Another Smooth Ride

The Cardinals beat the Diamondbacks 6 - 1 in 2:57 tonight in Phoenix. Our second telecast of the 2013 season had everything TV baseball production teams love. The Cardinals pitched well, played good defense and hit 3 homeruns. There was a great flow to the show. During my 26 years of covering Cardinals baseball I don't remember the first two telecasts of a season going any smoother. It is true that taking a dual feed in Arizona is maybe the best venue in all of baseball. The home show is very accommodating and the crew is hard working and fun to be a part of. Our Producer Mike and I were talking on the way to the hotel after the game/telecast and we were bemoaning the fact that our first two stops this season were Phoenix and San Francisco - two of the best stops in the National League. But, I guess, it's better to start the season with these two great venues. Starting out in a smooth fashion can't be beat.

An Eye Opener

The Cardinals opened the 2013 season with a 6 - 2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Season openers are fun to do. Home openers are a tremendous blast to do. This season opener for the Cardinals was a real eye opener for me. This was one of the most comfortable openers I have ever been a part of. Our TD here in Phoenix, Joel, is one of the best TD's I have ever had the privilege to sit next to in a TV truck. A very comfortable season opener and a talented team member really opened my eyes to the joys of this business. I can only hope the Giants' home opener in San Francisco on Friday and our home opener in St. Louis on Monday can deliver such appreciation as well.

Spring Training

For the past 25 seasons I have televised spring training games for the St. Louis Cardinals. This is the first time I won't be doing any games. Hallelujah!!! Spring training games can be a royal pain. The venues are terrible and the crews can be spotty. Thanks to my buddy Mike who will be doing the 10 Cardinals spring traing telecasts. Now that is a team player!!

Most Difficult

What is the most difficult game to televise? The poorly pitched and poorly played game? The blowout game? No, the most difficult game to televise is the meaningless game. Tonight, the St. Louis Cardinals TV crew televised it's first meaningless game in two years. Last year the Cardinals clinched the playoffs on the final game of the season. Every game of the 2011 season was meaningful to the St. Louis Cardinals. With the Cardinals clinching the playoffs in game 161 last night that left only 1 game this season that was meaningless. 1 meaningless game in two seasons! The St. Louis Cardinals TV crew is very grateful and very blessed. This is my final blog of the 2012 season. Thanks to all who read this blog, thank you very much.

Just In The Nick Of Time

When our production team walked into the TV truck today, we were met with some bad news. The switcher was completely and utterly dead. The control card was completely fried. The nearest replacement control card was in Kansas City. The engineers tried to get the replacement card on a plane to St. Louis but were unable to do so. So, one of our engineers left Busch Stadium at 3:15 to drive to Columbia Missouri which is half way to Kansas City. An engineer from the truck in Kansas City was going to take the replacement card to Columbia from Kansas City to meet up with our EIC. Columbia is about 200 miles from Busch Stadium. We figured our switcher would be up and running about 8:00 at the earliest. We built our 4 segment open on a router in which we could only use cuts. Pretty ugly but it worked. Then, to everyone's amazement, our engineer showed up at the truck with the replacement control card at 6:40 and our switcher was up and running at 6:58. Just in the nick of time.

Blessed And Grateful

The Reds/Cardinals game tonight at Busch Stadium was one of the few remaining games in the big leagues that meant something. I am very thankful for that fact. The Reds, who are already in the postseason, are trying to have homefield advantage throughout the playoffs and the Cardinals are just trying to get into the playoffs. The players on the field and the fans in the stands knew the importance of this game and the electricity in the ballpark was very infectious for the TV crews broadcasting the game. For most teams there aren't meaningful games in October. The Cardinals are not one of those clubs. This organization always seems to be in the hunt come postseason and for that I am blessed and I am very grateful. By the way, the Cardinals won this meaningful game 4 - 2.

No Pressure

The Cardinals beat the Nationals 10 - 4 in 3:07 this afternoon at Busch Stadium. The Redbirds jumped out to a seven run lead after 3 innings and the game was never in doubt after that. Another low pressure, low intensity type of game that is much needed at this time of the baseball season. The most memorable moment of the game came when the home plate umpire took a foul ball directly off his face mask. The blow staggered the ump a bit and most definately had to hurt. He stayed in the game and was pretty consistent the rest of the way. Just three games remaining in the regular season and the Redbirds should clinch the final wildcard slot for the playoffs. I look forward to that telecast.