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World Series Game 1: Yankees 9, Padres 6

Fox Also Hits Home Run
With Game 1 Broadcast

Fox matches homer-dominated game with an outstanding telecast.

By George Stahl

As regular readers of this web site know - all five of you - I've been critical recently of Fox's baseball broadcasts (For example, see my reviews on Game 4 and Game 5 of the National League Championship Series or the pregame show before Game 1 of the World Series).

Last night, though, Fox's crew - led by producer John Filipelli and director Bill Webb - was smacking more home runs than the Yankees and Padres did in the nearly 3 1/2-hour game that the Yanks won 9-6. The announcers were sharp, the camerawork excellent and the production smooth.

Joe Buck, in his second World Series as play-by-play announcer, effortlessly described the action. He also set up the story lines for the game and the series as the game slowly progressed, which is important to do in Game 1 of the World Series where many viewers are watching baseball for the first time all year.

Buck, who has been solid all year, is making me reconsider my opinion that Jon Miller is the best play-by-play man in baseball. He had a good sense of drama in the Yankees seventh inning when he said before Yankee second baseman Chuck Knoblauch stepped into the batter's box, "What an opportunity for Chuck Knoblauch to endear himself to Yankee fans." Knoblauch hit a game-tying three-run home run.

Analysts Tim McCarver and Bob Brenly also were at the top of their games. As a matter of fact, I though it was the best game I ever heard from Brenly.

Brenly, who usually only provides comic relief, made many insightful comments Saturday night. For example, after Padre leftfielder Greg Vaughn's first home run, Brenly said Yankee pitcher David Wells got scared after Vaughn hit an inside pitch hard and foul. The next pitch Wells went outside, and Vaughn knocked it outside of the playing field.

McCarver, whom I rank slightly ahead of ESPN/NBC's Joe Morgan as the best color announcer in baseball, gave yet another solid performance. Sure, his jokes (if you can call them that) are cornier than a Nebraska field, but nobody else consistently provides baseball insight on a game-in, game-out basis like McCarver.

For example, McCarver talked about how Vaughn got a scouting report on Yankees pitcher David Wells from his cousin, Red Sox first baseman Mo Vaughn. According to McCarver, Big Mo told his cousin that Wells likes to pitch outside. Vaughn hit his first home run going the opposite way on an outside pitch.

The three-man booth also is gelling nicely. A good example of this was their discussion about catching Padres pitcher Kevin Brown, who throws many different kinds of pitches.

Brenly suggested that Brown may have more pitches than the five available fingers on the hand of catcher Carlos Hernandez, whom Fox already had shown wearing white polish on his fingernails to help Brown see his fingers. McCarver followed Brenly's comment with a crack about Hernandez having to take off his shoes to use his toes to signal the pitch, to which Buck retorted "although Carlos Hernandez then would have to paint his toenails."

O.K., so it's not exactly "Seinfeld," but the quick, witty banter makes you smile, which you need to do a few times during a 3 1/2-hour game.

Finally, Fox demonstrated its excellent camerawork and production on the pitch before Yankee first baseman Tino Martinez's game-winning grand slam. Fox showed from various angles how close Mark Langston's 2-2 pitch, called a ball, was to being a strike. Martinez then showed why the ball call was so important a pitch later when he smacked the game-winning grand slam.

Other highlights and lowlights from Game 1 of the World Series.

Good lines: 1. Brenly, on Yankees pitcher David Wells sloven appearance, "He looks like a sack of potatoes out there."
2. Buck saying that Wells is an inspiration to everyone who is "weight-challenged."
3. Buck noting, over a shot of Billy Crystal, that the actor "doesn't have a show on Fox." This was right after Fox continued the networks' annoying habit of showing planted stars of network shows or, in Fox's case, movies. Tonight's stars in the crowd were Carlista Flockhart (aka "Ally McBeal"), Luke Perry, Bruce Willis and Denzel Washington. Let's hope this trend doesn't continue all series.

Good shots: 1. Showing Knoblauch walking down to first and then tossing his bat as he watched his three-run home run.
2. Showing Yankees rightfielder Paul O'Neill covering his eyes with his helmet after making an out.

Good move: Fox showed Knoblauch's faux pax in Game Two of the American League Championship Series minutes after his home run.

Good graphics: 1. When the Yankees loaded the bases in the bottom of the second, Fox showed that the last person to hit a grand slam in the World Series was the Braves' Lonnie Smith in 1992. Of course, Martinez changed that in the bottom of the seventh.
2. During Yankees leftfielder Ricky Ledee's first at-bat, Fox showed that the four Yankee leftfielders in the American League Championship Series were 1 for 22 with 1 RBI and left 17 runners on base. Ledee, with the bases loaded, promptly hit a two-run double.

Graphics glitch: Fox showed Yankee catcher Jorge Posada's stats over a shot of Yankees manager Joe Torre.

Aflac trivia question: Who was the only Padres pitcher to win a World Series game?

Solid sounds of the game: As we have noted in past reviews, Fox's use of miked coaches have been fairly lame. Tonight, however, they had two good scenes. 1. Fox showed the Padres batting coach predicting on the bench before Gwynn's at-bat that he was "going to go up top." After the home run, Fox showed him saying "Told ya."
2. Viewers heard Yankees first-base coach Jose Cardinal defending Brosius' failed attempt for a double in the bottom of the fourth.

Things that make you go hmm: 1. McCarver: "I think the Yankees have as good as two-strike hitters as any lineup in baseball."
2. McCarver noting that batters hate checking their swings when they are ahead of the count, like 2-0.

Super Shot: Fox unveiled a new camera Saturday night that shows slow-motion action more closely and more focused. Most people probably won't notice a tremendous difference from past slow-motion shots; however, the new camera did have its moments. 1. Chuck Knoblauch's error in the eighth inning, in which the ball bounced up, hit his wrist and got by him.
2. Scott Brosius bare-handing a slow-hit grounder.

Minor gripes: 1. It took Fox a few innings to note that Padre outfielder Tony Gwynn's home run was his first in postseason.
2. Fox, in particular Joe Buck, did not discuss home plate umpire's Rich Garcia playoff history with the Yankees. Garcia, the crew chief this year, called fan interference at Yankee Stadium in the American League Championship Series two years ago, when 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier reached over the right-field wall. The call gave Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter an eighth-inning home run that tied the score 4-4. New York went on to a 5-4, 11-inning victory, and Garcia later admitted he made a mistake. (I'm not suggesting any bias by Garcia; I'm just noting the irony.)
3. I still think Fox shows too many shots of players in the dugout and fans in the stands between pitches, especially later in the game.

Talking softball: Chip Caray interviewed Cub outfielder Sammy Sosa, who threw out the first pitch, during the game. The interview was fine, except Caray never asked Sosa his opinion on this year's World Series or on Padres pitcher Kevin Brown or Yankees pitcher David Wells.

Aflac answer: Andy Hawkins won Game 2 of the 1984 World Series.

Unanswered questions: 1. Couldn't Fox have waited to show Bob Gibson in the stands, instead of catching him while he was eating? Fox compared Gibson's 17-strikeout performance in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series with Brown's 16-strikeout game earlier in the postseason.
2. Why did it take Fox until the bottom of the sixth to show the Padres scouting report? Shouldn't it have shown this earlier? And what happened to the Yankees scouting report?

Didja notice that...: for a game that took so long, action happened in bunches? For example, Brenly didn't have time to finish his point about Gwynn being a home run hitter when Vaughn hit his second home run of the game.

Grade: A. Fox shows it is ready for the World Series.

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