Baseball Reviews - Information

AQB Logo

Game 5 NLCS: Braves 7, Padres 6

Fox, Padres Have Rough 8th

Fox loses the ball and its World Series standing
on two-run hit by the Braves' Tony Graffanino.

By George Stahl

Like the Padres last night, Fox looked ready for the World Series early in the game. And like San Diego, Fox lost that look in the eighth inning. But while the Padres were messing up in the field, Fox was screwing up in the broadcast.

Fox inadequately covered Tony Graffanino’s double/inside-the-park home run, which turned out to be the difference in the game. With the pitcher on first, the Braves’ Graffanino stroked a double to left center. The Padres eventually threw the ball home in an attempt to get Braves pitcher John Rocker out, but the throw got by the catcher and went out of play, allowing Graffanino to score from third, where he had gone on the throw.

Fox screwed up coverage of this play in three ways:

1. It never showed or explained what happened to the ball after it got by the catcher. Fox play-by-play announcer Joe Buck, seemingly unsure of what exactly happened, simply said the ball must have gone out of play, which is why the umpires allowed Graffanino to score.

But how can Fox, with all its cameras there, miss what happened to the ball? How come none of the announcers saw what happened to ball? Did it go into a dugout? Did a fan touch it? Did it go in the stands? Buck made his statement after it was clear that the umpires were going to allow Graffanino to score.

And where was Padres pitcher Donnie Wall, who is responsible for backing up the catcher in case of an overthrow? And how come analysts Tim McCarver and Bob Brenly didn’t remark on Wall or the ball?

2. Fox showed but never explained why the Padres made an appeal to second base after the Graffanino hit. Was it for the pitcher Rocker or Graffanino? Plus, the announcers didn’t analyze the video to see if the Padres were right or wrong on the appeal.

3. Finally, with all the craziness, Fox failed to show the walk to Chipper Jones, who followed Graffanino.

Graffanino’s hit certainly was an unusual and complex play, but unfortunately Fox handled it no better than the Padres. And because of that, it might keep their coverage from being World Series caliber.

Which is a shame because the three-man booth had its strongest game to that point. For example, in the fourth inning, with Braves pitcher John Smoltz batting and Andruw Jones on third, McCarver said the Braves like to try the suicide squeeze in this situation. On the next pitch, the Padres busted a squeeze attempt and tagged Jones out. Only an announcer like McCarver, who is quite familiar with the Braves M.O., having announced so many Braves games over the past decade, could have made that call.

McCarver also did an excellent job explaining why Padres manager Bruce Bochy brought in his best starter, Kevin Brown, as a reliever. While the move may have shocked some fans, McCarver explained Bochy's thinking.

Fox opened its coverage with a short, funny skit by pregame show host Steve Lyons. The former player known as “Psycho” was sitting near home plate, humming the Monday Night Football theme and banging two little plastic Braves and Padres helmets. It was cute takeoff on the recognizable Monday Night Football opening by Lyons, whose sketches I find as consistently funny as any other sportscaster.

Grade: C-. Ask the Padres how one play can change the whole game.

Return to top
Return to the baseball playoffs page
Return to main baseball page
To post a comment on our review, go to the Speak Out page.
To e-mail your opinion to George, click here.

Design & Hosting by BLAZE inter.NET