Prayers Not Answered

Today's game/telecast finally got underway after a 1 hour 21 minute rain delay.

The game was played in 3:23 and the Cardinals beat the Marlins 8 - 4.

The steady light rain that occurred throughout the game created a couple of almost comical instances on the field. Twice the grounds crew stopped play so that they could apply drying materials to the infield dirt. They did not do this by hand. They did it with motorized carts that had spreaders connected to the back of the vehicle. What I found so comical was that while the grounds crew was doing this, the players were all on the field in the rain watching. We are not talking a minute or two, we are talking 10 minutes!

The head grounds keeper did a fantastic job in a no-win situation. I don't know what they pay this guy but double it!

In my 24 years of involvement with St. Louis Cardinals baseball television I have never witnessed a more difficult roadtrip to televise than the trip we just completed to Milwaukee and Florida. This trip was filled with poorly pitched, poorly played, and poorly paced games.

After each game/telecast, we of the St. Louis Cardinals TV crew thought for sure that the next telecast would get better.

Unfortunately, each game was worse than the previous game.

Our prayers were not answered.

2 - 1 Score, 3:23 Game

The Cardinals beat the Marlins tonight by the score of 2 - 1.

A 2 - 1 score is a great score that any TV baseball director loves to cut.

3 Hours and 23 minutes.

This time of game is a length that every single TV baseball director detests.

I love what I do for a living.

I get to watch the greatest game in the world, baseball, and they pay me to do it.

The people who do not like the game of baseball say that the game is boring because the game is too slow.

They will cite a game such as the Cardinals/Marlins contest tonight as an example of their argument,

And in cases such as this, it is hard to argue with them.

As a TV baseball director, tonight's game/telecast was one of the rare game/telecasts that come around every so often.

A low scoring game that takes a long time to complete.

A low scoring game where finding a rhythm is a most difficult process.

Low scoring games usually equate to a game with a good rhythm.

"A show with a flow".

Not tonight and hopefully not for a long time.

At least the Cardinals won this game.

This could have been worse.

I could have been a member of the Marlins TV team.

The Moment

As I have blogged before, every game as a principle moment.

Tonight's moment occurred in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Cardinals were leading 3 - 2 and the bases were loaded with 2 outs.

The Marlins best player, Mike Stanton, was at the plate and Cardinals rookie, Lance Lynn , was on the mound.

The count was 2 balls and 2 strikes.

I made the comment, "You know the count is going to go full" and our Producer said, "No, he is going to get him".

Lynn struck out Stanton with a blazing fastball and the Cardinals won the game.

I took tight shots of the batter and the pitcher to enhance the moment.

I was very lucky in the fact that the third base coach had been blocking my tight shot of Lance Lynn throughout the at-bat but I had a good, tight shot of Lynn before he threw the final pitch of the game.

Leading up to the final pitch I was hoping that the third base coach would move and I could get that effective shot of Lynn that I was looking for.

He did move, I took the shot and thus had a nice sequence of shots to capture the moment.

This was a nice telecast that was only enhanced when we captured the moment of the game.

Very satisfying.

A Great Day

The Cardinals beat the Marlins tonight by the score of 7 - 4 in 3:29 and I was not bothered in the least by the length of the game

This was a poorly pitched game from both of the starters and I was not bothered in the least.

Another bad game on this roadtrip and I felt good.

I kept my focus throughout the game and I felt good about my performance as well as the performance of the crew because I knew this day would end well.

I am now sitting on the balcony with my wife Jane and my grandson, Brendan, is asleep in the hotel room.

This game could have matched the terrible game from yesterday in Milwaukee and, in fact, almost did.

But I was not affected by tonight's contest like I was after yesterday's joke of a game.

I knew that despite every effort from tonight's baseball game to discourage me, I would be with my wife and grandson after the game.

There was absolutely NOTHING that could have possibly happened tonight that was going to take away from the fact that I knew I was going to be wonderfully happy when I returned to the hotel.

I hugged my wife and kissed my sleeping grandson when I got to my room and the happiness enveloped me.

It doesn't even bother me that the wonderful people who read this blog may think that I am a dweeb for writing a sappy blog.

This was a great day!

Fried

As I stated in yesterday's blog, the Cardinals/Brewers game was quite unique.

Cutting the unique game was fun and I enjoyed it.

There was one aspect of this game that I failed to mention. The length of this game was 4 hours and 28 minutes - 4:28.

Yes, I admit that I did enjoy cutting this unique 4:28 minute game.

However, I failed to mention that this unique, 4:28 minute game occurred the night before a getaway day game.

After some sleep I made my way to Miller Park hoping, praying for a well-paced, well-pitched, well-played game.

The following is my summary of today's Cardinals/Brewers game telecast:

After 2 innings, the score was 4 - 3 Cardinals and there were 7 total hits in the game.

After 3 innings, the score was 5 - 4 Brewers and there were 13 total hits in the game.

After 5 innings, the score was 7 - 4 Brewers and there were 17 total hits in the game.

After 6 innings, the score was 9 - 5 Brewers and there were 22 total hits in the game.

Going into the 7th inning I was totally fried but still very thankful that both starting pitchers were removed from the game. After 6 innings the Cardinals starter had thrown 100 pitches and the Brewers starting pitcher had tossed 113 pitches.

The Brewers ended up victorious by the score of 10 - 5 and there were 26 total hits in the game.

I don't mean to complain because I love cutting the game of baseball.

Baseball can be the most beautiful sport in the world and positively invigorating.

Baseball can also be downright ugly and absolutely draining.

I prefer the former.

After the game, we flew to Ft. Lauderdale and I am now on my balcony at the Ritz Carlton looking at the water.

I'll shut up now

A Unique Game

Tonight's Cardinals/Brewers game had a little bit of everything.

The Cardinals won the game 8 - 7 in eleven innings and what an eleven innings it was.

In the 4th inning, Cardinals starting pitcher Jaime Garcia hit his first career homerun and raised his season average to .089.

In the 7th inning, the Cardinals best player Albert Pujols was hit by a pitch on the wrist by an up and in fastball.

The Cardinals later tied the game 7 - 7 in the 7th inning getting one run despite having the bases loaded with nobody out.

In the bottom of the 7th inning, the Brewers best player Ryan Braun was hit in the ribs by a 97 mph fastball in retaliation for the Pujols hit-by-pitch.

The Brewers loaded the bases in that inning with nobody out and did not score.

In the top of the 10th inning, Cardinals catcher, Yadier Molina, was ejected after being called out on strikes. Our replays showed the pitch to be a ball.

The usually mild mannered (but intense) Molina went ballistic on the home plate umpire and was ejected as well he should have been.

In the bottom of the 10th inning, the Brewers had a runner on third base with two outs and two of the best players in baseball due up. We speculated in the TV truck that the Cardinals might intentionally walk both of these players - Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. The Cardinals elected to pitch to Braun who was batting .375 in his career against the Redbirds pitcher.

Braun grounded out to third base on the first pitch.

With two outs in the top of the 11th inning, Cardinals slugger, Matt Holliday, reached first base on an infield ground ball. What was more surprising was the fact that Holliday then stole second base for his first stolen base of the season!

The batter at the plate was the National League's homerun leader, Lance Berkman.

Berkman, who earlier reached base with a bunt single, hit a Texas League bloop single to shallow left field and the Cardinals took the lead 8 - 7.

The Cardinals held on and won what may turn out to be their most important win of the season.

In turn, this could be a game that the Brewers look to if they do not make the playoffs.

A good victory for the Cardinals, a tough loss for the Brewers, a unique game for the fans.

The Shot of the Game

Almost every game/telecast includes a "shot of the game".

This is the shot that everyone talks about the next day.

Did you see that shot of Albert when Holliday went deep? Did you see that shot of Berkman as he crossed home plate. Did you see that shot of LaRussa in the 6th inning?

You know what I am talking about.

That telltale shot of the game.

The "shot of the game" is a factor of the telecast that every member of the TV crew is striving for. The game will dictate the "shot of the game". The "shot of the game" may come in many different categories.

The celebration of a walk-off win.

The wonderful moment of an accomplished milestone.

A rare play and the reaction of the players to that play.

99% of the time the "shot of the game" is defined by a positive moment during the contest - a win, a milestone accomplished, a rare exhiliarating moment.

1% of the time the "shot of the game " will tell the story of a disappointing affair.

The Cardinals were beaten by the Brewers tonight by the score of 6 - 2.

Tonight's "shot of the game" was a shot of Cardinals starting pitcher, Chris Carpenter. Carpenter was cruising through 4 innings and unravelled in the 5th inning when he gave up 5 runs. The "shot of the game" occurred during that inning and it showed the sweat running off of the brim of his baseball cap. Our play by play announcer even said as I took a tight shot of his ball cap, "No folks, it's not raining".

Cardinals fans will not talk about any certain play from tonight's game/telecast. They will talk about the sweat running off of Chris Carpenter's cap.

Why not?

It was the shot of the game.