Monday, May 18, 2009

(15) Comments

ESPN Sunday Night Baseball: Thumbs Down

Vegas Rich

I have been quiet lately with regard to my New York Mets. My last articles talked about the rivalry with the Phillies and prior to that looking at the pitching staff after 10 games. I'm not one who wants to write about re-caps simply because I watch every game and frankly when they lose I don't need any reminders

I'm going to LA Tuesday and will watch the Mets and the Dodgers Tuesday and Wednesday night on my yearly trip to LA. Look for that brilliant report on Thursday. I'm also planning an article this coming week about the first 40 games and a quarterly review on the Mets.

What brings me out of hibernation tonight is my absolute and total outrage of those fools who present themselves as knowledgeable baseball sportscasters on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. If I didn't love my 58 inch HD Flat Screen Plasma TV so much I might have thrown the remote directly through Steve Phillips head. More about that moron in a minute.

The fact that the Mets lost 2-0 and for the umpteenth time this season they sucked with the bases loaded or the fact that at times Jerry Manuel makes some of the worst moves since my little league coach use to pinch hit for me, I'm not here to discuss the merits or demerits of the game.

Lets start with Jon Miller, undoubtedly one of the great homers of all time who still after 20 or so years knows not how to pronounce a name correctly. His mouthing the name Bel-TRAN sends shivers down my spine. Miller, who is the local broadcaster for the Giants, does little or no research at all on the other teams that he does the Sunday broadcasts for. He makes more mistakes than John Madden.
Author Poll

Who do you dis-like the most?

* Jon Miller
* Joe Morgan
* Steve Phillips
* Vegas Rich



Joe Morgan is a complete buffoon. He is still living in the 1970's and he doesn't understand why everybody gets excited over a 5 tool player. He says there are 6 tools. The mind is a tool so he says if you don't have one of the five tools you cheat yes he said cheat, by using your mind to overcome your weakness. No wonder he loves Pete Rose. Oops did I say that.

My furor over these two idiots were ok because Howie Rose is fine for me. Probably because of an article written earlier by my friend Paul about intangibles I wanted to see if Steve Phillips, the same guy who made the second greatest Mets blunder trade of all time, Zambrano for I can't even say his name, the lefty in Tampa, by the way the first was Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi, would repeat his declaration about getting rid of Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes if the Mets blow it again. (Editor - as several of you pointed out, Steve Phillips wasn't behind that one.  I've made a Kazmir error myself in the past, it must be a glitch in the brains of the Mets Police.  Let's overlook this and not ruin a good rant, already in progress - Shannon.)

Phillips claims that Beltran is not the "perfect" player even though he has all the tools. He pointed out every mistake Carlos has made this year and said as a GM when it comes to 17 million a year he wasn't worth it. At least Joe Morgan was smart enough to disagree with him.

They went on with this argument as well as collectively trashing the Mets for almost the entire game. Morgan said despite the fact that the team won 11 out of 13 they were playing poorly. Phillips said the manager should jump all over the team. Again Morgan disagreed.

On and on they talked about the clubhouse, on and off the field who is the leader of the team. Phillips said they have none at all and David may become one and Carlos could never be one. I was breathing fire. Every intelligent Met fan in the world clearly knows that Carlos Delgado is this team's leader for sure. When the middle of the 4th inning came and the interview with Jerry took place Joe asked him point blank who is the leader of the Mets and Jerry said without hesitation Carlos Delgado.For about the only time tonight no morons were heard from as we quietly listened to dead air for a few blessed seconds.

Sunday Night Baseball or really anytime the Mets are on a national broadcast be it ESPN or Fox they are the whipping boys of the broadcast. I just don't get it. The Yankees can do no wrong, The Red Sox are holier than thou, the Angels are just simply Angels but the Mets are ready to enter the gates of hell.

I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.
15 Responses to "ESPN Sunday Night Baseball: Thumbs Down"
Anonymous said :
May 18, 2009 at 6:48 AM
I can't stand them either. I mute it and listen to Wayne Hagan and Howie Rose. But Steve Phillips didn't trade Scott Kazmir. Jim Duquette did.
Anonymous said :
May 18, 2009 at 6:52 AM
Steve Philips is an idiot which is why he's not a GM anymore but rather on TV talking his nonsense. By the way, he didn't make the Kazmir/ Zambrano trade. He had been fired by that time but it does sound like an idiot move he would make.
Anonymous said :
May 18, 2009 at 7:09 AM
Sadly, I don't live in the NY area anymore (I live in Richmond, VA) so I don't have the option of listening to the games on the radio. But I do agree - the Mets get bashed anytime they're on any nationally televised game, unless Ron Darling is working the game, as he usually does on TBS.
Ticket Rut said :
May 18, 2009 at 7:51 AM
Joe Morgan definitely.
Anonymous said :
May 18, 2009 at 11:46 AM
First time poster on here, but Jon Miller actually makes an effort to pronounce players' names properly. Carlos' last name is indeed pronounced Bell-TRON...Thats what led to the Onion's "Carlos Voltron" article from last September.
Adam Solomon said :
May 18, 2009 at 1:38 PM
Yeah, to be fair, Beltran's name is actually properly spelled Beltrán, the accent mark meaning the last syllable gets pronounced. Sure, it's not how most people pronounce his name, but I really have trouble faulting a guy for pronouncing it right.
Anonymous said :
May 18, 2009 at 3:34 PM
i've heard carlos beltran pronounce his own name. and he says it the same way everyone else says it...except jon miller.
Anonymous said :
May 18, 2009 at 4:51 PM
I had to mute the TV last night after listening to Steve Phillips drone on and on about clubhouse "leaders". Matt Cain is in the middle of a shutout of one of the best teams in the N.L. and this idiot goes on and on about who's a leader and who isn't for the Mets. Who cares?. How did he ever get into a broadacast booth? He adds nothing to the game. Idiot.
Anonymous said :
May 18, 2009 at 5:17 PM
Jeez, If you don't know that Duquette traded Kazmir you shouldn't be writing a Mets' blog.
Anonymous said :
May 18, 2009 at 5:46 PM
Miller/Morgan/Phillips makes me appreciate the MLB Package that much more. I had the option to watch and listen to Gary, Keith and Ron and it was more proffessional. I get the away games too, and the Marlins, Braves and Nationals are horrible. Dibble may be the worst. Mets broadcast gives credit where credit is due-does not matter what player, from either team does. Other broadcasters look at questionable calls from 3 games ago as an excuse as to why they lost a game and not consider the reason is that they suck. Payroll is no excuse anymore--look at the Rays last year and Colorado the year before.
Anonymous said :
May 18, 2009 at 9:11 PM
Leader in a team is overrated. If you want a leader in the Mets, hire Obama. He'll never get a hit but at least we'll have a leader. We'll finish behind the Nationals, but who cares. At least we'll have a leader.
Anonymous said :
May 19, 2009 at 10:27 PM
Can the 3 of them. Miller-Morgan-Phillips the 3 blind mice of broadcasting. Let Vin Scully call the game. While i am at it, just let ESPN buy the Yankees & the Red Sox so they can have a 24hr Bronx-Boston network.
Anonymous said :
June 8, 2009 at 7:50 PM
he lost the Orioles job in the 90's because he refused to be the homer that they wanted him to be... he actually calls games pretty down the middle if you pay attention... he once admonished a Giant player for the "worst base-running in the history of the game", Miller is probably as excitable a broadcaster for big plays by the OPPONENT as anyone in the game.... by the way he calls him bel-TRAN because that's the correct pronunciation...
Anonymous said :
June 17, 2009 at 9:12 PM
Miller is one of the best radio voices out there. He'll go to the HOF for his announcing one day.

Maybe you don't like the fact he doesn't kiss up to you beloved Mets, but the guy does know his baseball and he is not a homer. Listen to him do some SF games and you'll see he gets in trouble for slamming the Giants, not kissing up to them.
Anonymous said :
July 5, 2009 at 10:35 PM
Thank you for saying these things. Philips was a mediocre ballplayer, a mediocre GM, and now he's a mediocre broadcaster. An unbearable mediocre broadcaster. I can't believe he'll last more than a season.

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