Watching the Yanks and Mets on TV — what once was as easy as pie, Scooter Rizzuto Pie — has become more complicated and stressful as pi.
Pi, as we all know, is the ratio of any circle to its circumference by its diameter, calculated by dividing the length of the circle into its circumference. In decimal form, the value of pi is approximately 3.14.
In modern-standard baseball terms it’s WAR-plus-OBPS, minus the eighth inning-only relief pitcher in corresponding ratio to sweepers vs. four-seam fastballs depending on the random variant among home-plate umpires.
The first thing demanded of local fans is to find the darned games — if one can find them, if one has access to them, if one is willing to pay more to see them as exclusively sold by MLB and its teams from behind streaming paywalls.
It’s like looking for “Hey!” in a needle stack.
Friday night’s Dodgers-Yankees represented a neo-rarity as MLB, rather than risk another minimized-by-avarice audience for an attractive game between the largest TV market teams, included YES and the Dodgers’ cable network along with Apple TV+.
Does it matter to Rob Manfred and Co. that Apple’s baseball productions are dreadful, stacked with live split screens, ill-timed and worthless “Look what we can do!” in-game, on-field live player interviews and absurd screen-clutter “probability” data?
Quantity over quality. For $85 million per year, MLB would authorize FanDuel to introduce “Bet By Pitch.”
And if you missed it, so did Dodgers third baseman Kiké Hernandez who booted a grounder while being interviewed by Apple’s Wayne Randazzo and analyst Dontrelle Willis who wanted to know — had to know — about Hernandez’s flashy shoes.
As the ball was hit toward Hernandez, Willis was asking the following: “You guys are a close-knit ball club. Where does that come from?”
And with that institutionalized outside intrusion, the grounder bounced off Hernandez.
To his postgame candid credit, Hernandez gave a Manfred-certified, follow-the-money answer as to whether he was distracted by the Q&A:
“Maybe a little bit,” adding that he wouldn’t refuse another chance to be tethered to an earpiece and live microphone during a game. “No, because we’re getting paid. I like money.”
Anyway, Friday night MLB got what it richly didn’t deserve: YES had its most viewers since Opening Day and its largest Friday night audience in the past two seasons.
Beyond that, with the Mets playing two in London — on two different networks, Fox then ESPN — and the three-game Dodgers-Yanks series here on YES, Apple+, Fox and ESPN, the telecasts were, at too many times, butchered by design.
In the second inning of Sunday’s Dodgers-Yanks, Anthony Volpe hit a high one-hop chopper to the first base side of the mound. Pitcher Tyler Glasnow gloved it then, with his momentum already carrying him toward first, easily beat Volpe to the bag. Easy as pie.
But ESPN play-by-play man Karl Ravech, perhaps distracted as he was interviewing LA’s Teoscar Hernandez as the latter played right field — asked what it’s like to play with so many star teammates; Hernandez’s surprise answer was he enjoys it! — broke off the chat to marvel at Glasnow’s no-big-deal play:
“A multisports athlete growing up was Tyler Glasnow, and what a play he just made!” Ugh!
Sunday’s Mets-Phils from London, I read Monday, became a close game as Phillies manager Rob Thomson did what MLB managers are now required to do: He removed five effective pitchers until finding one to blow the game.
That game was easier to read about than actually watch as ESPN chose to provide crowd shots after every (expletive barely deleted) pitch!
Perhaps that’s why Michael Kay, calling a Mets game for his ESPN employers, was unable to concentrate, even failing to recognize that Harrison Bader was pinch-hitting until the third pitch Bader faced.
Meanwhile, YES has so many Yankees announcers you often don’t know who’s calling the game. “Scorecards, here! Can’t tell the announcers without a scorecard!”
Sunday, early in the early Phils-Mets — it began here at 10 a.m. — there was a 3:20 delay to reach a second opinion on a replay challenge. As the Brits cry, “Tally-halt!”
Later Sunday night there was a lengthy admiration society session held by ESPN’s broadcast team to praise Aaron Judge for his modesty, class, dignity and great respect for The Game. “You’ll never see him do a bat-flip,” they concluded. Agreed, and in full!
But then why does ESPN and other networks — especially MLB’s own — perform joyful backflips to show and promote bat-flips, and in super slow-motion to ensure that no one misses and everyone enjoys the undignified, classless immodesty that has removed so much sport from the sport?
Has anyone on ESPN’s crew ever made an issue of a player’s absence of class after performing a bat-flip? To the contrary, the bat-flippers are rewarded with pandering, if unconvincing, approvals and inclusion in highlights packages.
So don’t tell us about Judge’s first-class class, tell the guys calling the network’s shots and producing the promos. Tell MLB. Risk the condemnation of antisocial online knuckleheads by voicing your disapproval rather than pretending to enjoy what you can’t stand.
Telling the truth can be habit-forming, easy as pie.
Hurley’s team play bad fit for NBA
Given that Danny Hurley’s UConn championship teams succeed by sharing the ball, looking inside for the open man, don’t rely on 3-point bombs and play determined defense, why, at any price, would he sacrifice that to coach any NBA team, let alone LeBron James’ Lakers?
Hurley is also an overly excitable unchained coach given to right-here, right-now scoldings of his players. NBAers don’t easily suffer such coaches.
Reader/neat facts-finder Herb Eichen notes that in recently lost NBA greats, Jerry West and Bill Walton, each had odd achievements.
West, for the 1969 Lakers vs. the Celtics in seven games, was the only NBA Finals MVP for a losing side.
Walton, with Portland in 1978, was the only player to win the MVP then, with Boston in 1986, win the NBA’s Sixth Man Award.
The Yanks weren’t scheduled to play on Memorial Day because that would mean playing the day after a game in San Diego to play the Angels in Anaheim, two hours away.
But playing a late Sunday ESPN game vs. the Dodgers followed the next night by a game in Kansas City was no problem.
Ray Ferraro, ESPN’s lead Stanley Cup analyst, perhaps as a matter of neglect, has been a valued presence. He concisely speaks useful sense and his “oot and aboot” Canadian accent makes for authentic audio.
From Ferraro’s ice-side position during Game 2 of the Oilers-Panthers final, a weird collision of circumstances: he spoke of slumping and now hobbled — Nurse! — Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse who was seen leaning over the boards from his seat on the end of the bench to listen to Ferraro speak of him.
