Key Moments

There are key moments during every baseball game.
The quality of a telecast hinges on how these key moments are covered. The "live" cut and the replay sequence of a key moment are both important when covering a key moment.
We had three key moments in tonight's telecast.
With one out in the bottom of the third inning, Cardinals' shortstop Brendan Ryan made a spectacular play on a ground ball hit off the bat of Andrew McCutchen who can fly. When a great play is made it is important to shoot the player involved as soon as possible after the play. The good camera operators "feel it" when this happens. The Pittsburgh camera operators all responded after the play and the "live" cut worked. The replay sequence was excellent and the last angle ended with a push to Ryan - very nice.
The second key moment occurred in the top of the sixth inning. Ryan Ludwick of the Cardinals was thrown out at the plate while trying to score from second base on a basehit. This play ended the inning. Our tight centerfield camera operator "felt it" and pushed to Ludwick who was flabbergasted that he was called out. We rolled out with an angle that showed the catcher clearly missing the tag. Coming out of the commercial, we showed four angles of the missed call and came out of the replay sequence with a shot of Ludwick.
The final key moment happened in the top of the eighth inning. With the Pirates winning 1-0, the Cardinals had runners on first and second with two outs and the greatest hitter in the game, Albert Pujols, at the plate.
Albert struck out swinging to end the inning.
A shot of the crowd going wild sent the television audience to commercial.
A TV sports production team gets one chance and one chance only to truly capture key moments.
When the TV team captures these moments it is very gratifying.
Our team succeeded tonight.
Good show.