OnlyBucs

Today we had another "he makes it look routine" when Hayes backhanded a ball and threw to 2B for the force out. It was hit hard but it's a play a 3Bman should make. Then they praised him for throwing to 2B for the force instead of 1B. Seems to me if he had thrown to 1B we would have wondered why he didn't get the force at 2B with less than 2 outs.

We also heard praise for Gonzales and Reynolds for running hard to 1b on ground balls. It's a shame that stands out for praise instead of being the norm.

Then Gonzales was praised for making quick throws when he fields a ground ball. I don't know why he wouldn't.

Greg Brown also repeatedly praised Kevin Young's playing career. The Pirates released him after the 1995 season. KC released him after the 1996 season. He did better after returning to the Pirates in 1997 but was a career .258 hitter with 2 seasons above 20 HRs. He did have 3 good seasons for the Pirates (1997-99) but hardly seemed like the star Brown makes him out to be. And he's certainly not cut out to be an announcer.

Awful Announcning has the Pirates booth ranked 20th in MLB.

https://awfulannouncing.com/orig/2024-m ... Md-QOPy8uA

Surgnbuck wrote: ↑Tue Jul 16, 2024 9:48 pm Awful Announcning has the Pirates booth ranked 20th in MLB.

https://awfulannouncing.com/orig/2024-m ... Md-QOPy8uA

Interesting that they gave the Pirates broadcast a favorable review but ranked them 20th, their highest ranking since 2016. They were ranked 29th in 2019. And the improvement is attributed to new analysts in the booth. But that's incorrect since the booth is unchanged and the new analysts (Mercer, Brault, Presley) are in the studio.

It's hard to believe that there are 10 teams with announcers worse than the Bucs.

Possum wrote: ↑Tue Jul 16, 2024 10:13 pm It's hard to believe that there are 10 teams with announcers worse than the Bucs.

The White Sox, A's, and Rockies come as no surprise to me. I like the Nationals broadcasting team, I was surprised to see them ranked so low. I wonder how the voting is affected by the dual team usage though.

Was Greg Brown looking something up when Gonzales had the walk off hit? It's almost like he never expected him to swing on the first pitch, he made no actual call, just a sort of mumbled, "there it is"

He's still a Pittsburgh treas-treas-treasure. But I was so disappointed with his non-existant call.

Surgnbuck wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 12:50 pm Was Greg Brown looking something up when Gonzales had the walk off hit? It's almost like he never expected him to swing on the first pitch, he made no actual call, just a sort of mumbled, "there it is"

He's still a Pittsburgh treas-treas-treasure. But I was so disappointed with his non-existant call.

You may not have heard it but he said, "There it is!" as the ball went past the 3Bman. Then he let the pictures speak for themselves. I thought that was fine. I like Brown when he's describing the action. It's all the other stuff he does that annoys me. But I had no problem with that call.

Kudos to Kevin Young for his work in the Houston series. I don't know if he's been working with a voice coach or just listening to advice but the soft monotone drone was refreshingly absent. He also greatly reduced his "Brownies." He did a fine job as the analyst. I hope that continues.

3pirates3 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2024 8:40 pm https://x.com/JMackeyPG/status/1821285194122293499

Interesting. If Brault does well on the PBP, maybe Joe Block can get on with his life's work.