When we’re not at the game, we’re watching on TV, and broadcasters shape the way we see baseball. Sporting News has been reviewing the work done in booths across MLB, and this time it’s a special pairing on MLB Network, with Bob Costas and Tim McCarver working together for the first time in 35 years.
By the time two pitches have been thrown, Costas has provided plenty of relevant information about Cardinals left-hander Tim Cooney, making his second major league start. The southpaw made the Pacific Coast League All-Star team, pitching for Triple-A Memphis, “and, yes, Memphis is in the Pacific Coast League.” He’s 6-3, 195 pounds and went to Wake Forest, “and gets ahead of Upton, 0-2.”
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“I guess when you slump, the way the former B.J. and now Melvin Upton has, the past few years, going into the federal witness protection program is not an option,” Costas says as the third pitch of the game is delivered. “Your next best alternative is to change your name.”
“From B.J. to Melvin,” McCarver says. “I mean, his teammates still refer to him as B.J.”
Costas’ line, right out of the box, shows that he’s not going to lose his tendency for what can best be described as hyperinvolved detachment, one week after getting into hot water for a jab at Cubs reliever Pedro Strop. McCarver also is as you know him – the repetition of exactly what Costas said might grate a little bit, but knowing that Upton’s teammates still call him B.J. shows that he puts in the work to know what’s going on, and he answers a question you didn’t even know you had.
“Cooney with the 1-2 pitch,” Costas says, getting back into the game at hand. “And a little nubber that might be trouble. Cooney’s on it, barehands, throws! And he’s safe. It pulled (Mark) Reynolds off the bag, but likely will be scored a hit.”
As is the case with all of the best play-by-play voices, Costas assumes nothing and calls the action as it happens. The modulation of the volume and speed of his voice goes hand in hand with the unfolding play. Anyone who has ever complained about Costas has not complained about the actual performance of his job narrating a sporting event, because there is nothing to complain about. Whether or not you enjoy his personality, that’s up to each individual viewer.
PICK A BATTLE
Before the first pitch to No. 2 hitter Derek Norris, a more thorough scouting report of Cooney is given, in which McCarver compares his stuff to the Cardinals’ Jamie Garcia. Coming out of that, Costas gets ready to resume the call of the game with a little reset.
“Upton at first to start the game,” he says. Then there’s more to watch. “He breaks! They pick him off. Reynolds – throws to (Jhonny) Peralta, and he’s gone.”
Another solid call of the action as it happens.
McCarver: “Cooney probably thinking, ‘I didn’t get B.J. the first time, but the second time, when I threw to first, it was on the money.”
Costas: “1-3-6.”
McCarver: “Good play by Reynolds, going toward the pitcher, and a strong throw to second, to get Upton sliding. The key to that is a right-handed throwing first baseman, moving toward the pitcher – very, very important.”
This is where McCarver is at his best, breaking down the elements of a baseball play to explain how it comes to pass. He knows every situation in the game, and while his big-picture analysis is what drew him a lot of criticism in his later years as a top national analyst, his eye for the inner workings of the game never wavered.
Costas: “Derek Norris, often the catcher. Tonight, the first baseman, hitting .242 with 11 home runs. Well, the Padres have been shut out in back-to-back games in Seattle. They’ve been shut out 13 times this year, four more than any other team in the majors. The Mets and Brewers have each been blanked nine times. You can see why they’re anxious to make something happen, any way they can, but in this case, Upton might have been a bit overanxious.”
Regardless of his read on Upton’s motivation, Costas does well on a national broadcast to set the scene with the Padres’ background. Not everybody tuning into this game will be a fan of either team, so information is even more important than it would ordinarily be. As for the speculation on Upton trying to steal…
McCarver: “Eh, I don’t think you can quibble with the fact that you’re trying to animate. You stand back, stand flat-footed, you’re not gonna have things happen. B.J. just didn’t choose the right pitch on which to run.”
By the end of the first inning, there are references to Matt Kemp’s shifting position in the lineup, Craig Counsell, Dustin Pedroia, Bill Mueller, Duke Ellington, Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett, Tyson Ross’ career path, Matt Carpenter’s season ups and downs, Tim Lincecum, the Cardinals’ high rate of doubles, Jason Heyward’s swing mechanics and the late Oscar Taveras. It all weaves in and out with the game, including the Cardinals scoring a run, never taking a back seat. It’s a very enjoyable viewing experience.
BOSS ROSS
In the fifth inning, with the Padres up 2-1, Costas mentions that Padres general manager A.J. Preller was fraternity brothers at Cornell with Rangers general manager Jon Daniels, which leads McCarver to remember the Cornell cheer of “Hey, hey, whaddaya say, you’re gonna work for us someday.” That gets Costas riffing on the Ivy League, and then about Northwestern and Vanderbilt using that cheer while getting slammed by Ohio State and Alabama, respectively. McCarver then brings up Vanderbilt’s outstanding baseball program, national champions a year ago and runners-up to Virginia this year. All of this is happening while Ross, the Padres pitcher, is at the plate.
What’s key in all this is that the announcers take a breath while the pitches are coming in, just to make sure there’s nothing to miss. And when something happens, Costas jumps right back on his duties.
“The 2-2 pitch to Ross,” he calls. “He sends Heyward back. He sends Heyward WAY BACK! TO THE WALL… and IT’S GONE! Tyson Ross, with an opposite field home run! Go figure.”
“Talk about going back to a happy dugout,” McCarver says. “Smiles abeam in the Padre dugout.”
“His first career home run,” Costas says. “And the Padres, who managed only four total hits in being shut out, back-to-back, their last two games by the Mariners, have three runs and a pair of homers tonight. The Cardinals, by the way, have not lost three straight home games all year. They dropped two to the White Sox, yesterday and the day before, and now they trail 3-1 against the Padres.”
Once again, information in a big way, delivered by Costas.
POP TIME
In the top of the sixth inning, after the Cardinals score a pair of runs to tie the game, Kemp draws a leadoff walk from Cooney. On the 1-1 pitch to Justin Upton, he tries to get into scoring position.
“Kemp runs,” Costas calls.
“Yadi throws!” Costas calls.
“GET OUTTA HERE!” McCarver interjects, not rooting for his old St. Louis team, but in disbelief at Molina’s throw.
“… and cuts him down,” Costas finishes.
“Get outta here!” McCarver swoons again.
“From his knees!” Costas says.
“It’s a tough enough position to throw it right,” McCarver marvels. “When you’re standing. What a play. We talked about his throwing in the pregame. On two knees, a rocket. Get outta here. Unfair, say the Padres.”
“That is just magnificent, with Wong covering,” Costas says.
“Oh, goodness,” McCarver says. “Not even close.”
“And it didn’t look like Kemp had a bad jump,” Costas says.
“No,” McCarver agrees.
MLB Network has a tool that can tell us whether Kemp got a good jump, in the form of StatCast. In the meantime, McCarver breaks down the play further.
“That is just magnificent,” he says. “To be able to make the transfer from the glove to the hand, while you’re on your knees, and to throw a perfect strike to second base.”
There is a StatCast replay shortly thereafter, but it’s Yangervis Solarte’s home run from the second inning, which had an exit velocity of 105.8 miles per hour and traveled 422.3 feet. McCarver notes the average of 87 mph around the majors, and that Giancarlo Stanton registered a 117. Solarte strikes out, then gets ejected for arguing about it, so the deeper analysis on Molina has to wait.
There is another replay of the caught stealing in the seventh inning, with Molina at the plate, but it’s a video posted by his brother, Bengie Molina, on Twitter, featuring the former catcher smiling and cheering the play. That’s really cool, but not the bonus replay of the great play that anyone would have expected.
StatCast of the Molina throw airs in the bottom of the 10th inning, one frame before the Padres win on Will Venable’s two-run homer. We learn that Molina’s pop time was 1.74 seconds and his throw was 78.88 mph.
“You can’t teach it,” McCarver says. “You certainly can’t do it. He’s one of a kind. I mean, how else do you explain a play like that?”
StatCast is supposed to help do that, but without a framework for what makes a good pop time or catcher’s throwing arm, and without answering Costas’ earlier query about whether Kemp got a good jump, there is no further answer. There also was no guarantee that the play would even get another look, even though it was richly deserved. In a game called by voices coming together from the past, it turned out that the only letdown was the tool of the future, which still has great potential, but has to be used to more immediate effect.