TV for Dodgers-Phillies, Game 2

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

On the mound, Philadelphia right-hander Brett Myers was mediocre at best Friday against the Dodgers in Game 2 of the NLCS, giving up five runs and six hits and walking four in five innings.

At the plate, he was great, going three for three with three RBIs.

But most important for Fox Sports, in the eye of the camera, Myers was superb, a little goofy, slightly awkward, but always entertaining.

That’s the bottom line with TV, so the Fox crew wouldn’t take their lens off him. And he kept responding.

Returning to the dugout after his first hit, Myers, demonstrating to a teammate that he really didn’t know what he was doing, put his left hand over his eyes and swung an imaginary bat with his right hand as though he were hitting blindfolded.

After his second hit, he shrugged.

After his third hit, Myers rolled his eyes.

‘He’ll be opening up a hitting school in Philadelphia in the off-season,’ said Fox play-by-play man Joe Buck.

Buck and his broadcast partner, Tim McCarver, are refreshingly honest. When Dodgers Manager Joe Torre chose not to hit for pitcher James McDonald with one out in the fifth, a runner aboard and the Dodgers behind 8-5, both Buck and McCarver questioned Torre’s strategy.

‘They are giving Myers a free out just as he’s starting to wear down,’ Buck said.

When Philly closer Brad Lidge walked James Loney in the ninth inning, McCarver, a catcher in his playing days, questioned Lidge’s reliance on the slider.

‘When the slider is effective,’ McCarver said, ‘it’s almost always out of the [strike] zone.’

Lidge, however, got the last word on that subject, striking out Matt Kemp and Nomar Garciaparra on sliders to end the game.

Still, honest is honest even if it’s wrong.

-- Steve Springer