Thursday, June 18, 2009

Hang 'em up Vin

Vin Scully is without a doubt one of the greatest play by play announcers in the history of baseball, if not the history of sports. However, like Michael Jordan clanking shot after shot off the rim while playing for the Wizards and Willie Mays tripping over himself in centerfield for the Mets, Vin Scully has stayed in the game longer than he should have. Somebody in the Dodgers organization needs to step up to the plate and have the fortitude to tell Vin he is embarrassing himself and damaging his legacy.

Over the course of the season I will be adding to this thread as Vin gives me more and more material to work with, which lately has been anytime I have taken the time to watch a Dodgers game. As the NBA playoffs are over now I will have more opportunities to watch Dodgers games and add to this. The following are just a few of the quotes I can recall from Vin over the past few weeks.

June 2, 2009 - While reading off the Diamondbacks batting order, Vin Scully took the time to note that Arizona has two switch hitters in their line up, and because Randy Wolf (who is a left handed pitcher) has been so tough on left handed hitters this season it's a good bet that they will bat right handed against Wolf. Really? What a revelation, thank you for the insight Vin. That's the whole purpose of being a switch hitter, to bat from the opposite side of the plate from which arm the pitcher uses to pitch. Guess what Vin, if left handed batters were hitting .400 off Wolf the switch hitters would still bat right handed against him. This is baseball 101 Vin.

June 2, 2009 - Vin Scully starts talking about Arizona's Justin Upton, and how the night before the cameras caught him in the dugout talking to his helmet after he struck out and says, I quote "If you remember yesterday, Justin Upton was talking to his helmet in the dugout in one of the great moments in baseball history". You read that correctly, Vin Scully referred to a batter talking to his helmet as one of the "great moments in baseball history". Where were you when Kirk Gibson hit the home run in the bottom of the 9th to win Game 1 of the 1988 World Series? When Nolan Ryan pitched his 7th no hitter? When Ricky Henderson broke Lou Brock's all time stolen base record? When Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run to become baseball's all time home run king? When Justin Upton talked to his helmet? Are you kidding me Vin? The man talked to his helmet, it wasn't one of the greatest moments of June 2, 2009, let alone in baseball history.

June 9, 2009 - In the bottom of the 8th inning, the Dodgers Blake DeWitt entered the game to pinch hit for relief pitcher Ramon Troncoso. Vin Scully makes the call, "Blake DeWitt, who just got called up (from the minor leagues), will take over for Kevin Kouzmanoff". First of all, he was pinch hitting for a pitcher. Taking over means he is assuming a players position, and I seriously doubt an infielder was going to be taking the mound to pitch. Secondly, Kevin Kouzmanoff is a member of the San Diego Padres, who the Dodgers were playing that night. Even if the Padres manager Bud Black would allow a Dodgers player to take over for somebody on the Padres, I do not believe MLB rules would permit such a switch in the middle of a game.

June 18, 2009 - In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Orlando Hudson hit a home run for the Dodgers, and Vin Scully makes the call, "Orlando Hudson hits his 5th home run of the year, and it's been a while since his last one. The last home run Hudson hit was a little over a week ago on June 8th". As Vin is saying this a graphic was posted on the bottom of the screen thats said it was Hudson's first Home run since June 9th, not the 8th. So Vin got the date wrong, it could happen to anybody. But, in mid-June and 66 games into Orlando Hudson's season, Hudson was sitting on 4 home runs. Averaging a home run every 16 games. I'm not sure if when a player who is averaging hitting a home run every 16 games hits a home run seven games after his last home run should be referred to as "it's been a while since his last one". Isn't that more like the player is heating up and not ending a cold spell? It's almost like Vin doesn't pay much attention to the game anymore and he just says whatever he feels like saying, regardless if it makes sense or not.