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Three's a Crowd in Fox Booth
Extra Man Not Helpful As San Diego Takes 2-0 NLCS Lead

By Randy Williams

I consider myself an intelligent man but there are things I don't understand, such as modern art, how to program a VCR and Fox's use of a three-man booth in the 1998 National League Championship Series.

That's not to say that play-by-play man Joe Buck and analysts Tim McCarver and Bob Brenly did a poor job Thursday in San Diego's 3-0 win against the Braves. In fact, they were more than adequate.

But, by using the three-man booth, Fox reduced Buck to simple play-by-play duties, eliminating opportunities for the rising broadcaster to initiate interesting dialogue. On NBC, Bob Costas and Joe Morgan owe much of their success to the freedom the two-man booth gives them to freelance and engage in spirited conversations about certain players and the state of the game.

Still, the trio did fine with what they were given to work with. Buck handled his duties with aplomb, calling the game and deferring to McCarver and Brenly when their expertise was needed.

Brenly wasn't bad in the Cubs wild-card playoff against the Giants (see review) but I thought he'd fade into the background with McCarver in the booth. Instead, Brenly surprised me, freely sharing his opinions and drawing on experiences from his nine years as a big leaguer.

McCarver, as usual, was pretty good. In the fourth inning he made an excellent point, noting that Padres pitching ace Kevin Brown is the rare ground-ball hurler who manages to register a lot of strikeouts.

In the top of the sixth, the former Phillies and Cardinals catcher talked about how much the loss of slugger Greg Vaughn hurt the Padres against Braves left-handed pitcher Tom Glavine. Then, after Atlanta second baseman Keith Lockhart dove for a ground ball, he correctly said Lockhart made a mistake in not attempting to knock the ball down. McCarver's only fault is that he isn't Joe Morgan.

Fox's production was good, with no major glitches. The camera angles were fine and, thankfully, the Catcher Cam wasn't used much during live action. Still, the telecast was dragged down by the three-man booth.

Top stats: Padres pitcher Kevin Brown is 5-0 with a 2.19 earned run average in his last seven starts against the Braves.

Top tip: Brenly, in the bottom of the second inning, saying that Brown doesn't like to be visited on the mound by his catcher. Backstop Carlos Hernandez then trotted out to see the pitcher and was greeted with a scowl.

Top graphic: Figures showing that Glavine's five walks in the first three innings were more than he allowed in any 1998 appearance.

Best story: Ex-Cardinals catcher McCarver, talking about how star hurler Bob Gibson didn't like him to visit the mound, "he told me to get on back behind the plate. (Gibson said) the only thing I knew about pitching was that it was hard to hit."

Best picture: 1) Second-inning glance at a near-empty upper deck section at Turner Field. 2) Braves owner Ted Turner talking with country music star Travis Tritt in the same inning, ignoring the bases-loaded jam pitcher Tom Glavine was facing.

Best line: "He could get credit for a start, a hold and a save tonight," McCarver, after Brown slapped a single, his second hit, to lead off the top of the ninth inning.

Question: About the three-man booth...

Grade: B (The crew did all they could under the circumstances)

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