TV / LARRY STEWART : No Emergencies, CBS Plays This Game Safe

This time, CBS didn’t need to put in a call for “Rescue: 911.”

All the network needed to save the night Tuesday was a good, smooth All-Star telecast. And it got it.

A year ago, CBS had to use an old “Rescue: 911” segment to help fill dead air time caused by a 50-minute rain delay at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

Tuesday night, CBS had plenty of good baseball, no rain and a beautiful setting.

Pat O’Brien did well as a tour guide, showing viewers around the SkyDome, although he at times came close to intruding on the action. Or, depending on your point of view, the action intruded on O’Brien.

A nice catch by Tony Gwynn in center field kind of overshadowed O’Brien’s line about the SkyDome’s Hard Rock Cafe. “I’m between a place and a Hard Rock,” he quipped.

Not bad, but the best line of the night belonged to commentator Tim McCarver. When Will Clark made a difficult, over-the-shoulder catch of a foul ball in the first inning, McCarver said: “That’s a real catch 22.”

Clark, of course, wears No. 22.

The highlight of the Jack Buck’s pregame interview with Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams was Williams’ dig at pitchers.

“Pitchers are the dumbest part of a ballclub,” he said. “They don’t play as often. They’re pitchers because they can’t do anything else.”

For the most part, Buck and McCarver had a good night.

The most appealing thing about Buck is that he is easy to listen to, and rarely offends.

However, Buck does have a bad habit of anticipating and calling plays before they happen. He got caught on what appeared to be a double-play ball hit by Cal Ripken Jr.

Buck called it a double play before a bad throw pulled Clark off first base. And to make matters worse, Buck said Clark dropped the ball. Clark didn’t drop the ball.

At least when Buck saw that he was wrong, he said, “The camera had a better angle than we did.”

The player interviews by Jim Kaat, for the most part, were interesting, particularly the one with pitcher Jack Morris, who was headed for the hospital to have X-rays, which were negative.

Morris was shown smiling after getting hit in the foot by a shot from Bobby Bonilla in the first inning. Asked why he was smiling, Morris said, “I had to fool Tony (La Russa).”

Said McCarver: “I guess it worked because Tony La Russa let Morris pitch another inning and a third.”

CBS made a big deal out of having microphones on both managers as well as home plate umpire Joe Brinkman.

La Russa and Lou Piniella were each heard from once. Brinkman wasn’t heard from at all.

A CBS spokesman said after the game that the mikes weren’t used more because no one, particularly Brinkman, had much interesting to say. Figures.

In a way, that was good. The mikes could have been overdone.

Something else that could have been overdone and wasn’t was the overhead camera. It was an interesting shot, but one that you could get tired of fast. CBS, to its credit, used it judiciously.

Weirdest thing of the night was the appearance of Larry Miller on Channel 2’s postgame show.

Miller was identified as an actor/comedian, and a clip of him in a bit role in “Pretty Woman” was shown to help viewers place him.

Miller came out of the box really weak. After it was noted that San Diego catcher Benito Santiago was wearing 09 on his jersey, Miller said: “One of the few players gracious enough to wear his IQ on his jersey.”

More like the IQ of the person who picked Miller to be the postgame guest.