I Had To Turn It Off When

Taking their cue from cable news shows, in which there is a host and a "roundtable" or "panel" of folks, each with their own unique opinion on things, the broadcast booths in various sports now have a similar crowd of people. And that's unfortunate!

If you want to help lower the unemployment rate or if you think every former professional athlete brings something to the table, then you will have ten different analysts in a studio discussing a game as ESPN and the various other networks are famous for. Being in a studio is one thing but to put three guys in a football or baseball booth usually leads to folly and is totally unnecessary.

Invariably, one of the analysts feels the need to inject his expertise about something even if it's the most simple of plays. Maybe it's the feeling that they must earn their big paychecks so they offer something -- anything -- to the listening audience. Usually, talk follows after every pitch. "There you see Jeter going in the hole, backhanding it and then straightening up and throwing to first to get the speedy runner" is often the kind of commentary we get despite the fact that we just saw the play and can figure out what happened all by our lonesome. And let's not forget my personal favorite, the "pitch-by-pitch" replay. "Slider low," "Fastball for a strike,""Curve in the dirt," "Hanging slider for a home run." Is that what happened? Gee, thanks, fellas.

Apparently it hasn't dawned on the powers-that-be that the best baseball announcer is one that works solo, and has for many, many years. The Dodgers' Vin Scully can't be touched by the modern-day announcers and, yet, there is no attempt by them to emulate him. Incessant chatter in the booth before, during and after every pitch combined with the condescending notion that many folks out in the audience are watching their first baseball game seems to dominate today's broadcasts.

So why do I bring this up, you ask? In last Tuesday night's series opener between the Yankees and Phillies, YES announcer, Al Leiter, working with Paul O'Neill and Michael Kay, proved my point with some "I-gotta-say-something" silliness when the game was not even two innings old.

With no score in the game, a runner on first and one out, Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay walked Jorge Posada to put runners on first and second. Leiter told us that "It was only Halladay's 13th walk of the year." Now, does that sound like a pitcher who pitches "around" hitters? Kay did emphasize that the walk was on four pitches, three of which were close by the way, and Leiter took the bait as he went on to say, "It almost looked like he was pitching around him."

So one of the best pitchers in baseball pitches around people in the second inning, huh? And why would that be, Al? Is Halladay afraid of Posada hitting a 2-run homer to give the Yankees the lead in the bottom of the second? Does Halladay feel Brett Gardner is the weaker hitter so he rather pitch to him, even though he is the tougher batter to double up? Or could it have been that Halladay just missed his spots, albeit not by much, trying to get Posada to chase a ball outside? Nothing more, nothing less. Leiter never did tell us why he thought Halladay was pitching so carefully to Posada. Oh, well.

And when Gardner lined a base hit into the right-center gap that went all the way to the wall for a triple and two RBIs, do you still think that Halladay wanted to put an extra runner on base in that inning now, Al? Please.

Me, personally, I would have liked to ask Leiter -- former professional pitcher, that is -- if that's the way he pitched when he was playing? Al, were you that afraid of a batter in the bottom of the second inning that you pitched so far around him that you walked him putting yourself in a deeper hole? I'm pretty sure what Leiter's answer would have been when he was on the mound. Now, in the broadcast booth, hey, that's another story. It's say something -- anytime, all the time -- because the idiots watching won't know any better anyway.

Read more of Steve Scafa on the original "I Had To Turn It Off When" blog.