Here is a bunch of stuff I was going to write about in my Tuesday newspaper column before I found out about this article by my old St. John's beat pal Ian O'Connor:
For those of us with a vested interest in chaos and controversy, the Mets’ comfy victory Sunday night was a disappointment.
Imagine the fun to be had in Media City if the umpires’ fourth-inning boo-boo had cost the visitors a victory.
Oh, well. It still was interesting to listen to the live accounts of Carlos Delgado’s non-three-run-homer off the leftfield foul pole.
As you would expect, the Mets’ duo on WFAN was more emotional than the Yankees’ on WCBS, but it’s not as if John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman were in denial.
“That’s a terrible call,’’ said Waldman, drawing out the key word, Bill Walton-style. “That’s an awful call.’’
On WFAN, though, Howie Rose grew agitated.
“Oh, boy,’’ he said. “That’s a home run! Oh, boy. This is three runs here! This is three runs at stake! . . . That’s got to be a three-run home run! Oh, boy.’’
Rose went on to express shock at how quickly the third base ump changed his initial call. “If I need a lawyer, I’m not calling Mike Reilly, because he gave up on that case too quickly,’’ he said.
Neither Sterling or Wayne Hagin had any idea initially what was going on, owing to their vantage point on the left side of the press area.
“That ball is, I don’t know what it is,’’ Sterling said. “Is it gone? Is it a fair ball? It’s a fair ball, and it’s a three-run home run for Delgado.’’
Said Hagin: “Line drive down the leftfield line; that is going, going and foul, right at the foul pole, or did it go? It is a home run!’’
On TV, Jon Miller had a better first look, saying, “Down the leftfield line, toward the corner . . . That is a fair ball, a home run!’’
Comments (8)
Thanks for the summary of the way the media told the story. Now how about you try and get a good conversation going about the use of instant replay in baseball?
Hagin was a lot less coherent when listening live than this transcript. Neil - you gotta do a piece on Hagin. The majority of Mets fans that I know can't stand him. He is dull and can't clearly explain what is going on (his call of Reyes's double in the 4th made me fully believe it was an easy fly to Abreu). Also - there is no conversation between Hagin and Howie. The middle innings are very tough to listen to on the radio now (Wayne does PBP for innings 3,4,6,7).
I noticed the same thing about Hagin & Howie. they don't seem to talk that much when Hagin is doing the PBP. It comes off akward.
I miss the the corny jokes between Gary and Howie in the booth- too bad the team stunk then. Although Howie and Hagin are not as bad as the "old days" on SportsChannel/FSNY of Howie and Fran Healey!
Howie is a superb play by play man. I hope that if the Mets move to a different radio station next year (WFAN contract expires this year), Howie will be back next year.
I really wish Eddie C got the 2nd spot in the booth.
I, too, have noticed the relative lack of discussion. I will look into this.
Boog Sciambi would have been an excellent choice, but his national profile has shot up in recent years. He was not going to accept a secondary seat in a local radio booth, even though he grew up a Mets fan on Long Island. (But why would he go to the Braves' new TV network? Ugh).
I just don't get why the Mets and WFAN overlooked Eddie C once again. He knows the team better than most, offers good commentary and obviously has an excellent rapport with Howie.
Hagin may have good pipes, but he's droll, uninterested and detached. That may work in his native Denver, where baseball is of fleeting interest to fans, but not New York. Granted, I disliked Tom McCarthy at first, but within three weeks, I came around.
I will never adapt to Hagin.
Hagin is a journeyman, not suited for a major market. On the other hand Rose is quite the snobbish know-it-all and doesn't appear to me to be easy to get along with. Even with Cohen and Rose and Cohen and Murphy most of the time during innings was spent giving out of town scores and not spent in general conversation with the partner. It's pretty much the same with Suzyn and Sterling, they avoid conversing and she gives the out-of-town scores. Maybe it's a CBS radio sports policy to do a game that way, but I have the Tampa Rays games down here where Dave Wills and Andy Freed not only sound alike, but get along with each other and joke and discuss different things throughout the game, and it's a much more entertaining broadcast (even if the team has mostly stunk throughout my time down here.) You guys would have liked Freed if he agreed to take the Mets' job.
Gary Thorne is a total Sterling. Have you ever heard his hockey calls? Also that little lie about Doug Mirabelli telling him the blood on Schilling's sock was fake would have had caused the Wilpons to fire him.
Stop with the Eddie C. love. What would his catchphrase be? "I cannot disagree!" Sure he is probably being underused by WFAN but Chernoff has made it clear he considers the Connecticut School of Broadcasting the equivalent to a Ph. D.
Sciambi I think is a Yankees fan. Not sure. Plus he weirdly enough despite doing Braves and national games has a radio show in Miami.
Hagin doesn't bother me that much. He is way better than the other announcers out there, believe me and that includes Tom McCarthy.
Andy Freed as far as I know has young kids in school and didn't want them to move. I guess the WFAN situation in the future may have effected his decision since it is very likely the Mets would move to a different station with different takes on broadcasters. Also he's allegedly holding out for the Orioles job growing up idolizing Chuck Thompson and Jack Brickhouse.