Ben McDonald quotables

[Os4days]

I watched Felix being interviewed after the game and Kevin Brown asked him his thoughts on Cano. This is the second time in the last maybe week  that Brown asked Felix about Cano. Felix was cordial saying something about Cano being the rock, in that he is so solid but seriously?

He just closed out the game against the heart of the lineup including striking out Ohtani and you’re asking about Cano??  Just plain inappropriate in my opinion  

 

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, Os4days said:

I watched Felix being interviewed after the game and Kevin Brown asked him his thoughts on Cano. This is the second time in the last maybe week  that Brown asked Felix about Cano. Felix was cordial saying something about Cano being the rock, in that he is so solid but seriously?

He just closed out the game against the heart of the lineup including striking out Ohtani and you’re asking about Cano??  Just plain inappropriate in my opinion  

 

He already asked him the questions about Ohtani etc.

[Hallas]

59 minutes ago, Os4days said:

I like Ben as the color guy. He’s more exciting than Palmer who is a bit bland. Maybe blasphemy but my opinion. 

Palmer's kind of getting up there in age.  You can definitely hear it in his voice - it doesn't have the same smoothness it used to - and I think he might be getting a touch slow in terms of his storytelling etc.  I didn't like McDonald his first year or two but he's definitely grown on me and when he's paired up with Brown they seem to bring out the best in each other.  If we're talking about the 2023 versions of the two as casters, I'd probably take McDonald.  If we picked the best year I'd still take Palmer.

[Os4days]

11 minutes ago, Frobby said:

He already asked him the questions about Ohtani etc.

So what! While these guys are teammates , they are still competitors and asking him about a guy who could take his closer role is just poor interviewing skills. 

[Os4days]

24 minutes ago, Frobby said:

He already asked him the questions about Ohtani etc.

Imagine you just completed a big project at work as the lead or you win a huge sale and your boss ask you to describe how great the second person in charge was during the process. 

[Billy F-Face3]

33 minutes ago, Os4days said:

I watched Felix being interviewed after the game and Kevin Brown asked him his thoughts on Cano. This is the second time in the last maybe week  that Brown asked Felix about Cano. Felix was cordial saying something about Cano being the rock, in that he is so solid but seriously?

He just closed out the game against the heart of the lineup including striking out Ohtani and you’re asking about Cano??  Just plain inappropriate in my opinion  

 

It also concerned me that he they were talking about Ohtani over the PA while Ohtani was in the other clubhouse hearing all this. There's always the chance the other player can misinterpret things or take something the wrong way when Bautista was answering about throwing the ball to where "his swing was the weakest" or whatever was said to that affect. (And when you have multiple interpreters through 3 different languages, things do get lost in translation.)

[Billy F-Face3]

21 minutes ago, Hallas said:

Palmer's kind of getting up there in age.  You can definitely hear it in his voice - it doesn't have the same smoothness it used to - and I think he might be getting a touch slow in terms of his storytelling etc.  I didn't like McDonald his first year or two but he's definitely grown on me and when he's paired up with Brown they seem to bring out the best in each other.  If we're talking about the 2023 versions of the two as casters, I'd probably take McDonald.  If we picked the best year I'd still take Palmer.

Same here. 100 % with you on that analysis. I wasn't impressed with the Ben/Kevin combo last season. During the summer, I kept asking "Where's Jim Palmer?!?" But they both grew on me and Ben himself has grown on me calling games. He certainly has more color and more energy than the national guys on Fox do. Those guys who were calling the playoffs and the Worlds Weries was like watching ASMR to fall asleep.

Ben is at least exciting. My only gripe is when the production team starts getting distracted with interviews and games of "Would you rather" instead of paying attention to what's happening in the game at that moment. I bugs me when a guy is hitting a triple and they're still prattling on about a favorite snack or something like that. I want them to call the play.

All of this said, I've grown to appreciate Ben, but Jim Palmer is still my favorite. I'm going to enjoy his career while we still have him. You never know how long that might be, so enjoy every moment. Jim ties the game together and brings me back to earlier times to remind me of how much I loved baseball in my youth.

 

Anyway, here's some of my favorite Ben sayings...

"He got it dancing like a Minna in shallow water!"

"That turned so much it needs a blinker."

"That was dirtier than a Bourbon Street Martini!"

"Spin 'em if ya got 'em!"
"Do it Kidd!"

[murph]

And WE are all new again!

[CynBeth]

I absolutely love Ben and Kevin. No disrespect to Jim. I really like when The Mountain is coming in and Ben says something about turning back the clocks it’s mountain time.

[Ohfan67]

9 hours ago, Billy F-Face3 said:

I'm beginning to think that Ben thinks of these late at night before bed time and writes them down, then stuffs them in his back pocket to be used on game day. These are great lol.

I'm sure he keeps track of these things and is working on new quips all the time. I also suspect that the O's broadcasts are getting his best material from his LSU Tiger broadcasts. 

 

I love Jim Palmer in the booth, but I do think that overall McDonald is better. I think it would be more noticeable if Palmer was not a Baltimore Orioles Hero. It's important to note that I'm comparing a 77 year old Jim Palmer to a 55 year old Ben McDonald. It's amazing that Palmer is still crushing it at 77. 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Ohfan67 said:

I'm sure he keeps track of these things and is working on new quips all the time. I also suspect that the O's broadcasts are getting his best material from his LSU Tiger broadcasts. 

 

I love Jim Palmer in the booth, but I do think that overall McDonald is better. I think it would be more noticeable if Palmer was not a Baltimore Orioles Hero. It's important to note that I'm comparing a 77 year old Jim Palmer to a 55 year old Ben McDonald. It's amazing that Palmer is still crushing it at 77. 

We've also been hearing Palmer's material for decades.

[Ohfan67]

5 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

We've also been hearing Palmer's material for decades.

Very true. But I'm partly thinking about how McDonald uses video and stats to break down the game in ways that Palmer does not, not just schtick.  The content of the color commentary is actually a bit different IMO. 

 

P.S. Palmer has a very nice broadcasting voice. Smooth. 

Edited May 18, 2023 by Ohfan67

[MouncastleandMcCormick]

"Puts his nose on it" for hitters (used twice last night - once on that nice Santander single) is a favorite of mine.

[Sydnor]

I’m not sure it’s a quotable, but perhaps my favorite thing Ben has said this year is “Yes!” when Santander caught Andujar’s fly ball on Saturday night. It wasn’t quite a yell, but it was a little louder than normal. I don’t think he intended it. He was just rooting for the team like we were, and that was pretty cool in my opinion.

[AdamK]

11 hours ago, Barnaby Graves said:

Ben would make a good MLB video game commentator guy.

More importantly, he makes a great televised broadcast guy, both for us and nationally televised games.

The booth work in the braves/O's was practically saved by him.

Love what we've got going on up there.

Edited May 18, 2023 by AdamK
autofill messed with intended phrasing