Diane Pucin’s live commentary on how TBS is handling Game 2 of the Dodgers-Phillies game.

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What does this mean, exactly?

Chip Caray, as Andre Ethier gets a 3-2 count with the bases loaded here in the bottom of the eighth, says, ‘And now the merry-go-round, full count with two outs.’ Is that a common baseball saying and if it is, it shouldn’t be. If it’s not, really, what does it mean? Merry-go-round? What does that have to do with bases loaded and full counts and two outs?

Pete Carroll

Is twittering ‘Let’s go Dodgers, rally time.’ Hey, aren’t the Trojans supposed to be practicing in South Bend or something?

Is that...

Frank McCourt standing next to Kobe Bryant? Looked like the back of McCourt’s head. Could not we have an identification of that?

Readers notice stuff too

A kind emailer pointed out when Ronnie Belliard was squaring up to bunt, that Buck Martinez and Ron Darling were concentrating on Belliard’s iffy bunting footwork instead of noting that no matter your stance, it’s hard to bunt pitches high and away. Big picture is sometimes better than the microscope.Thanks, Joe.

No, no he doesn’t

Phillie Carlos Ruiz hit a foul ball at least 20 rows into the stands near first as Chip Caray was saying how James Loney might have a play. If Loney had taken the day off and gotten himself a box seat and wanted a ball for fun, then, yeah, he might have had a play. Otherwise? Not so much.

Curious comment

After Ryan Howard’s base hit that Dodger right fielder Andre Ethier played well by keeping the ball in front of him and not trying for some crazy, diving catch that could have been missed and let Howard go further, play-by-play man Chip Caray said, ‘Did the sun get him there?’ Nope, but Ethier’s quick instinct did keep the single a harmless single.

More ratings

Game 1 Thursday delivered an 11.3 television rating in the Los Angeles market and 28.8 rating in the Philadelphia market. That’s percentage of homes tuned in to the game. Is it just easier for the winning fans to tune in or are we just not that interested?

Too hot for Phillies

This is good between-inning reporting. Craig Sager reported on how the Phillies, who are coming off a series where they were snowed out a game in Denver, are taking extreme measures to cool off on this 90-degree afternoon. Besides frequent use cold towels Sager said that Shane Victorino just changed uniforms into something more light weight. And Victorino is from Hawaii!

Martinez on Martinez

Analyst Buck Martinez was almost lyrical in his praise of Phillies pitcher Pedro Martinez just now: ‘In an era where everyone gets wrapped up in radar reading, Pedro can still pitch with his head,’ Buck said. And PitchTrax looks like it got wallopped with a snow ball strike, all those white baseballs signifying Pedro pitches touching all the red background signifying the base.

Torre talking, Howard hitting

Just as Dodgers manager Joe Torre finished speaking about how his pitcher Vicente Padilla needed to match Phillies pitcher Pedro Martinez early in the game with the hopes that Martinez would eventually tire out and start giving up runs, boom, Ryan Howard’s home run just put Padilla behind Martinez, 1-0. So, to quote the Gilda Radner Emily Litella character on Saturday Night Live, ‘Oh. Never mind.’

Ratings update

Game 1 of the National League Championship series between Los Angeles and Philadelphia Thursday night earned TBS better ratings than its first ALCS game (Boston-Tampa Bay) last year, attracting 6.8 million viewers versus 6.6 million last year.

Back to the McCourts

Back in the day, when I’d cover Wimbledon when Princess Diana would come out a day our two, some of us journalists (and, no, not only the girls) would train our binoculars on Diana, whose royal box was adjacent to the media court side seats. Come on, we just didn’t get close and personal to royalty that much (and her skin was fabulous so it was somewhat a scientific curiousity as well). So I’m feeling a bit bereft so far during these playoffs. I want a camera shot of how far away from Frank McCourt Jamie is sitting. Who’s in front, who’s in back. Do they have dates? Lawyers? Body guards? Did they exchange a glance, a mean word? Did they shake hands or spit at each other? Come on, TBS, we want something.

Padilla’s idol

Analyst Buck Martinez said Vicente Padilla ‘idolizes’ Philly starter Pedro Martinez. Is that a good thing for Padilla? Or is Martinez overstating things a bit?

Head scratchers

Mostly loving the TBS pregame show though again it seems baffling that so far the crew, before, during and after Thursday’s game and so far today, have chosen not to mention the acrimonious goings on between Dodger owner Frank McCourt and his wife and CEO Jamie McCourt. The story cries out for the attempt of an interview, maybe an occasional camera shot of where Frank and Jamie are sitting, if they are on the field in the pregame. A TBS spokesman says there is no edict from Major League Baseball to downplay or ignore the story. Oh, and those Family Guy ‘butt scratchers’ commercials, just stop. If anyone needs to scratch a butt at a baseball, then don’t go. Really.

You can follow Houston Mitchell’s live game updates here. And follow the in-game box score here.