Important Telecast, Great Game

We had our annual Champions Club telecast tonight where the announcers sit outside the Champions Club to broadcast the game. The Champions Club is an all inclusive area in Busch Stadium that has outdoor seating, indoor air conditioning, free food and booze, and countless big screen tv's. We enjoy promoting this wonderful area to watch a Cardinals game. We also enjoy a 1 - 0 pitchers duel that ends in dramatic fashion. The Cardinals scored on a solo homerun in the bottom of the third inning. The White Sox threatened in both the top of the 8th and the top of the 9th innings. The 8th inning ended with a double play from a hitter who had homered off the same pitcher yesterday. In the top of the ninth inning, the Sox had runners on 1st and 3rd with one out and their best hitter at the plate. This batter hit into a game-ending double play on a 3 - 1 count. Our tight iso of the Cardinals closer was a great way to end our coverage. The emotion he expressed was memorable. This important telecast was one of our best deliveries of the year. Only fitting as this was the best game of the year thus far.

Wow

The Cardinals lost to the White Sox 6 - 1 in 2:40. I looked forward to tonight's game/telecast because the White Sox TV director is Jim Angio, who in my opinion, is the best TV baseball director ever. I made a point of watching his feed from our truck at different times during the game. This guy is so smooth. He never ties himself up or cuts his way into trouble. He is in total control the whole show. I can feel the confidence of his game cut as he directs the telecast. He is a master of setting up shots. He obviously knows where he will be in 5 or 6 or 7 shots down the line. I first noticed his work when he was directing a Chicago Black Hawks telecast against the Minnesots North Stars in the early 1980's. I remember thinking "wow, this guys is different from any other TV sports director that I had witnessed up until that time. In fact, I dedicated my book "Cutting The Game, Inside Television Baseball From the Director's Chair" to Jim "who inspired me" to become a director. Almost 30 years ago I sat in a TV truck and said "wow". Thirty years later things have not changed - "wow".

I Wonder

The Indians defeated the Cardinals today by the score of 4 - 1 with a 3-run homerun in the top of the ninth inning. For a 1 - 1 game through eight innings, this was a game with few, if any, memorable moments. Yes, there was some good starting pitching from both teams. In fact, the Cardinals starter was making his major league debut and did quite nicely. Maybe it was what occurred on the field after the final out that blotted out any aspect of the actual game for me. After the final out was made I took a hero shot of the Indians pitcher who had just collected his Major League leading 20th save. (Coincidentally the Cubs won their 20th game of the season today but that's another story) My next hero shot was of the Tribe's second baseman who hit the game winning homerun in the ninth inning. As the announcers began wrapping up and preparing for their final toss, I wanted to finish the telecast with another shot of the closer (a former Cardinals) but I had to wait. He was on his hands and knees in front of the mound throwing up! I mean he was hurling. He then stood up and joined his teammates in celebration of the victory. I took the shot and closed out the telecast. I wonder if our viewers would have remembered anything of the game if I would have taken the shot of the player vomiting.

Finally

Finally. A well-pitched, well-paced baseball game. A well-paced telecast - a show with a flow. The Cardinals lost to the Indians tonight by the score of 6 - 2 in 2:34. A new addition to our home telecasts began tonight. We placed a handheld camers behind homeplate and a few feet up the third baseline. This unique look was very effective and offered our viewers a quality view of the game. When a show has a flow everything seems to click. It seems odd but there is a feeling of calm excitement flowing through the telecast team. Calm because everything is clicking and excited because everything is working. We haven't had such a rewarding telecast in quite a while. We did tonight. Finally.

All You Need Is Love

I did not blog from Houston because my wife, step-son, and grandson were with me. We had a great time despite the horrific baseball that was played between the Cardinals and the Astros. Here is a brief description of this series from hell: 3 games, 10 hours and 15 minutes of play, 40 runs, 67 hits, and 7 errors. Don't get me wrong - I love directing major league baseball. But, in my 29 years of involvement with this great game I have never been a part of a weekend of bad baseball such as this one. Thank God part of my family was in Houston. I was able to forget the games and concentrate on my good fortune of having these people I love with me in Houston. For this I am truly blessed. The Beatles were right - "All you need is love."

The Good With The Bad

The Bad: The Cardinals were shutout by the Mets for the second consecutive game by the score of 5 - 0. The Good: The game was well paced and was played in 2:34. The Bad: The Cardinals looked lifeless. The Good: Mets starting pitcher R. A. Dickey threw a complete game shutout with 73 strikes in a 100 pitch outing. The Bad: With the Cardinals playing on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball tomorrow I have a day off on the road. The Good: I will have dinner in Little Italy tomorrow night. The Bad: The Cardinals continue play in New York with a day game on Monday. The Good: My wife, stepson, and grandson will be in Houston when I get there Monday night. After that, no bad only good!

A No-Hitter

Cutting a homerun is fun even though they happen quite often. Cutting a walk-off base hit is more fun even though they do happen occasionally Cutting a walk-off homerun is really great fun even though they do occur every so often. Cutting a perfect game or a no-hitter is super fun because they are so rare. The final out of a no-hitter is really the culmination of a build up that begins in the seventh inning. When the seventh inning begins and a no-hitter is in progress, the pitcher is covered nonstop. Even when the no-hit pitcher's team is at-bat there is a camera on the pitcher in the dugout. Starting in the seventh inning all graphics are built in anticipation of the no-hitter. The commentary from the booth is concentrated on the possible history in the making. Indeed, the whole telecast is focused on the no-hitter. The focus of every member of the telecast team grows more intense with each pitch until the game is over and the no-hitter is attained. It is amazing how intense the focus is during a possible ho-hitter. There is nothing that could possibly distract the TV team from this focus. Nothing. Cutting Santana's no-hitter tonight was, indeed, super fun.