IT GOT LATE EARLY
I am entranced by the Athletics and the Yankees broadcasters. The two teams on opposite sides of:
The country
The economics of the game
The permanence of their ballparks
Nonetheless, the radio booths share a lot:
Veteran broadcasters
Insights without trying too hard
Companionable, conversational calls
The A’s took this game 1-0, the score belying all the worthwhile action.
“That’s why you love the game,” Dave Sims said on the Yankees WFAN broadcast. “Come to the ballpark and you have no idea what you’re going to see.”
None of the 40,392 Yanks fans at the game had an idea they would see the A’s deliver a one-hit shutout – extending the Yankees scoreless streak to 17 innings and counting. It was inconceivable the Sacramento Athletics would win a series in the Bronx for the first time since 2016 (!), and nobody anticipated the A’s staff pitching so masterfully they would set the side down in order in six of Thursday’s innings.
“He’s not a high mph guy,” Sims said of Jeffrey Springs, the 33-year-old who earned the W. “Tremendous guile and command.”
Suzyn Waldman and Sims are a comfortable pair, easy listening to deep insights of veteran broadcasters. Same in the other booth where Ken Korach and Johnny Daskow called the game for KSTE, the Sacramento station where first pitch was aired at 10:35 Pacific Daylight Time – Bronx Brunch in California.
Early games will continue for West Coast fans.
“It’s not get-away day for the A’s,” Daskow said. “They’re staying in New York City, playing the Mets for a three-game set this weekend.”
The A’s radio announcers had more action to call with eight hits scattered through nine.
“Blue Skies at the ballpark. Not a cloud in the sky in the Big Apple,” Korach said immediately following Nick Kurtz’s first-inning single.
The Yankees did not get their first hit until the seventh. Both A’s and New York radio teams freely discussed the no-hitter.
Yet, in the extra-early season the Yankees lead the AL East.
“This guy has a no-no going into the seventh,” Sims said of Springs.
The Yankees were scoreless and weak.
“The outs aren’t even loud," Sims said of the run of strikeouts (eight), popups, and weak grounders. Aaron Judge went oh-for-four. Then, everyone but first baseman Ben Rice put up zero hits.
Sims called for Bob Prince’s famed bloop and a blast, but the Yankees went meekly, 1-2-3, in the ninth.
Off they head to Tampa Bay.
“Brilliant sunshine today, and boy you’ve got to love that,” Sims said in the seventh. “We’re going to be in the indoor splendor of Tropicana Field the next three nights.”
“You’ve got all day to be outside,” Waldman told her booth partner.
Quick-pitch updates.
On Friday I wrote off the Rockies season and they then reeled off four wins starting Sunday, including a sweep of the Astros.
And I’ve got a hillbilly screen shot of Quarter-Zips in the wild, spotted during the Red Sox contest.
Quarter-Zippers
Seen in their natural habitat.