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.

As Hilarious As It Gets

The Nationals beat the Cardinals in 10 innings tonight by the score of 6 - 4. This 3:38 affair included the funniest moment I have EVER seen in a baseball game. The Nationals' left fielder, Michael Morse, hit a grand slam homerun in the top of the first inning. The umpires reviewed the blast and signaled homerun as they returned to the field. On the original play, Michael Morse thought he had a homerun and was rounding the bases. The Cardinals played the ball as if the play was not a homerun and eventually tagged Morse out as he tried to return to first base. Our replays showed that it was indeed a homerun. What happened after the umpires ruled a homerun was truly the most hilarious moment I have ever seen on a baseball field. When the crew chief motioned that the play was a homerun, the Nationals players started rounding the bases. The umpires stopped this action and made each runner return to his original base with Morse returning to the batters box. Then Morse, without a bat, took a swing as if he was hitting the ball again. The players circled the bases and the score was 4 - 0. Absolutely hilarious!

Lucky Us

A 5-run first inning, a 4-run 2nd inning and a 3-run 8th led the Cardinals to a 12 - 2 victory over the Washington Nationals tonight at Busch Stadium. This 2:51 blowout was just what we needed on the St. Louis TV side. With a 9 - 1 lead after two innings we were able to relax and present a good telecast. Well pitched and well played close games are a blast to televise. These affairs create a focus on the TV crew that can be quite intense and game after game of these tightly fought contests can begin to be a bit of a drain on the brain. We have had quite a few of these contests lately so tonight's runaway game was greatly welcomed. As relaxing as this game was for us on the St. Louis TV side, I know how excruciating this game was for our TV peers doing the Nationals broadcast. Lucky us!

I Miss The Astros

The Lastros beat the Cardinals 2 - 0 in a brisk 2:27 tonight at Minute Maid Park in Houston. I miss the Houston Astros. This used to be a wonderful rivalry. Both home ad road games were electric as each ballpark was full of rowdy fans. It is great fun feeding off the energy of the crowd when cutting a baseball game or any sport for that matter. The announced crowd of 18,712 was the largest announced crowd of the three game series but even this crowd did not generate much enthusiasm. A 2 - 0 game should provide the crowd with some reason to rock and roll but, and I understand why, it is difficult to be fired up when the record of your ballclub is 50 - 105. This win gave the Lastros 51 wins with 6 games remaining on the 2012 schedule. I miss the Astros.

Defining The Lastros

The Cardinals defeated the incredibly bad Loosetan Lastros tonight in 2:42 by the score of 4 - 0. How bad are the Loosetan Lastros? This question was answered in the top of the second inning during tonight's game. After the first two Cardinals batters were eliminated to start the inning, the Cardinals pitcher doubled down the left field line. This obviously upset the Looseton pitcher. On the next pitch the Cardinals batter drove in the run with a single to centerfield. The pitcher stayed on the mound and did not back up the play behind home plate. On the next pitch, the Redbirds runner on first base stole second base WITHOUT A THROW! The batter then walked and the Lastros pitcher complained to the home plate umpire that there was really only three balls. Of course, he lost that argument. Then, during the next at-bat, the pitcher asked the home plate umpire for the count three pitches in a row after he had thrown his first three pitches to the batter. Rebuilding? No......embarrassing!

Primary Goal

The Cardinals beat the Astros tonight by the score of 6 - 1 in front of an announced crowd of 12,584. In truth, there were about 7500 patrons for this affair that lasted 3:03. During the top of the first inning I asked the low first camera operator (an excellent op by the way) to give me a shot of the pitcher. As expected, he immediately went to a waist shot. What was totally different about this particular shot, however, was that the background for this shot showed only empty seats. Absolutely no fans were in this shot at all. After my third waist shot of the pitcher, I told the camera operator to ONLY give me head to toe shots of the pitcher. The head to toe shot actually showed some fans in the background. It should be a rule for every sports TV director to try as much as possible to not shoot empty seats. The primary goal of every TV sports director is to promote the game. Shooting empty seats takes away from that goal.

Waist Shots

It does not matter what city I am in. It does not matter what venue I am directing a baseball game from. And, it is most certainly NOT wrong. It's not even bad. What am I talking about you ask? This is what I am talking about: When I ask a camera operator for a shot of a certain player, EACH AND EVERY camera operator in sports immediately gives me a waist shot of that player. Every single time - EVERY TIME. Like I stated, it is not the wrong shot and it is not a bad shot. When I am cutting the game at Busch Stadium, I have three cameras that can shoot the batter. I have 3 cameras that can shoot a left-handed batter and I have 3 cameras that can shoot a right-handed batter. This gives me 9 different batter shots for lefties and righties. Each of these three cameras can give me a head to toe shot, a waist shot, and a tight face shot. I like to mix up these shots during a telecast and I like to save the tight face shots for late in the game. Despite the fact that each camera can give me 3 different shots of the batter, EACH AND EVERY CAMERA OPERATOR in the country gives me a waist shot when I ask for a shot of a player. Not wrong and not bad - just weird.