Off Day In New York

I don't usually blog when we don't have a game/telecast but today in New York (an off-day) warrants some commentary. We arrived at the hotel from Atlanta at 2:30 am eastern time. At 2:40 I entered my room to an uncomfortable smell. The hotel was more than happy to give me a new room and at 4:50 (2 hours and 20 minutes later) I received my Cardinals suitcase and hit the hay. The 2 hour delay to get my bag and go to sleep did not bother me as we had today totally off. I awoke at 1:00, showered and went to my favorite deli for a sandwich, chips, and a coke. I went back to the hotel and did the treadmill for thirty minutes. Later, I was reading a great book in my room when our producer, Mike, texted and said he was buying drinks at our favorite Irish Pub in honor of is wife's birthday. Most of our Cardinals TV production team showed up for the happy occasion. After a bit our producer and his wife left for a private dinner celebration. Then myself, our lead tape producer, and our pre-game host left for dinner at a wonderful NY italian restaurant. A plateful of wonderful pasta and a bottle of wine later we departed for our hotel rooms. What a great off day! I know that you who are reading this could care less and I understand that. My point is that off days on the road can be brutal. This off-day was wonderful. Cards at Mets tomorrow. I'm ready.

A Nothing Game

This was a tough one. The Braves beat the Cardinals tonight 5 - 4 in 2:43. This was a 1-run game with no drama. None. A TV sports director can elevate the excitement of a game with crisp tight cuts but the game must dictate the when and the why of such a cut. This game offered nothing. I tried to speed up my game cut. I tried to cut tight shots. I tried quick transitions. Nothing. This game offered nothing. Finally, I surrendered to the game. I was alert to the game for any possible change in it's direction. That never happened. I tried and I tried. There was no cooperation. This was a nothing game.

Perks Of The Job

I direct 157 Cardinals games each season. I have probably directed over 3,000 Redbird telecasts during my career. Covering Cardinals baseball means that I am on the road away from my family 2 weeks a month in the summer. Hard to do. Tonight, I had dinner, stories, and laughs with the Cardinals equipment manager Rip Rowan. Travelling on chartered airplanes - nice. Staying in 4-star hotels nice. Covering Major League Baseball for a living nice. Dinner, stories, and laughs with Rip Rowan - a great perk to this job

Made It Through

Even with the off day yesterday because the Cardinals were on FOX, I was still feeling the effects of Thursday's mentally draining telecast and friday's emotionally draining show. I was still a bit wiped from those two shows when I sat in the chair today for the Phillies/Cardinals game/telecast. The Cardinals won the game 8 - 3 in 2:35. I must admit that I was a bit worried that my concentration level would suffer throughout the telecast but that didn't happen and I was able to maintain focus throughout the show. The Redbirds hit three homeruns today and that certainly helped me maintain focus because homeruns are great fun to cut. I made it through the telecast and felt good about the show even though I was still a bit wiped.. I am now in Atlanta for a three game series with the Braves that starts with a day game tomorrow. Hopefully a good nights sleep will invigorate me. I hope so. Cutting the game mentally and/or physically tired is super difficult. I hope the teams come through with a well-pitched, well-played game. Back to back well-pitched and well-played games are just the tonic I need.

Emotionally Spent

We had our "This One's For You" telecast for our U.S. military tonight. I look forward to this show every year. Not a single telecast throughout the season has as many elements in it as this show does. There are "shout outs" from the troops in Afghanistan, 4-"This One's For You" keyable elements, live interviews between soldiers in Afghanistan and their spouses, interviews in the booth, Twitter messages throughout the telecast and so on. We even had a live marriage proposal in the pre-game show. The Cardinals had a girlfriend of a soldier serving in Afghanistan throw out the first pitch. Little did this woman know but her boyfriend (who she thought was still overseas) caught the pitch at home plate. When he took off the catcher's mask and she saw him it created one of the most remarkable moments ever in Cardinals baseball television. Her look of utter surprise and then unbelievable happiness was priceless. If you didn't tear up at that moment you don't have a heart. In fact, there was at least a half a dozen times throughout the show that I choked up with a huge lump in my throat. There was a beautiful little girl holding up a sign that said half of my heart(love) is deployed. Soldiers in Afghanistan recognizing family in the stands and pointing to the TV monitor with huge smiles on their faces was wonderful to witness. As I stated in yesterday's blog, I was mentally spent after that huge offensive game. Tonight I am emotionally spent.

Offensive Offense

The Phillies beat the Cardinals tonight by the score of 10 - 9 in 3:31. There were 19 total runs and 33 total hits. Runs were scored in 9 of the possible 18 half innings. Single runs were scored in 4 innings, two runs were scored twice, there was a 3-run inning and two 4-run innings. This game was all offense which I find very offensive. Cutting a game such as this is very difficult because you can never just sit back, take a breath and regroup. A nonstop onslaught of hits and runs is very draining mentally. I was wiped out after this one.

The Worst First

The Cardinals swept the Padres tonight by the score of 6 - 3 in 2:52. This game included some big homeruns and some great defense. This game also included the worst first inning ever. Let's recap: Here is what happened in the top of the first inning: The first batter hit a homerun - San Diego up 1 - 0. The next batter singled and was thrown out stealing. The number three batter walked. The next batter was hit by pitch. The next batter singled which put runners on first and third and the Padres led 2 - 0. The next batter grounded into a fielder's choice which scored the runner on third. Padres 3 Cardinals yet to bat. The seventh batter of the inning struck out and the Padres led 3 - 0 with the Redbirds coming to the plate for the first time. Total number of pitches - 26. Here is what happened in the bottom of the first inning: The first batter singled and scored when the second batter doubled to deep centerfield. Padres 3 Cardinals 1. The next two batters made outs. The number 5, 6, and 7 hitters each singled tying the score at three apiece. The number eight batter made out and the game went to the second inning tied at three. Total number of pitches in the bottom of the first inning - 27. 53 pitches, 6 runs, and 8 hits in the first inning alone which took 30 minutes. Developing a rhythm for the telecast - impossible. Finding a flow to the show - impossible. The rest of the game was fairly exciting but the first inning set a bad tone for the game/telecast. Fortunately our veteran crew weathered the storm and provided a fairly clean telecast. No thanks to the worst first ever.