Night And Day

Yesterday's Cubs 5 - 0 win took 2:32 to play. Tonight's Cubs 2 - 1 win took 3:20 to play. How can a 2 - 1 game take almost an hour longer to play than a 5 - 0 game? A 5 - 0 game with 14 hits takes almost an hour less to play than a 2 - 1 game with 12 hits. How does that happen? Last night's game vs tonight's game - night and day. My mood from last night to tonight - night and day. Enough said. Good night.

Loved It

The Cubs defeated the Cards tonight in 2:32 by the score of 5 - 0. This game at Busch Stadium was one of the better games a TV baseball director can enjoy. The first 7 innings of this game flew by and were played in under an hour and a half. Thanks can be given to the 2 starting pitchers who were outstanding. I also loved this game/telecast because of the storylines involved. The Cubs are considered by many to be the best team in the game. The years of futility for this organization make this assertion a very compelling story. The starting pitcher for the Cubs pitched for the Cardinals last season and the starter for the Redbirds replaced him in the rotation. Also, I don't believe that I have ever experienced Busch Stadium as electric as it was tonight. I believe the TV crew and, thus, the audience feed off this energy. Our telecast tonight proved this to be true. I love what I do and I enjoy doing it. Tonight was extra special. I loved it!

The Fastest Sport

The Cards beat me the Reds in 2:44 today at Busch Stadium by the score of 4 - 3. I have directed all the major sports and, as I have stated before, baseball is by far the fastest game to cut. Each sport has it's primary "game" camera. For baseball, that camera is in the high home position and is called camera 2. Now, when action is going on in any sport the "game" camera is the primary camera to begin the action. The difference between baseball and the other sports is that baseball is a 360 degree sport which means cameras can and do surround the field and any camera can be involved in the cut. Plus there is a longer opportunity to cut cameras during a baseball game than any other sport. For example, more cameras will be cut for a homerun than a goal in hockey, a basket in basketball or a touchdown in football. However, a touchdown cut came cone very close to a homerun cut. This makes for a faster "game" for the TV director. Now the reason I have blabbed on and on about this is that the first 3 innings of this game may have been the "fastest" innings I have ever cut. I remember thinking " Holy shit, I am going to be fried after this one. Thankfully the game settled down and I maintained my sanity. Well, that's another discussion.

Sticking To It

It took 3 hours and 12 minutes for the Reds and the Cards to compile 17 runs (9 by the Reds), 25 hits (15 by the Reds) today at Busch Stadium. This was a strange game. In the innings where no runs were scored, the game moved at a snail's pace. The innings where runs scored moved rapidly. In fact, during the Reds 4-run 6th inning, the Cardinals had given up 2 runs and gotten 2 outs in the first 15 pitches. This was a high scoring game that did not feel like it. 3 hours and 12 minutes seems about right for a 9 - 8 game. It's just that this game didn't seem to take that long to play and it certainly didn't feel like a 9 - 8 contest. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The Homerun Cut

In the 2 hours and 31 minutes it took to play tonight's Reds/Cardinals game at Busch Stadium, the Redbirds scored 14 runs on 13 hits with 6 home runs. That's right - 6 home runs. As anyone who reads this blog knows, the greatest enjoyment a TV baseball director experiences during a game/telecast occurs while cutting the home run. The Reds also hit one so that was 7 roundtrippers that had the pleasure to cut tonight. I like to change my home run cut with each homer hit and tonight was no different. Great fun tonight for the St. Louis Cardinals fans, the TV crew and this director. Maybe not quite as much fun for the Reds fans and the Reds TV crew. Although I'd bet the Reds TV director enjoyed his cut.

The Difference

The Cards beat the Brew Crew today at Busch Stadium by the score of 7 - 0. During this 2:29 game, the Brewers collected only one hit. In fact, since 1990 the Redbirds have only had 6 1-hit complete game shutouts. The rapid pace of this type of game is great for the Director and difficult for the Producer. The Director develops a rhythm and the Producer works feverishly to include all the "sold" items needed for the telecast. At the end of a game/telecast such as this one, the Director walks away from the truck with the adrenaline still flowing and the Producer walks away fried. That is the difference. Oh yea, I didn't suck.

Awful

The Brewers defeated the Cardinals at Busch Stadium tonight in 2:49 by the score of 6 - 4 with a 2-run homer in the 9th inning the difference. This should have been one of those games a director loves to cut. Not much action but some great moments. When those moments come - nail it. Really quite simple - when great moments happen - nail them. Well, tonight I was horseshit. Not only did I NOT nail them, my cutting diminished them. Awful just awful. My performance tonight was just embarrassing. Hopefully tomorrow I can elevate my game to mediocre.