Nardi wrote:
Clawmaster wrote:
The biggest problem with baseball is that if you grew up playing the game you can tell when a team/player sucks, it just sounds silly when the broadcasters try to make excuses for poor play.
It is a big problem. I'll give you an example that only a true baseball fan can spot. Seby has an 11 pitch AB where he fouls off cookie after cookie before he finally bloops in a single. Both announcers talk over each other praising him...what a battler....ahh, he's the 9th hitter with 2 outs. Slow your roll.
Biggest issue is when they do not call out guys for piss poor at bats or half ass effort defensively.
Anyone that played little league back in the day would hear your coach tell to shorten up and make contact with a guy on third and less than two outs, a strike out was an abject failure that let the team down, but you regularly see even the middle infielders swinging for the fence and striking out and leaving a guy on third.
The other one that kills me is when guys like Sosa would miss the cut off guy trying to throw guys out at the plate when he had no chance which allowed the runner on second or third to take an easy base as the ball sailed over the cut off guys head and the catcher would have to wait for the ball.
Pitching is also maddening, the crow on and on about velocity and spin rates as you watch a guy miss his spots over and over which should be an indicator to the hitter to as my little league coach would say, "make him throw a strike", but then you have the hitters waiving and missing at eye high fastballs.
All of this insults the baseball sensibilities of anyone that grew up playing baseball with his buddies of even playing catch with his brothers or sisters in the backyard.
The only person I really enjoy watching games with is my baby brother who pitched in high school, we drive our wives crazy because we are yakking away about pitch selection and game strategy throughout the game.