The Past Week

A strange week indeed.
Sunday:
The final game at Dodger Stadium ended with a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the ninth inning by Matt Kemp of the Dodgers. This 2 - 1 victory was a tough loss for the Cardinals as they scored in the top of the ninth to go up 1 - 0. To make matters worse this loss was the 4th "blown save" loss of the season for the Redbirds. Still, from a TV baseball director's standpoint, cutting a walk-off homerun is a blast. As I write in my book Cutting The Game, Inside Television Baseball From The Director's Chair there is no situation during the game that is more fun to cut than the homerun.
Monday: Off day at home.
Tuesday: Game called because of rain.
Wednesday: Day/night doubleheader.
This was a very long day. The games were scheduled for 1:00 and 7:00. As I write, I truly do not remember much about these games/telecasts. What I do remember is the drive home after the second game and how wiped out I was. I am not complaining. I know how fortunate I am to direct television baseball for a living. I am blessed and I am grateful. However, after cutting two games in one day a TV director in any sport will be mentally spent. I did not want this feeling to carry over into Thursday's day game so I called our coordinating producer at Fox Midwest and asked to be relieved from directing the pre-game show for Thursday. Being a director himself, he readily agreed and became a bit refreshed knowing I was cutting the game only on Thursday.
Thursday: Day game on get away day for the Washington Nationals.
This was a strange game. The Cardinals won 5 - 0 and the Nationals collected only 2 hits. A well pitched game with a good pace. Usually a game such as this is exciting and fun to cut. The reason this game was strange was because even though the game was well pitched and had a good pace there was really nothing remarkable or memorable about the contest.
Friday: The Cardinals beat the Reds 4 -2 in a fairly exciting contest. However, after 6 pitches were thrown to start the game time was called and there was a 2:10 rain delay. Play began again at 9:28 pm and when the final pitch was thrown it was after 1 am.
The past week: A walk-off homerun, a rain out, a day/night doubleheader followed by a noon start, a long rain delay and another long day.
I am off today because of the FOX game of the week and I am off tomorrow because of ESPN Sunday night baseball. Monday is another off day as we travel to Houston.
I look forward to Tuesday's telecast.
I will be refreshed.