When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby

04.21.2008
Hear Ye

MicroI make this observation every year, but it’s always worth the mention: We are blessed with the announcers we have. Now that I’m an MLB Gameday audio subscriber, I’ve caught bits and bites of other teams’ broadcasts, and they range from bad to unlistenable.

You can also watch nearly-instant video highlights through the sfgiants.com Gameday program — very cool (go to the inning-by-inning recaps and look for the blue button). But this weekend it was the St. Louis home TV feed that provided the footage, and the announcers were either horrible homers (“That kid Bowker has been killing us!”) or asleep at the wheel. In the compilation of Lincecum’s highlights from Saturday, most of his strikeouts barely elicit acknowledgment from the broadcast team.

All broadcasters are partisan; the best keep it in check or have a sense of humor about it. Kruk and Kuip can be loud, a little goofy, and at times rah-rah, especially Krukow. Perhaps a small sample of their clips would seem to an outsider abrasive and overly partisan. But they’re better than 99% of the other voices I’ve heard. Jon Miller is still the best, and Dave Fleming has made strides in losing the golly-gee-whiz tenor of the new guy, though he hasn’t brought me to the comfort level of Miller or Kuiper, who know how to sustain a mellow groove then modulate according to the events unfolding. 

The best test of a baseball broadcaster: imagine a long car ride, perhaps down the monotony of Highway 5 or up into the mountains at night, with nothing but you and the game on the radio. With Jon Miller, it’s an anticipated pleasure, the way a kid can’t wait for story time, the way you settle into your seat in a movie theater just as the lights dim.  

***

Speaking of small sample sizes, here are a few notes on the Giants’ stats so far:

* Brian Bocock, .179 / .303 / .196. Better than Rich Aurilia, .182 / .237 / .182. Keep this up, and Aurilia could be gone by mid-May, although his ability to play all four infield positions will cut him extra slack. Starting him at first base is folly, however. The Bowker-Ortmeier platoon should begin immediately, and Richie should learn to adjust to life as the utility infielder.

* Bocock’s .303 OBP is better than five other players with at least 45 at-bats.

* I’d gladly take this over a full season: Fred Lewis, .304 / .371 / .446, and Aaron Rowand, .333 / .365 / .500.  

* Woe is Matt Cain, tough-luck loser, yes. But nearly two baserunners per inning — 21 hits, 15 BBs, 20.1 IP, the highest WHIP (1.77) among the team’s starters —doesn’t help his cause.

* Tim Lincecum: opponents are 5–for-5 in stolen bases against him. Keep an eye on that.

(Photo courtesy of mattkeefe. His flickr site is here.)
Also on the Network:



[April 21, 2008 2:00 PM]  |  link  |  reply
bbstucco said

You know, nobody said this was going to be a good team this year. That said, we are 10 games into a 12 game stretch against the 2 teams with the best records in the NL (at least before we played them, the Cards fell a bit due to losing to us). And we're 5-5 in that stretch.

.500 ball against the best of the NL? I'm impressed.

[April 21, 2008 2:20 PM]  |  link  |  reply
delorean said

Thanks for giving some props to our broadcasters, and for corroborating me feelings about other teams'. I watched some of the Rays/WHite Sox game last week, and those guys were unbelievable homers -- way worse than the clowns the Braves have in their booth (and who I used to think were the worst in this regard). Miller is the best in the business, and Kruk and Kuip's chemistry is unbeatable. They are a joy to listen to, and we're very, very lucky to have them.

[April 21, 2008 3:05 PM]  |  link  |  reply
dignan said

Couldn't agree more about Kruk, Kuip & John Miller. Even watching the A's with their inferior Kuiper and Fosse.. they just grate on me.

As to Rich, for all his "utility" I wonder if his ability to play competently anywhere other than the corners has dried up along with his bat. I kept waiting to see him make a start or two at SS this year with our current starter as, y'know, a failed single A hitter. Anyways, he's part of our past but certainly not our future, even if his wife is hot.

[April 21, 2008 3:11 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Frank said

I also agree. And I think K&K have more and better insights into the game.
I have MLB TV, so I can see most of the games. Unfortunately, with MLBTV, your only option is the home team broadcast. That is great for Giant's home games, but it is beyond annoying when they are on the road. San Diego is the worst. Houston, St Lo, Atl - awful. Compared to them, Az is almost tolerable.

[April 21, 2008 3:14 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Chris said

I didn't mind the St. Louis guys too much, they were boring and a little bland but I've heard worst.

I personally can't stand Grace and Sutton for the D-Backs. Sutton especially is overtly annoying, constantly screaming when anything happens that goes the D-Backs way. I think Grace is supposed to be folksy and down to earth but he instead he comes off as a moron.

[April 21, 2008 3:46 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Cardinal70 said

Shannon and Rooney on the radio are pretty good for the Cards. The FSN crew of Al Hrbrosky and Dan McGlaughlin are middling, and the Sunday games done by KSDK are pretty bad.

From what I've heard on XM, SF does have good radio broadcasters. Always good to here Jon Miller, of course!

[April 21, 2008 4:13 PM]  |  link  |  reply
dj said

Well said on our broadcasters. I thought they did a good job Saturday on Linecum, stressing a what neat opportunity this is for us to see a star develop on the hometown team.

[April 21, 2008 6:21 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

Thanks - always good to get reports from other regions. I've been meaning to catch a few Mariners games just to hear Dave Niehaus go absolutely ballistic. I remember a clip from some intense game which the Mariners won in dramatic fashion, and Niehaus was unintelligible. It sounded like his eyes were about to pop out of his head.

Is he still on the job up there? Perhaps BigO can help us out...

[April 21, 2008 6:27 PM]  |  link  |  reply
reeky said

Thank God for MLB audio -- being stranded in the desert, I would have to listen to the D'back rah-rahs all the time, and that would mean ice picks in the ears.

I try to occasionally listen to "the other side" just to get a different perspective on the Gs -- kinda like reading the opposing blogs. The other good broadcasters are the upper-Midwest guys in Milwaukee (loved Bob Uecker) and Minnesota and even Chicago, plus (can you believe it?!) Boston -- less partisan than you would assume, probably from all those years of losing. The Yankees guys/gal are OK but surprisingly unsophisticated. The Mets guys are pretty good. Only the older Boston guy (Castigone?) tells great stories like Miller.

It's obviously a north/south thing!

I'm still waiting for Phlem to get out of his Ed-McMahon laugh-at-everybody-else's-jokes role...

[April 21, 2008 8:05 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM replied to reeky

>for Phlem to get out of his Ed-McMahon laugh-at-everybody-else's-jokes role...

Forgive him, he's still a little giddy at being a major-league broadcaster before his 21st birthday.

[April 21, 2008 8:35 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Zo said

I have to relate this: When Hideki Matsui started playing with the Yankees, I was in Tokyo during the start of the season. The Yankees game was being broadcast and re-broadcast on tv. It had Japanese broadcasters, but when they would break, for some reason the Yankee broadcasters would come through. They sounded like southern bumpkins, "What's he doin' down thair? Maybe he's takin' a sooshi break! Yuk, Yuk." Embarassing. People in Baltimore are still pissed at Angelos for letting Miller get away.

[April 21, 2008 9:56 PM]  |  link  |  reply
diehardan said

Mr. Malo, this is my 1st post. I found your blog 7 or 8 months ago and I must say, it's one of my mandatory stops every day. Keep up the good work. I was raised in the Bay Area but moved to Idaho 14 yrs ago, so MLB Audio has been a Godsend. Any Giants fan in their 40's(like me) or older has been blessed with the great broadcasters we've seemingly always had. I started with Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons,then it was Al Micheals, Lindsey Nelson,Hank Greenwall,Ted Robinson, Jon Miller, Kuip and Kruk. Maybe I'm biased, but most other teams have announcers that are mediocre at best.

[April 22, 2008 9:41 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Mark O'Connor said

Phlegm could use a dose of Adderall now and then, he seems to think that dead air means "gotta keep yammering." No knock on the wonderful Mr. Miller, but I miss Lon Simmons. He understood baseball's relaxed pace, and didn't constantly try to entertain us.