Meet The New Not-Vins

The Dodgers officially unveiled their new broadcast team for SportsNet LA today:



Hmmm. Embedded video doesn't seem to be working for me. If it isn't for you either, here's the link

Welcome back, Orel and Nomar! Welcome aboard, Alanna Rizzo! Orel will partner up with Charley Steiner for non-Vin games on SportsNet LA. Nomar will join Rick Monday on radio for those games (with the Steiner and Monday pairing continuing to take over radio in the 4th inning of Vin-called games). Rizzo will handle "sideline" duties on non-Vin games, as well as pre- and post-game coverage. Vin, of course, will continue to preside over games in California and Arizona.

While not shown in the video above, Jerry Hairston, Jr. and former ABC7 sports anchor John Hartung will also be on the SportsNet LA team.

Excited yet?

UPDATE WITH THOUGHTS: This is a HUGE upgrade all-around. Steiner and Monday will both benefit from working with new partners (and Steiner's weird fly ball calls will be easier to take when you can see the ball on TV). Orel will provide professional, relevant analysis that Steve Lyons never could. I haven't seen much of Nomar's TV work, but he's definitely personable and can probably tell a good story. I was a big fan of Alanna Rizzo's work on MLB Network. She speaks fluent Spanish and should develop a good rapport with the players she'll be interviewing. (Plus, yes, she's cute, and we're shallow like that around here.)

Game 132 Thread: Aug. 27 vs. Cubs, 7p

The only thing the Cubs will have to cheer tonight.

Clayton Kershaw (13-7, 1.72) vs. Travis Wood (7-10, 3.22).

After leaving Zack Greinke in yesterday's game for 122 pitches and the incomplete game victory, will Don Mattingly allow Kershaw to talk him into trying to go the distance tonight? With Matt Harvey's unfortunate injury fresh in our minds, it's not unreasonable to worry about arm health as the playoffs loom. But Mattingly's gotten us this far, so trust the skipper. Magic number = 23!

Dodgers tickets

Game 110 Thread: Aug. 4 @ Cubs, 11:20a

"I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking, Did he fire one shot or only zero?"

Stephen Fife (3-3, 2.76) vs. Carlos Villanueva (2-7, 4.33).

Did you hear Charley Steiner on the radio the other day when Kevin Kennedy told him Fife might be starting today? Charley just about lost his shit imagining the fun he would have announcing a (Darwin) Barney-Fife matchup. Rick Monday even got a zinger in, saying, "You can spend the next two days rehearsing your ad-libs."

Announcer heaven aside, the Dodgers can execute a four-game sweep of the Cubs by battering Villanueva. "The right-hander has a 6.04 ERA in five starts since rejoining the rotation July 7 and an 8.22 ERA in his last three," ESPN tells us. The only question is whether Yasiel Puig gets the day off to rest his tender wrist.

First Look: Rick Monday Flag-Saving Bobblehead

It's easy to forget Monday was playing for the Cubs when this iconic moment occurred — which leads me to ask: Is this the first time the Dodgers have given away a bobblehead of a player not wearing a Dodgers uniform? Has any other team ever given away a bobblehead of another team's player?

The 10 Best Dodger Stadium Moments

Keeping with the top 10 theme...

I enjoy Dylan Hernandez's writing for the LA Times and his article on the finest 10 Dodger Stadium moments is no exception. It's a nice list upon which to as we get ready to open up the Stadium's 50th season.

No surprises as to who earned #1. But #6, with a mention that Charley Steiner is sure to reference to his partner in Tuesday's radio broadcast? Yep, you guessed it.

photo: Joe Kennedy / Los Angeles Times (October 15, 1988)

Dodgers' Player Announcers Beat Giants', Pants Down

Awesome sidebar by the WSJ Tuesday, as they looked up the WAR of all 30 MLB teams' broadcasting teams (up to two players). And once again, the Dodgers beat the Giants:

Using "wins above replacement," a statistic that measures the career contributions of pitchers and position players on the same scale, we ranked the TV and radio broadcasters for every major-league team. The study included up to two former players who are now regular broadcasters, per team. (For clubs with more than two primary former-player announcers, one each was chosen from TV and radio, based on the best WAR.)

Right away, it became clear that being a superstar is not always necessary in landing an announcing gig.

Of the 56 broadcasters, 31 (55.4%) never made an All-Star team. Three are in the Hall of Fame as players (Bert Blyleven, Jim Palmer, Don Sutton), while two made it as broadcasters (Jerry Coleman, Bob Uecker). It also seems that teams are not always prone to hiring one of their own. Only 21 of the 56 (37.5%) played more than five years for the team they broadcast, while 18 never played for that team at all.

Which broadcast tandem was the best on the diamond? Minnesota's combo of Blyleven and Jack Morris easily defeated the Diamondbacks' duo of Mark Grace and Tom Candiotti. The Orioles, with Palmer and Rick Dempsey, finished third. The big losers were the Tigers. Rod Allen and Jim Price combined to hit just .215 in their major-league careers.

Notables:

• 1. Twins: Blyleven, Morris: 129.4 WAR
• 2. D'backs: Candiotti, Grace: 88
• 3. Orioles: Dempsey, Palmer: 87.1
• 9. Angels: Mark Gubicza, Jose Mota: 34.4
• 10. Dodgers: Steve Lyons, Rick Monday: 34.2
• 13. Giants: Mike Krukow, Duane Kuiper: 22.9
• 24. Padres: Jerry Coleman, Mark Grant: 8.2
• 29. Rockies: George Frazier, Jeff Huson: 1
• 30. Tigers: Allen, Price: -1.4

If Every Dodgers Broadcaster Is Returning, WTF Was The Point Of That Controversial Survey In The First Place

Leave it to the Dodgers. They get everyone all fired up over a survey sent to season ticketholders about the broadcasting teams--and then decide to bring everyone back anyway:

LOS ANGELES -- Vin Scully and Jaime Jarrin announced their plans to return for the 2012 season over the weekend. The rest of the Dodgers' broadcast team followed suit on Tuesday.

In a press release, the club announced the entire eight-man broadcast team will return for next season.

On the radio, Rick Monday enters his 19th season behind the mic with the Dodgers' supporting play-by-play man Charley Steiner, who will be in his eighth season calling games for Los Angeles.

Former Dodger Steve Lyons and play-by-play man Eric Collins, who fill in for Scully for road games in cities outside the National League West, also return for their eighth and fourth seasons, respectively, with the club.In a press release, the club announced the entire eight-man broadcast team will return for next season.

Fernando Valenzuela and Pepe Yñiguez return behind the mic to help Jarrin call the games in Spanish. For Valenzuela, the former Cy Young and 20-game winner with the Dodgers, it's his ninth season calling games, while Yñiguez will step to the mic for his 15th year.

Congratulations to the whole Dodgers broadcasting team, not all of whom I think is doing a great job. If I had to lay out the achilles heel of our broadcasters, they often (collectively):

• fail to discern fly balls from home runs;
• start giggling uncontrollably, at the cost of game play-by-play;
• forget to tell the score too often (isn't that what egg timers are for?);
• insist upon calling players by the infant-level convention [First Name + "y"];
• are better known for on-field incidents (flag-saving, pants-dropping) rather than career achievements;
• oftentimes, don't provide insight incremental to what we're seeing in the stadium or watching on TV.

I've got nothing against any of the broadcasting team members (and as a Dodger fan I think Vin Scully is a deity). But surely, this franchise deserves the league's best. That should be the standard for judgment, and not some capricious online survey to season ticket holders.

It Happened 35 Years Ago Yesterday

Keith Olbermann Calls Rick Monday A Liar

Well, not so much in a confrontational manner, but Olbermann definitely skewers one of Monday's latest embellished tales, that of one where he claimed to wear #104:

[Charley] Steiner assured his [radio] audience that having been the first pick in the first-ever amateur draft in 1965, [Rick] Monday suffered no such degradations, whereupon Monday insisted that in his first spring training with the then-Kansas City A's in 1966, he had been insulted in no less an astonishing way than being assigned uniform number 104. A-hem.

Followed up by photographic evidence that I'll make you click through to see, but rest assured it looked something like this:

Thanks to Jon Weisman for picking up Olbermann's entertaining blogpost. Now let's hope our subsequent post fuels the fire of animosity between Olbermann and Monday, because I'd love to see those two going at it in their respective broadcasts all summer long.

And geez, if we can't depend on Rick to tell us a even somewhat-true story, then why the hell are we listening to Monday again? God knows it's not to hear the score of the game.

Save a Flag, Meet the President

A note from afar from our very own Steve Sax:

From a Dodgers press release:

ALL-STAR RICK MONDAY TO COACH AT WHITE HOUSE

WASHINGTON – As Major League greats line up today for one final All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, a former All-Star is headed to an even more historical venue – the White House.

Former Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Rick Monday, a two-time Major League All-Star, and his wife, Barbaralee Casciari Monday, will be joining President Bush and the First Lady at the White House as part of "Salute to Baseball – America’s Pastime." Rick will be coaching third base during a Little League All-Star Tee Ball game on the White House lawn tomorrow afternoon, following which he and Barbaralee will be guests of The President and Mrs. Bush at a dinner at the White House.

Monday, a Dodger radio broadcaster, is a veteran of the Marine Corps Reserve and a member of American Legion Post 211 in Woodward, Iowa. He won a World Series with the 1981 Dodgers and will be forever linked with an incident that occurred on April 25, 1976 while he was playing for the Chicago Cubs. When two protestors attempted to burn the U.S. flag on the field at Dodger Stadium in the middle of a game, Monday swiped the flag before they were successful – an act that motivated the crowd of more than 30,000 to break into a spontaneous rendition of "God Bless America." The scoreboard lit up with the message, "Rick Monday, you made a great play," for the visiting player and future Dodger, and the event was ranked as one of the 100 greatest moments in baseball history by the Baseball Hall of Fame. Monday has also been honored with a Senate Resolution for the rescue.

photo by Todd Sumlin, The Charlotte Observer

Rick Monday May Not Know The Score, But At Least He's Not Mike Krukow

Giants #2 and #3 announcers Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper were criticized in the San Francisco Comical this week, as TV columnist Tim Goodman questioned why Giants telecasts don't focus on baseball:

When the Giants opened their very first post-Barry Bonds season, the expectations were beyond low. Too many old guys with no pop. Not much of a farm system. Only one big free agent acquisition. A bullpen in question. The only element the team could rely on was in the young arms of the starting rotation. There was no big draw, fueling speculation that the fans would abandon the team no matter how great the ballpark. The team's slogan - "All Out, All Season" - even hinted at the worries, suggesting that even though the Giants weren't going to win many games, they were going to try hard and not give up. [Editors note: in the Giants' slogan, shouldn't there be a "S" after "Out"?]

Into this scenario crept an interesting notion with regard to the television broadcast of the games, that ever-so-valuable part of the equation meant to keep people interested over a 162-game season: The announcing team of Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow would have to be more interesting, more entertaining to hold fans' attention. Once the Barry Bonds Circus left town, there would be no spotlight bright enough to make the team, on its own, worth tuning in to watch over the course of six months.

No doubt this sent a chill up the spines of die-hard fans. The quirky - some might say "acquired taste" - duo is not exactly an "only in San Francisco" institution. Baseball is awash in local broadcasters who add a distinct flavor to the home team, and Kruk and Kuip, as they are known, are no different.

While Kuiper has an enviable mix of thoughtful analysis, laconic play-by-play and peppery humor, it's Krukow who can really put off those new to his shtick. He has always shouldered the burden of spicing up the games with color (though purists would certainly call this mucking up a perfectly fine baseball game).

Whether he's overusing his favorite phrase, "Grab some pine, meat," or layering on the familiar "gamer" tag, he takes the notion of color to the extreme. In fact, Krukow is also known for "eliminating" people in the stands he doesn't like by using the Telestrator. Mostly his targets are Dodger fans or those who have crossed some anti-Giants threshold. If there's anyone more "homer" about the Giants, he or she is heretofore unknown.

Therefore, in a season of diminished expectations for entertainment, Krukow was going to have to ratchet up his antics and, if conceivable, be even more positive in his enthusiasm for the G-Men.

In fairness to Krukow, even though he has no apparent personal dislike of being goofy (old-school player aphorisms and lingo, a willingness to chat about characters in the crowd), he's much better when he keeps the goofiness tamped down. He knows the game. He adds value with his insight. And he handles with aplomb what is expected of most analysts: to repeatedly tell fans what they already know (that someone dropped a bunt in the perfect situation, that a batter stayed balanced through a swing or a runner advanced with a heads-up play). Done in the proper way, this never comes off as being condescending or overly obvious. (John Madden has made a career out of this neat little trick.)

Where things go astray in a Giants telecast is when Kuiper and Krukow lose focus and fall back on the well-worn familiarity of their relationship. Though Giants fans have, through the years, come to adopt this duo as a beloved institution (fans still wear the pair's replica Giants jerseys), their digressions can be both annoying and pedestrian and a stark contrast to the work of Jon Miller, who broadcasts for both the Giants and ESPN.

It's certainly a matter of personal taste, but Kuiper and Krukow seem more relaxed on radio than television - the constant demand to entertain TV viewers with cutaway shots of the crowd, etc., often detracts from what's happening on the field (a stark contrast to radio, where there are more hard-core baseball fans seeking the pure rhythm of the game).

Reading this obviously reminded me of how lucky we are to have Vin Scully, a broadcaster who describes the game with insight and detail while maintaining a comfortable, converstional tone, weaving on-the-field play with off-the-field stories with incredible aplomb. And I've not been too much of a fan of Rick Monday, who when paired with partner Jerry Reuss on east-coast radio shows, too often spins off the rails into conversational topics better fit for a backyard barbecue than a Dodger game. Sometimes, Monday almost sounds like he's disappointed that the action in the game has bothered to interrupt his tales from yesteryear, or his ribbing of Reuss. Tell me why I don't like Mondays, indeed.

But I suppose I should also be more appreciative that Dodger television viewers aren't pummeled with inane morning radio show banter, or yellow circles being drawn over unknowing spectators (Scully's crowd shots--which I recall reading somewhere were expressly stipulated as part of his contract--are always tasteful and usually involve some cute kid up way past his or her bedtime).

And even on the radio, Monday and Reuss may be a little self-obsessed and nostalgic, but they're thankfully not "goofy" or "wacko" (nor is Charley Steiner, by the way, whose performance on which I'm still pretty neutral). If the worst I have to suffer is not knowing the score for a couple of innings, I suppose it could be worse: I could be a Giants fan.

UPDATE 11.51a: Awful Announcing has this clip in which Giants broadcasters are more interested in watching a high school prom cruise than the game at hand. Over two minutes of inanity serves as a perfect example for this post. Ye gods, how hard it must be to be a Giants fan, with such meaningless drivel!

Rick Monday Elected to SoCal Sports Broadcasters HOF

The Dodgers issued a press release this afternoon, stating that Rick Monday was elected to the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Hall of Fame today. Unsurprisingly, details and key statistics about the event were not mentioned:

LOS ANGELES – Rick Monday, who is entering his 15th season as a Dodger broadcaster and 22nd season overall with the organization, was inducted into the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Hall of Fame during the organization’s annual awards luncheon at Lakeside Golf Club earlier today.

The Emmy-Award winning broadcaster serves as an analyst on KABC 790 AM for all Dodger home games and the club’s road games against the National League West. In all other road games, Monday serves as the play-by-play announcer alongside former teammate Jerry Reuss.

The press release makes no mention of how many people were at the event, marking yet another event in which Monday was involved and no one knew the count.

Seriously, Rick, congratulations.