Thursday, July 15, 2010

July 15th: Mets vs. Giants

Clearly refreshed after the all-star break, Hagin hits the ground running in the bottom of the 2nd. After Pablo Sandoval hits an RBI double, Wayne has this to say: "That's only the second hit for Sandoval against the Mets all season."

This statement -- delivered, like most of Hagin's commentary, with an air of grandeur, as if he were imparting a profound nugget of information -- would be meaningful if Sandoval played for, say, the Marlins, or the Nationals, or any other division opponent that had played a bunch of games against the Mets this year. But the Giants had played only three games against the Mets prior to this game. So Hagin's statement, like so much of what he says, meant nothing.

Other highlights:

• Top of the 8th, Chris Carter on first: "Standing at first base, just taking it in nonchalantly is -- well, that can't be an accurate des-- piction of Chris Cater taking it in leisurely at first. There's nothing leisurely about his way of life. That guy is intense. As intense as anybody I've ever seen."

So many great Hagin tropes all running together in that quote: the ridiculous over-emphasis, the brain writing the check that the mouth can't cash (started to say "description," changed it to "depiction" in mid-stream), the utter pointlessness of the entire statement. Just what is Carter's "way of life," Wayner? Classic.

• Bottom of the 8th, none out, two on for the Giants, Freddie Sanchez at the plate: "He does square, he bunts in the air, but it touches down. There's a play at third, Lincecum running there, and the throw goes to third, and the out recorded on a play by [pause] Elmer Dessens."

Nice of Hagin to tell us who fielded the ball and made the throw to third -- well after the play was over. Might be nice if he'd also said who took the throw at third. Presumably the third baseman, but it was a bunt play, so who knows?

• Top of the 9th, two outs, 1-1 count on Ike Davis: "Now he winds, turns his back to the hitter and delivers an outside pitch [slight pause] on the corner for a strike. He picked up a beautiful strike, as umpire Ted Barrett was able to ring him up."

Wayne obviously thought the pitch was outside, then scrambled to adjust when the pitch was called a strike. Note the use of "ring him up," which is usually used when an ump calls a third strike, not a second strike.

• One pitch later: "A swing and a ground ball the right side. A diving stop by Freddie Sanchez, he throws to first to get the out. [Crowd goes wild, because the Giants have just won the game.] A great defensive effort on the part of Freddie Sanchez and a ball that looked like it was ticketed to right field, and would have breng [yes, "breng"] the tying run to the plate, but it didn't happen. A diving stop on the ball, and the slow-running Ike Davis is out, and Tim Lincecum has thrown a complete-game shutout."

Um, perhaps it might have been appropriate to say, "… and the ballgame is over" or "…for the final out of the game" or something along those lines when the out was recorded, instead of jibber-jabbering for 20 seconds, no?

• There was also a priceless bit when Wayne mispronounced "halitosis" as "halihouses." (Why was he talking about halitosis, you ask? Don't ask.) And at one point he started to say the word "observation" and then caught himself and changed it to "observing," but he had already committed to putting the emphasis on the third syllable of the word, so it came out as "obserVING." You can't make this stuff up. Fire Wayne Hagin already!

7 comments:

  1. Based on what I read hear (I never get to listen to a broadcast) he does say some stupid things, but they all seem to be minor stupid things.

    However I am throughly entertained by Paul's over the top rants. I selfishly hope they never fire Wayne Hagin just so I get to enjoy this new blog!

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  2. • Bottom of the 8th, none out, two on for the Giants, Freddie Sanchez at the plate: ...

    FYI - it's "Freddy."

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  3. Hey Paul -- "Brain writes a check his mouth can't cash." Perfect description. I think Wayne means well but is good only sometimes. He also makes for a bad partner with Howie, and I'm disappointed, as a guy who listens to the Mets by radio every night, that he hasn't improved those things after 3 years.

    I don't like to support a man getting fired, but I'd really encourage him to take a job with the Royals or something next season.

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  4. Do I get any credit at all for this?

    I think I suggested www.firewaynehagin.com on Uni Watch a while ago.

    Also — Should the background be something Mets or baseball or broadcast related?

    Good luck. But remember, if you do get him fired, you'll have less content.

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  5. In 20 years he'll be considered this generation's Ralph Kiner, except that he never played in the show.

    I remember Juan Samuel grooving a pitch to Juan Samuel, only to be caught by Juan Samuel.

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  6. Thank you for this blog. I live out of town and only have internet radio to follow my Metropolitans. I can't tolerate Mr. Hagin so much that I stopped following my team on the internet radio. Here's why -- a NYC sports broadcaster needs to speak fast, be on every moment, make it exciting. Mr.Hagin talks to us like he has corn growing out of his ears and was randomly chosen from Iowa. I have nothing against Iowa, I love Iowa, but when I want to hear my NYC team's broadcasters, I want to be mentally placed back in NYC, not Iowa.
    Maggie

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  7. I hope the Mets never fire Hagin because he'll be a free agent and possibly return to ruin my team's broadcasts again.

    I had the displeasure of a White Sox radio announcing team of John Rooney/Wayne Hagin in the mid-80's. Not only was this 2 play-by-play guys trying to alternate between play-by-play and color, but they had nearly identical voices. It took a couple months before I realized Hagin was the one who spoke lots of words but said absolutely nothing of substance. I think he left to take the expansion Rockies job. It was amazing how much better John Rooney sounded after the verbal abortion called Wayne Hagin left town.

    The way I look at it, one team is going to be stuck with the dregs of announcers, and it's about time New York or Los Angeles ate the proverbial dog food. I sympathize, but I already had my turn.

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