Monday, May 10, 2010

And THAT'S Why Charley Steiner Needs To Be More Judicious With His Non-Home Run Calls

Though, to be fair, it was probably the premature ejaculation of the pyrotechnics guy at PNC Park, who doomed Lastings Milledge into thinking his double off the top of the wall was a home run. Still, when you watch the video (linked above), doesn't that call of "It's GONE!...off the top of the wall" sound familiar?

From Big League Stew:

Unfortunately for his personal power totals, Milledge was bamboozled into believing his liner in the fourth inning against the Chicago Cubs on Thursday night had cleared the left-field fence at PNC Park for his first career grand slam.

Dead certain he had gone deep, Milledge raised his fist rounding first base, put his head down and went into a trot. Cool. Double-dog certain because the fireworks guy at PNC set off the pyrotechnics that explode every time a Bucs player goes deep. Music also began to blare. What a glorious moment for the Bucs! (And a fine way to continue recovering from the worst stretch of baseball anyone can remember them playing.)

Only, the ball had not cleared the fence. It hit the top and stayed in the field of play.

As Bucs announcer Bob Walk said, "Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, uh oh — we got a problem here."

Milledge was not quite midway between second and third base when he realized the Cubs had him in a rundown. And, yeah, um, he was tagged out.

Score that a two-run double and a big ol' base-running blunder.

And THAT'S why you need to be judicious in making non-home run calls seem like home run calls. A word to the wise, Charley (thankfully we do not have fireworks celebrating home runs). I'm just saying.

16 comments:

MR.F said...

I always leave a note and I never yell.

Kyle Baker said...

OT:

Via VSIMH, Batting Stance Guy doing Dodgers:

http://tinyurl.com/3alceum

I usually am annoyed by this guy, but this is amusing.

Eric Stephen said...

Wow! That is pretty funny. At least it was 10-0 at the time, or else Milledge might have had the Kemp riot act read to him.

Fred's Brim said...

Vin called Dre's game-winning grand slam the other night in the complete opposite way. He thought it hit the wall and it took him a second to see that it had gone out

Fred's Brim said...

Batting Stance Guy has a book coming out? Maybe I have a book coming out too

He misses a little on Eric Karros I think. I distinctly remember him squatting at the very end of his routine, like he was plopping down on a barstool.

It was like some gym coach had given him instruction from a book about how to play baseball and told him "Don't forget to bend your knees!"

Steve Sax said...

@FB: I don't remember EK being able to bend his knees all that much, ever (esp on defense).

Kyle Baker said...

I should put a book out on recognizing that Batting Stance Guy has a book coming out.

How the hell do you capture what he does in print media?

#Waitforittogototheremaindertable

Josh S. said...

The batting stance guy has a book and there's a blanket that prevents you from dutch ovening your wife. What an age we live in.

Steve Sax said...

Oh my god why don't you write a batting stance guy book and go publish your batting stances in that book.

Kyle Baker said...

Thx, Sax. That needed to be said.

Paul said...

Steiner's premature exclamation of all things gone is not my biggest annoyance with him.

Besides him making a mistake every 10 seconds, he also delays and then speeds up his call so you have no idea what is going on but you know something is going on cause you hear the crowd.

"The 2-2 pitch...................................groundballdoubleplayinningover....So the Dodgers can't score.

karina said...

Josh S: dutch ovening?

Josh S. said...

Uh, I'll let the blanket's webpage explain.

MR.F said...

I bet we just found out what the PCS prize will be this season.

Kyle Baker said...

I like how the commerical says that the blanket makes a great anniversary gift. Which aniversary year is fart-proof blanket, again?

I also like this: "Contains the same type of fabric used by the military to protect against chemical weapons."

Wonder if it is built to protect against folks who have eaten a KFB double down for lunch?

Kyle Baker said...

^KFC