MASN broadcast overhaul - Palmer, Thorne, others out

[Philip]

Just now, ChipTait said:

The feed from Fenway today sounded like cicadas...

A lot of the other games around the league have sounded more natural to me.

The rangers sounded so fake. Every pitch sounded like the last out of the 9th inning of WS game seven. And they even had the cavalry trumpets sounding charge. Oy so Fake. And so loud. And again with the so fake.

[lovetoaster]

1 hour ago, ChipTait said:

I listened to the radio call Saturday, while doing home improvement work.  I enjoyed Brown and Arnold quite a bit.  Are they Miller and Angel?  No, but nobody else is.

I watched the MASN feed today.  Sure am going to miss Gary Thorne this season.  Hopefully he’s back in 2021.

I watched MASN on Friday and Saturday, and then mainly listened to the radio broadcast while out running errands today. I think the MASN broadcast is fine. I’m going to miss Thorne and Palmer, but I think Garceau and McDonald are making the most of a weird situation. Still a good broadcast and better than most, IMO. 

As for the radio broadcast, I had a lot of fun listening to Brown and Arnold today. I’m a bit of a broadcasting nerd, and I was impressed. They are a very entertaining tandem.

We have been blessed with some of the best radio broadcasters in baseball history through the years, as you mention. From Thompson to Miller and Angel. I’m not going to put these guys in that category at this point, but I was really impressed. It was really engaging and they had me hooked pretty quickly. Of course it helps when the O’s are winning, but I look forward to listening to them more as the season progresses. 

[interloper]

I don't know if that has been mentioned, but poor Scott G. just can't say "Rio Ruiz" for the life of him.  It is pretty hard to say, I can't fault him. 

[waroriole]

39 minutes ago, interloper said:

I don't know if that has been mentioned, but poor Scott G. just can't say "Rio Ruiz" for the life of him.  It is pretty hard to say, I can't fault him. 

And it’s pronounced San tan dare, right? Ben was saying it correctly, but the other guy was saying it like San tander 

[bobmc]

29 minutes ago, waroriole said:

And it’s pronounced San tan dare, right? Ben was saying it correctly, but the other guy was saying it like San tander 

Well he is a "Frenchman" (Garceau) and you know what THEY say about the French?  (kidding, of course).  Poor Gary Thorne and Encarnacion!

[bmore_heat]

Garceau is so much better than Hunter but he's got to stop cutting off McDonald when he's speaking!

[waroriole]

1 hour ago, bobmc said:

Well he is a "Frenchman" (Garceau) and you know what THEY say about the French?  (kidding, of course).  Poor Gary Thorne and Encarnacion!

No excuse. Ben is Cajun French haha

[bobmc]

1 minute ago, waroriole said:

No excuse. Ben is Cajun French haha

Touche!  

[Frobby]

Having watched or heard bits of several games on both TV and radio, I’m very pleased with this year’s broadcast crews, including the folks on the postgame shows. Scott Garceau and Ben McDonald have been very solid on TV — especially McDonald, who’s really good at passing along his knowledge and observations.    Bordick is much better on the postgame than on the broadcasts, and a big upgrade over Dempsey IMO.    Whoever he’s been paired with has been solid.     On radio, I’ve really liked what Geoff Arnold brings to the table, and Melanie Newman has been solid as well.    Overall, there’s a lot to like here.    

[SilverRocket]

Can't say I've been enjoying the commentary. Garceau has the same mispronunciations and inaccuracies as Thorne but without any of the energy and excitement. Ben McDonald just goes on about productive at-bats and bunting like it's 1990. Palmer had a little bit of that too, but he seems to have kept up with the advances in the game more, despite being 20 years older. The one positive is that McDonald identifies the pitches correctly and is pretty good at describing a pitcher's repertoire.

[section18]

Ben predicts pitches regularly and is very informative. Is Ben on all of the shortened season games? I hope so. He is awesome! I think somehow he is helping the players and coaches. Not illegally just being around.

Scott doesn't have much enthusiasm but think he will get better. I think no fans makes him that way. Ben is fantastic and holds things together.  Change is good!

[Sports Guy]

Big Ben is great.  Not quite as good as Palmer but isn’t that far behind either.  
 

Garceau has surprised me.  First of all, the mans voice hasn’t changed.  Secondly, his PBP hasn’t been that bad.  Thorne is probably a little better but Garceau knows the players better and Baltimore history as well.  He doesn’t seem to make the same mistakes Thorne does consistently and Garceau appears to be sober for the whole game.

[DrungoHazewood]

4 hours ago, SilverRocket said:

Ben McDonald just goes on about productive at-bats and bunting like it's 1990. Palmer had a little bit of that too, but he seems to have kept up with the advances in the game more, despite being 20 years older.

I hadn't noticed that about McDonald, and Palmer has been reading analysis stuff since the 1980s and makes it clear in his commentary.

[survivedc]

Big fan of the radio crew. Unfortunately no Joe Angel like voice quality but really energetic and stylized deliveries of the the action.

[Yardball85]

Ben is great.  He's no Palmer, but when you have an A+ in Palmer, it is hard to beat that.

I like Garceau.  He's a Baltimore guy, he's been working in Baltimore for years.  But he just has no enthusiasm or excitement on his calls.  Throne or even Hutner would've been a lot of fun for the success we've been having.