ALDS IGT, Indians at Yankees, Game 4

[Frayed Knot]

Sets up some nice pitching matchups for the next round too since Boston is going to have almost a week off and Cleveland managed to save Sabathia and Carmona from having to go a 2nd time.

[metirish]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Do Sager's jacket and shirt even come close to matching?

They never do apparently .

[Zvon]

10 bucks Torre goes nowhere.

I think George was just trying to assure the Yanks still are the lead story, even when they lose.

Clemens is done though.
Stick a fork in him.

[Zvon]

Uh oh, Joe's gonna cry.

[Gwreck]

The whole "Torre's gonna be fired" angle is pretty stupid. His contract is up at the end of the season. It was rumored long before this season even started that he didn't want to come back for '08.

I'm just happy that Clemens ends his career (again) on a bad performance.

[Valadius]

They lose!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

All's well that ends well. I can go to bed happy after watching the Indians celebrate their ALDS victory in Yankee Stadium.

[Guest Rotblatt]

I'm bitterly dissapointed . . .

that my tv didn't show me the obligatory "Derek Jeter sitting on the bench, looking like he's about to cry" shot. Did I just miss it, or did Jeter really run to the lockerroom that fast?

[metirish]

Even when criticizing Jeter they can't help but fall over themselves to blow him.


Must take blame

[Guest Edgy DC]

That's just awful.

[HahnSolo]

I guess I still have Met hangover, but I don't have the same joy as on Elimination Days past.

[Guest Edgy DC]

This sort of rant is usally the type of stuff you get from the tabloids. Good for the Times

Tv Sports

An Error-Plagued Game, but From the Broadcast Booth

By RICHARD SANDOMIR

Published: October 9, 2007

No announcer is perfect. A mistake now and then is expected. The best ones realize that they�ve made errors and often do their best to fix them quickly.

Then there is Chip Caray, TBS�s lead baseball announcer, who has been calling the Yankees-Indians division series and will work deeper into the postseason on the National League Championship Series. His play-by-play of the Yankees� 8-4 win in Game 3 on Sunday night was packed with errors and silly strategy, enough to give me agita.

Caray�s skein of faux pas in Game 3, as well as during Game 2, befogged his announcing like the insects that swarmed Joba Chamberlain on Friday night.

He stated that Derek Jeter was playing in his 49th postseason game � �No. 1 of all time.� Truth: it was his 49th division series game, out of 122 postseason games.

He likened the �dynamic duo� of Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera to the Rivera-John Wetteland bullpen pairing in �those great early years of Joe Torre,� when they were dominating the World Series. Truth: Rivera and Wetteland were Yankee teammates for two seasons, and Torre managed them only in 1996.

He said the �Yankees led the world� in home runs this season with 201. He liked saying it so much he said it again. Truth: The Brewers led the majors with 231, followed by the Phillies with 213 and the Reds at 204. The Yankees and Marlins were tied at 201.

He extolled Alex Rodriguez�s �offensive heroics in the first two months of the season� for keeping the Yankees in the race. Truth: A-Rod had a sensational April, but he slumped in May to a .235 batting average with 5 home runs and 11 runs batted in.

He introduced Indians reliever Joe Borowski in Game 3 as having played for the Brewers and the Reds. Truth: He never played for Milwaukee, and while he once signed with the Reds, he never made it out of spring training. Caray also noted his hometown, Bayonne, N.J., but pronounced it as if it were part of the Louisiana bayou.

The error bug also hit the reporter Craig Sager, who reflected on the absence of Bob Sheppard, the Yankee Stadium public address announcer, and said that his first game in 1951 was between the Giants and the Yankees. Truth: The Red Sox were in town.

Caray does not distinguish a go-ahead run from a winning run. In Cleveland on Friday, he said the Indians had the winning run on second base in the bottom of the eighth, and he put the Yankees in the same position in the top of the ninth. Wrong. He also believes that a runner on second will automatically score on a single. Not always.

He also has an annoying air of certitude. With the bases loaded Sunday, and the Yankees leading, 5-3, thanks to Johnny Damon�s three-run homer, Caray said, �This is a spot where they have to score another run to win the game.� Does he also read palms?

That attitude led him on Sunday, after Rodriguez�s first hit of the series, to say, �And here come the Yankees!� A-Rod went back to the bench on Jorge Posada�s double play.

After Damon�s run-scoring single in the third, he said, �And here they come!�

No, they didn�t: Jeter promptly grounded into a double play.

I�m sure that Caray believed his own words when he said, about the Andy Pettitte-Fausto Carmona Game 2 matchup, that �you can�t get better postseason pitching than we�ve seen tonight.� But there had been better, like that perfect game at Yankee Stadium in 1956 when the 42-year-old Chip�s legendary grandfather, Harry, was only 42.

Had the frequently (and ridiculously) loud Caray stayed on mute throughout the series, the analysis of his partners, Tony Gwynn and, to a greater degree, Bob Brenly, would have been worth three or four hours of my time. But a stronger play-by-play voice, like TBS�s other division series announcers, Don Orsillo, Ted Robinson or Dick Stockton, would have made Brenly and Gwynn better. TBS knows how to fix what�s wrong. Yesterday it added SNY�s Ron Darling to its studio program, providing experience that neophytes like Frank Thomas and Cal Ripken lack.

Here are some questions to ponder through the rest of Caray�s work this postseason. Why isn�t he better prepared? If his producer, Jeff Gowen, is listening to what he is saying, why isn�t Caray improving? And why should I have to keep rushing to MLB.com to fact-check his facts?

Notes

Through Sunday�s games, TBS�s division series average viewership of 5.4 million is up impressively from 4.5 million last year on ESPN, ESPN2 and Fox. ...The NHL Network, with 50 live games and other programming, announced deals to be carried by Cablevision, Comcast, Cox, Time Warner, DirecTV and Dish. It will most likely be available largely on digital sports tiers.

E-mail:

sportsbiz@nytimes.com

[Gwreck]

I didn't listen to game 3 with the sound on (was at dinner with a friend) but did for game 4. Caray is indeed as awful as indicated.

Aside from a smattering of factual errors, he also appeared to be taking lessons from the John Sterling school of broadcasting, including the absolutely putrid "Some Vitamin D from the Milk Man!" after Melky Cabrera make a good defensive play in the outfield.

[Guest Edgy DC]

The thing is, I don't think he's stupid. I think he's got a cushy job and has just grown lazy in it.

[bmfc1]

"Some Vitamin D from the Milk Man!" ARGH! I wish you were kidding.

Neil Best, in [u:0a4abae4e3]Newsday[/u:0a4abae4e3], called Chip Carey a "mostly reliable pro." No, he is only a horrible announcer... and he's doing the NLCS, too!

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Carey is too loud, too anxious to make it dramatic.

That was a poorly played series by the yankees overall, wasn't it?

Wang, Clemens, Jeter and Posada all had lousy serieses. Joba and Vizcaino in their only appearances were bad.

Damon and Cano did a'ight. Though Cano looked awful slow on the DP pivot.

[seawolf17]

Calling it "the winning run" was driving me nuts too.

[metirish]

Not only didn't Carey get better he got worse IMO, a small thing that annoyed me yesterday was after Rodriguez homered in the 7th he said that the yankees tack on another run to make it 6 to 3, to me that makes it sound like the yankees added to their lead when of course they were down 6 to 2.

[Centerfield]

I get the feeling he listens to tapes of Joe Buck and wishes he were him.

One of Chip's most glaring errors was when he named Kei Igawa as one of the Yankees' young, home grown prospects.

The "Here come the Yankees!" bit annoyed me too. It's a single Chip. Calm the fuck down.

On Edit: He also creamed himself calling Johnny Damon's running catch in the 9th. It was a nice catch, but you would have thought he pulled an Endy listening to hit.

[Centerfield]

Oh and Tony Gwynn looks like he ate himself.

[metirish]

I wonder if Gywnn were deflated would his voice be so squeaky.

[Valadius]

Tony Gwynn looks like a blueberry when he wears a blue shirt.

Caray's "Here come the Yankees" made me want to punch him. You don't say that after one freaking hit. Three straight hits, maybe. But one hit?!?!? How biased can you get?

[bmfc1]

"Goodness, gracious", Suzyn Waldman cried during the post-game show!

http://binny13.googlepages.com/greatmomentinbroadcasting1.mp3

[metirish]

Oh no, I'm a bit speechless.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

My hair hurts.

[metirish]

Any tape of Ed Coleman crying after the Mets season ended?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Linda Richman could not be reached for comment.

[Valadius]

That's absolutely priceless.

[MFS62]

="bmfc1"]"Goodness, gracious", Suzyn Waldman cried during the post-game show! http://binny13.googlepages.com/greatmomentinbroadcasting1.mp3

I have just gained respect for (please stick with this) Michael Kay.
He just went off on Suzyn, saying there are important things in life you pray for and cry for. And he mentioned her by name when he said he felt her display of tears was not appropriate (my words).

Later

[seawolf17]

That's beyond pathetic.