The Standout

Major League Television baseball crews are very talented. I'm not sure if there are truly any bad TV techs in the world of sports. Almost every TV sports crew member is at least good at what they do. It is the "standouts" that are on every crew that raise the quality of the telecast. The "standouts" make the rest of the crew better. I noticed this and thought of this tonight as I directed the Cardinals/Rockies game/telecast out of Coors Field in Denver. There is a crew member on the visiting TV crew who is unbelievably good - he stood out. This Denver crew is very talented from top to bottom but this certain member is absolutely one of the best in the country. He made everybody better. He was the standout.

Despite The Fact

I love Wrigley Field. I love Chicago. I love the side-by-side television setup at Wrigley. There is nothing better than Cardinals/Cubs games at this wonderful venue. The weather was perfect. The crowd was electric. The local TV crew for our telecast are great TV teammates. Today was a great day all around. Despite the fact that the Cubs beat the Cardinals today 4 - 2 with a 2-run walk-off homerun in the bottom of the tenth inning. Off day tomorrow in Denver. Coors Field on Tuesday. Look out!

First Inning And The Rest

The Cubs beat the Cardinals 3 - 2 with almost nothing worth anything happening after the first inning. The first three batters of the game walked for the Redbirds and they only scored one run. The Cubs took the lead in the bottom of the first with a single, a double, and a triple by three of the first four batters. The starting pitchers settled down after the first inning and the rest of the game was almost nondescript. Still, we were at Wrigley Field - the best venue in all of sports and EVERY game/telecast out of Wrigley is great, great fun. Get away day tomorrow as we head for Colorado. We come back to Wrigley in September. I can't wait.

Love It

As I wrote in my book "Cutting The Game, Inside Television Baseball From the Director's Chair" the most fun a TV baseball director has during a game/telecast is cutting a homerun. Well, thanks to the Redbirds I was able to enjoy myself in each of the first 5 innings today. That's right, the Cardinals homered in each of the first 5 innings today. This was the first time in their history that they accomplished this feat. I had loads of fun cutting these homeruns and I had great fun watching the Cardinals beat the Cubs. Homeruns against the Cubs, beating the Cubs - Love it.

Dodgers Series

The Cardinals took 3 of 4 from the Dodgers in the just completed 4-game series at Busch Stadium. These games couldn't have been more similar. Except for a few moments here and there, these games were mirror images of each other. The temperature for the first three games was over 100 derees and today's temp. was in the low 90's. You can only take so many shots of sweating players, umpires and fans. The Dodgers won game 1 despite being outplayed by the Redbirds. The Cardinals were victorious in a non-descript game 2. Game three went 12 innings and was just as draining on the TV crew as the players. There were 26 total hits in today's Cardinals victory with 26 of them being singles. There is not much to write about when not much happens. This Dodgers/Cardinals series was just a bunch of ground hog days.

Pumped

The Cardinals scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning and cruised to a 7 - 0 victory over the Cubs today at Busch Stadium. After last night's record setting game (7 doubles, 12 runs in the 7th inning), the Cardinals scored these 4 runs with the help of 3 doubles. The Redbirds completed the scoring with back-to-back homeruns in the 7th inning. When a team is performing well there is an excitement that flows through the TV crew. I think the best members of any sports TV crew actually raise their performance level when the team is playing well. Just as there are certain players in professional sports who actually make their teammates better, there are games that actually make the TV crew better. This is certainly evident at the end of a perfect game or a no-hitter. This is also true when a team is on a roll and playing great. The Cardinals are a very good baseball team and are on a bit of a roll. The upcoming stretch of games are going to be a blast to cover.

Making History

Here is what happened in the bottom of the 7th inning tonight in the Cubs/Cardinals game. 12 runs scored tying the Cardinals club record for runs in an inning set on September 16, 1926. 7 doubles in the inning tying the major league record set on August 25, 1936 by the Boston Bees against the Cardinals. The half inning took 50 minutes with 17 batters, 10 hits, 3 walks, 7 doubles, a triple, and a wild pitch. The only ball that was hit hard was the triple. I had a blast cutting this inning. I don't know how many times "Are you kidding me?" was uttered in the TV truck but I think that set a record as well.