, after Ichiro scored, they said repeatedly that Wieters should have planted himself on home plate so that Ichiro couldn't get to it. Can you do that (if you can, I am guessing Smoky Burgess might have mastered that maneuver)? What's the rule on that? And what is the rule for running out of the third base line? Does it apply after the runner has passed home while making no effort to touch it? I don't know the answers, but if I were a TV broadcaster, I damn well would have found them out before the next inning.

These guys know very little about the Orioles beyond repeated cliches that could have come from an article in Sports Illustrated -- the record in extras and one-run games, Adam's leadership, Reynolds' hot streak, etc. They said nothing that I heard about the danger of running against Wieters, barely a reference to his typically terrific (in my opinion) scoop and tag off Robert's bad throw last night. No explanation about why Tex got booed on Sunday (they fixed that tonight, a little). No discussion about the O's upcoming starting pitching, or how Saunders' great start and Jason's return set all of that up. Nothing about what Thome means to the team, just that he's hit almost as many HRs as A-Rod. No discussion of how Buck, aftet going to O'Day early, might use his relievers before the ninth. There were kudos to MacPhail for his role in building this team, but none (that I heard) to Duquette! Let alone the post-Andy search fiasco.

When Jeter failed to make a play on a ground ball to his right tonight (no error), there was general agreement that, as I think Cal said, Jeter almost always makes that play. I've been watching Jeter, and over at least the past few years he almost never makes that play. Jeter's range to his right is very limited with no runner on first, largely beacuse he cannot backhand a ball, set and make a throw with enough velocity to record an out at first unless the ball is hit hard (and close to him) and/or the runner is slow. When he can, he prefers to run around the ball and glove it with his momentum going to first. When he can't do that, he will backhand it and make a jump throw -- a cool-looking "Jeterian" play that practically any other ML shortstop would make much faster without leaving thhe ground. When he dives for a ball and there's no force at second, the play is usually over since he doesn't have the arm strength to make a throw. So he typically does his diving when there is a man on second, to cut off the ball and keep that run from scoring, while the Yankee announcers rave about his effort.

No one on TBS said a word (that I heard) when Robinson Canoe -- a great hitter and very good (though overerated IMO) -- blatantly dogged it. He inexplicably didn't dive for Reynolds' hit in the sixth -- but what the hey, it was only the hit that provided the margin of victory, and he's Robinson Cano. I could not figure out why he didn't get to third while Matt did his little dance with Ichiro. On MLB's overhead, you could see why. He trotted into second base while there was a throw to the plate, then stopped. Affter all, he hit 33 HR and had just slugged a double. Who needs to run hard, and this way he got to practice his home run trot. Jackie Robinson, he's not.

A final mini-rant. Last night in the ninth, when Girardi pinch-ran Nunez for Ibanez on third (belatedly, IMO, and wouldn't Gardner have been a better choice since he's faster and more experienced?), that move was praised -- it was called smart, or maybe wise, or maybe both. Yeah, and it's also pretty astute to have nine men on the field every inning. When Buck made the same move in the eighth tonight by running Endy for Chris (at the right time, IMO, even though maybe 20 seconds after I screamed "Chavez" at the TV), there was just the announcement of a pinch runner. Maybe, since none of them seemed to have any familiarity with or interest in how Buck uses Endy, they thought that putting in a faster, better defensive outfielder as a late-inning PR had occurred to him only because he saw the genius in the third-base dugout do it the night before.

More likely, they just don't care. Who wants to waste time learning about and talking about the Washington Generals when the Globetrotters are on the court, the greatness of the Globies is what the audience wants to hear about, and it makes your job easier since you already know that stuff anyway.

All that really matters is that we're even with the MFY on the field, but I sure don't like to us getting the crap beat out of us in the game broadcasts.