Friday, June 6, 2008

The Beej feels shame once again

Three things that absolutely killed us at about 5:04 Eastern time yesterday:

1) Knowing that with Johnny Mac (or even Scutaro) patrolling short, that the game would have been over yesterday with A-Rod's slow bouncer. Maybe Rolen was a distraction, but that was a ball that Major League short stop should get. Sorry Scrappy Doo, but you're back on the shit list.

2) Listening to Jamie Campbell absolutely lose his shit AGAIN when the other team wins in a walk off against the Jays. Do you think Hawk Harrelson would squeal like a little girl at a Jonas Brothers concert if the Yanks had beaten the White Sox? Sure, there's a balance between being a nauseating homer and an absolute objective observer, but Campbell should recognize the fact that he's conveying the games events to a few hundred thousand BLUE JAYS FANS, who aren't going to get all sopping wet about the Yankees magic and mystique, blah blah blah. It's like he felt he had to shout over top of Michael Kay in the press box.

3) Of all the Yankees to do it, why did it have to be that wretched douchebag Giambi?

As per usual, Jon Hale at the Mockingbird sums up that last pitch about as well as anyone could. It was a mistake pitch, although we wonder if the Jays shouldn't be backing off on Beej (and Jesse Carlson for that matter) just a bit. We're not sure what the speed was on that meatball, but it seemed to float in there at a snail's pace.

Gargh!

12 comments:

The Ack said...

about Campbell....that's it in a nutshell, isn't it? I mean, I don't want our lead play by play guy to be telling opposing hitters to "grab some bench" or throw out a "HEGONE" after they K, or "put it on the booooooaaaaaarrrrddd.....YES!" after a Stairs tater.....but he's broadcasting the game to BLUE JAY FANS. Not opposing team fans.

Call the game like you see it Jamie, but Jesus Christ, dampen the enthusiasm when the opposing team comes up big, for the love of Christ. Someone has to get this message through to him before I'm completely put off from the telecasts altogether. And I'm pretty sure that I'm not alone on this one.

Ian Hunter said...

Ditto on that one.
I'm starting to think that JC is secretly getting paid off by opposing teams for calling the games in their favour.

Tao of Stieb said...

Like we said over on the Mockingbird, you've gotta know your audience.

If JC doesn't understand how his audience is going to react to that moment, then he shouldn't be there. It's one thing to convey the drama of the moment, but quite another to convey it to your viewers in a way that shows some empathy for them.

The more appropriate tone would be "Oh my...and that's another heartbreaker for the Blue Jays."

Darren Priest said...

Yankees fans everywhere might start demanding your particular brand of ju-ju before every game now, Tao.

Andrew said...

Most pitchers don't usually get their control or stuff back for 2 years after surgery. Beej has a sneaky delivery that should still fool 75% of hitters but he's not going to have a sub 2 ERA this year.

The prospects of Jason Frasor and Armando Benitez closing games isn't appetizing.

Carlson is likely going through some dead arm. Or he's just coming back to earth.

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

i feel depressed.

halejon said...

84 mph...and curving nicely into the wheelhouse. Hanging slider = worst pitch in baseball!

Anonymous said...

Nice Slapshot reference, Tao.

(in think Quebecois accent): BJ Ryan, he go back to hotel room. He think about meatball he throw. He feel shame.

Anonymous said...

that's thick, not think

Joanna said...

I really want Jamie to make those calls to BJ's face.

Andrew said...

Perhaps he's under the impression that people in Canada care more about the Yankees or Red Sox. I know in Nova Scotia the Red Sox are the team to beat but man... change some minds.

Anonymous said...

"A few hundred thousand BLUE JAYS FANS"???

I doubt it!!


MAYBE a few hundred thousand people that were watching the game, and wondering why we ever got rid of Hinske...but I think it's a strecth to call them all FANS!!!