Weird

It took the Mets 2:53 to beat the Cardinals today at Busch Stadium by the score of 5 - 2. There was a better pace to this game compared to the first three games of this series but that would be like saying that a turtle is faster than an inchworm. Even with a fairly big strike zone from the home plate umpire this game moved slowly. Don't get me wrong, I love the game of baseball. So it seems weird to me that I prefer less of a game than more. Does that make any sense?

Pace

I was talking with the Mets TV director before tonight's Mets/Cards game. I said to him "Man do I feel for you. You have a hard, hard job covering that team." He agreed with me and said "The pace of our games is excruciating." Directing TV baseball can be very difficult if there is no pace to the game. A good "flow to the show" is almost impossible during a poorly pitched and/or poorly played game. In fact, 99% of the time a poorly pitched game WILL lead to a poorly played game. There was a horrible pace to tonight's contest which lasted 3:07. 3 hours and seven minutes for a 4 - 2 game - are you kidding me! The Cardinals' victory at least took some of the sting out of that poorly paced turd of a game.

Over Early

The Cards beat the Mets tonight at Busch Stadium by the score of 10 - 4 in 2:39. This laugher was over well before 2 hours and 39 minutes. The Redbirds led 9 - 0 after 5 innings and the Mets did not have a clue. The Cards starting pitcher was making his Major League debut and this made for a nice story line for our telecast. Pre-production is very important for any telecast. However, pre-production may be most important for "laughers" such as tonight's Mets/ Cardinals game/telecast. One of our pre-produced elements for tonight's game/telecast was capturing the grips of one of the Cards recent callups. To our good luck, this pitcher entered the game in the seventh inning - well after the game was really over. Showing his grips on his pitches really added quality to our telecast. When a game is lopsided (like tonight's) it is really easy to "mail it in". Pre-produced elements keep the TV team focused and "mailing it in" never enters the equation.

It's Not How You Start

The Cards beat the Mets 6 - 3 in 2:54 tonight at Busch Stadium. After two innings of play the Mets starting pitcher had thrown 46 pitches and the Cardinals starter threw 54 pitches. 100 pitches in 2 innings! The first two innings took 1 hour to play - exactly 1 hour. Truly excruciating baseball. Then the game turned around. The pitchers found their groove, the game moved and there was a good flow to our show. Excruciating baseball is very difficult to cover. The concentration level of everyone on the TV team is severely tested. Thank God the game turned around. If not, the TV production team would have been totally fried.

Once Again

For our third straight game/telecast a pitcher flirted with a no-hitter. Jorge De La Rosa of the Rockies was throwing a no-hitter with two outs in the seventh inning. Just as we started preparing for the no-hitter the Cardinals had consecutive base hits. We had our strategy down from our experience of the previous two games so we were ready. The Rockies beat the Redbirds 8 - 2 in 3:05 and for our TV team today was a lot of fun.

Back To Back = Wow

Adam Wainwright was nearly as good as teammate Shelby Miller today as the Cardinals beat the Rockies 3 - 0 in 2:40 at Busch Stadium. Miller gave up a broken bat single to start yesterday's game and then retired the next 27 Rockies. Wainwright carried a no-hitter for 8 1/3 innings today with the only blemish being a one out walk in the fifth inning. Miller and Wainwright retired 40 consecutive Rockies until that walk. With two outs in the ninth inning Wainwright gave up the second hit of the day to Colorado and finished with a 2-hit complete game. This was definitely the most fun I have ever had in back to back games. Beginning in the seventh inning, we started airing our drop-ins and promos so that we could cover the possible no-hitter with no interruptions. This was a great move by our Producer as we were able to concentrate totally on the event unfolding on the field. This 2 hour and 40 minute affair seemed like it took 20 minutes. Could tomorrow's game be a three-peat of the first two games of this series? I can't wait to find out.

Greatest Ever

The Cards beat the Rockies tonight at Busch Stadium by the score of 3 - 0 in 2:36. This was the greatest pitching performance I have ever witnessed during my 30 years in Major League Baseball. After the first batter of the game in which the Rockies' lead off batter reached first base with a broken bat single, Redbirds rookie hurler Shelby Miller retired the next 27 batters in a row! A perfect game minus one. Miller was in TOTAL control the whole game. He had 13 strikeouts and there was not one ball hit hard. He finished off the game with a 3-pitch strikeout with the batter not even swinging. The greatest pitching performance I have EVER witnessed! WOW!!!