Now, If Only the Play Matched NBC’s Coverage

Although Bostonians might argue the point, the World Series hasn’t been as exciting as the playoffs. But don’t blame NBC. The network has been doing a superb job of bringing you the Series.

The only thing missing is the drama that was so prevalent during the playoffs.

The NBC camera crew, headed by coordinating producer and director Harry Coyle, has been nearly flawless. They were as fooled as Met center fielder Len Dykstra on Jim Rice’s wind-blown triple in the fifth inning Thursday night. But they had it from a couple of angles on the replays.

The best picture of the Series so far was the one of Dwight Evans’ dejection after failing to hang on to Dykstra’s seventh-inning homer in Game 4 Wednesday night.

“What a picture Evans paints,” announcer Vin Scully said. “It’s worth more than 1,000 words.”

After the game, Coyle was telling everyone that the only female member of the crew, Vickie Walker of Los Angeles, was responsible for the shot. But when she came into the production truck she confessed she was in the ladies’ room at the time. Her relief man, Brian Phraner, deserved the credit, she said.

Scully gets the credit for another great shot Wednesday night. When the Mets’ Darryl Strawberry was thrown out trying to steal, Scully said, “He tipped it off.”

Scully then asked for a shot of Strawberry to illustrate his point. Coyle provided it. Scully then explained that Strawberry was digging in with his left foot, and that was the cue that he was going.

Those kinds of things aren’t provided in routine telecasts.

Scully and Joe Garagiola continue to turn in Hall of Fame performances behind the microphones. They are two men who happen to have followed a kid’s game their entire lives, know it inside out, and are able to communicate its nuances and intricacies smoothly and concisely to a national television audience.

“We’re just two fans at the ballpark,” Garagiola often says.

Scully aptly summed up pitcher Dwight Gooden’s troubles Thursday night when he said that the Mets’ problems in the field had caused him to press. “Then his needle hit empty here in the fifth,” he said.

Scully finished the game by saying, “There are no miracles in Boston tonight for Lenny Dykstra,” after Dykstra struck out for the final out.

Wednesday night, when Met pitcher Ron Darling got into momentary trouble in the second inning after a shaky first, Scully said: “He is in the soup again.”

Scully always finds the right words, and that talent seems to have rubbed off on Garagiola.

Garagiola on Darling’s comments after losing the first game, 1-0: “He said he had his rhythm and all those other good cliches.”

Cliches are something that Scully and Garagiola almost always avoid. They don’t need them.

Scully and Garagiola aren’t afraid to criticize but are rarely out of line. They have found the right blend.

Scully, after Darling walked Spike Owen to lead off the fifth Wednesday night, said: “To walk Spike Owen, batting left-handed, is sacrilegious.”

Then when Darling went to 3 and 0 on the next batter, Marty Barrett, and catcher Gary Carter emerged from behind the plate slapping his glove to his thigh, Scully said Carter was “cheerleading.”

Said Garagiola: “That’s a kind word. I think Carter is really letting him have it.”

When Carter doubled in the sixth inning of Game 4 and slid into second head-first, Garagiola said, “He’s taking no chances.” Scully, again finding the right words, said: “He went in with his landing gear down.”

When Carter later in the inning failed to score from third on Ray Knight’s line drive to left, which Jim Rice caught, Scully said Carter made an error in judgment by running. “(Third base coach) Buddy Harrelson had nothing to do with that,” Scully said.

Nobody’s perfect. Not even Scully. It’s hard to catch him in an error when he’s on his game, as he is during a World Series, but occasionally he makes one. During Game 4 Wednesday night, he got Mookie Wilson and Rafael Santana confused in the top of the ninth.

Santana hit a bouncer back to pitcher Bob Stanley, and the Red Sox threw out Wilson at home after a rundown. Said Scully: “The only thing Stanley did wrong was he committed a little early so that they were running Santana toward home. Ideally, they would have him running toward third.” Ideally, Scully would have said Wilson.

But the mistake showed Scully is human, not a robot that effortlessly recites facts, figures and commentary. He is so good you sometimes wonder.

If tidbits are what you want, tidbits are what you get. For example, NBC let the nation know Wednesday night that the Mets’ Danny Heep is the first designated hitter in the World Series with the initials DH.

Best segment during the pregame shows was a moving and somber piece on Kansas City Royals Manger Dick Howser Wednesday night. There was no pregame show Thursday night because NBC didn’t want to preempt the “Bill Cosby Show,” which aired at 8 p.m. in the East.

Howser, battling a malignant brain tumor, was asked by Bill Macatee how he reacted when given the news about his condition. “It gets your attention,” Howser said.

Howser went on to say he didn’t want anybody feeling sorry for him, that there had been tears and depression, but, “We’re going to get this thing licked.”