Rate the Broadcasts: Baseball

[LogansDad]

One of the pleasures of technology is that no longer are we stuck being subjected to the putrescence that is the NESN baseball broadcast.  I still get to watch the Red Sox even though I am out of market, but now I have a choice.  Do I watch NESN and filet my brain with awful, terrible, no good, very bad things.... or do I switch to the other team's broadcast and maybe see, hear, and/or learn something about the sport I am watching.  I would say that at least 80% of the time these days, the correct choice is to turn the other cheek and watch the opposing broadcast because, hey, anything is better than an AT&T Text Poll taking up my screen for an inning at a time.
 
With that in mind, I want to know who you guys think the best and worst broadcasts to watch are.  You don't have to explain why, but it is likely more fun if you do, and maybe, just maybe, it will help some of us to enjoy baseball just a little bit more than we already do.  I'll go first, with the caveat that most of what I have seen is in the context of Red Sox games, so there are definitely broadcasts out there that I have not seen.
 
Best:
 
Without a doubt, my favorite broadcast is the Dodgers when Vin Scully is in the booth.  I know I am not alone in this, either.  Vin Scully's voice, in my opinion, IS baseball.  He has been around the game longer, and has more stories to tell, than just about anyone left on the planet.  Every now and then he says some weird old man thing, and instead of being annoying like McCarver, it is awesome because when you think about what he say, it makes total sense.  Along with that, he is not slow to call out the players on the field, Dodgers or otherwise, and you get the feeling that he really just wants to see the game played the right way. 
 
 
Honorable Mention:
 
I actually really enjoy the Blue Jays broadcasts.  This one will probably be much more contested around here, but I actually enjoy Buck Martinez and Pat Tabler is pretty knowledgeable about the game.  Outside of the Buchholz incident last year, I have never felt like they went out of their way to be dickish, and the broadcasts tend to have good information about the players on the field.
 
Last night was my first time catching a Mariners broadcast, and I was really impressed, especially after the shitshow that was the NESN Bachelorette party.  They were low key for most of the game, gave me good information, and listening to them in the 9th inning, even though the Sox were busy crafting yet another come from ahead loss, was pretty cool, as you could really feel their excitement for this year's team coming through.  They actually had a lot of good things to say about Sox players, and it was obvious they had done their homework on the opposing team because of it, which is a breath of fresh air after listening to Remy and Orsillo pronounce players' names differently for the last too many years.
 
Other broadcasts I enjoy are the Nats (though I can see how they would be annoying to some people) and the Twins (in limited exposure).
 
 
The Bad:
 
Outside of NESN, the obvious choices to avoid are the White Sox and Hawk, and the god awful, holier than thou, rulers of baseball morality Tampa Bay Rays broadcasts.  I think both of these are self-explanatory for anyone who has seen them.
 
As I said, I have not seen nearly as many broadcasts as some of you, and part of the reason I started this thread was so that maybe I can start watching some of the better ones over the course of the rest of the season.  What say you, SoSH?

 

[BornToRun]

The Mets crew of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling is very good. I do, however, find Hernandez annoying at times but it has more to do with personal bias than anything really analysis related so YMMV.

 

[InsideTheParker]

I haven't heard them much this year, but Mets broadcasters Cohen, Darling, and Hernandez are very good. This even though Hernandez is always sleepy and has been known to fall asleep during games. I like Blyleven and the other guys working the booth for the Twins, but sometimes I like them more than other times, as I think the voices vary from broadcast to broadcast. Vin Scully is the best, but up in N. CA, I really like the Giants guys Kuiper, Miller, and Krukow, but I have only tuned in from time to time this year and one or more of them may have retired. I don't mind Detroit, KC, Cincinnati, and probably others. The Oakland guys are all right.  I don't like  NYY broadcasts b/c of Michael Kay. Also David Cone on occasion. But their camera work is superb.

 

[Al Zarilla]

I haven't heard them much this year, but Mets broadcasters Cohen, Darling, and Hernandez are very good. This even though Hernandez is always sleepy and has been known to fall asleep during games. I like Blyleven and the other guys working the booth for the Twins, but sometimes I like them more than other times, as I think the voices vary from broadcast to broadcast. Vin Scully is the best, but up in N. CA, I really like the Giants guys Kuiper, Miller, and Krukow, but I have only tuned in from time to time this year and one or more of them may have retired. I don't mind Detroit, KC, Cincinnati, and probably others. The Oakland guys are all right.  I don't like  NYY broadcasts b/c of Michael Kay. Also David Cone on occasion. But their camera work is superb.

Nobody's retired from the Giants announcing crew. They have a 4th guy that I don't care for, Dave Flemming, but the guys you mentioned are my faves to listen to in the game in the last 10 years, even though I've lost rooting interest in the Giants. Kuiper and Krukow just know the game so well and are always pointing out non obvious stuff that it makes them always interesting. They also work extremely well together, with none of the occasional non-baseball banter sounding forced like the Sox guys. Miller has the great pipes and is also very knowledgable for a guy that never played. A's guys are too homey for me, but they stick to baseball really well. Ray Fosse often says things like "wouldn't it be great if Moss hit one right now like he did in Fenway back in May?" Well, yuh if I'm an A's fan.
 
Doesn't anybody think Scully's lost a bit off his fastball? His voice sounds tired now to me. Can't blame him, he's 87 in November. 

 

[grimshaw]

-The Mets broadcast is far and away the best IMO.  Ron Darling may be my favorite analyst.  They actually do joke around and go slightly off topic, but it isn't manufactured. Reminds me of Sean McDonough shenanigans.  They also know what else is going on in MLB.
 
-Milwaukee.  Brian Anderson is excellent, and of course Uecker still going strong on the radio
 
-The Giant guys are up there too.
 
 
-Dick Enberg is still great on the Padres broadcast though probably close to retiring
 
-I like Vin Scully as does everyone else, but it's a little too old-timey for me, and I don't need the stories anymore.
 
-The Pirates guys are inoffensive and laid back, easy to have in the background.  I liked the spring training shared broadcasts and hope that happens when they play later this year.
 
-The YES guys are all fine and they stay on topic.
 
-NESN- Not that I like NESN broadcasts that much, but Don is solid no matter who you pair him with, and when you listen to all the other teams broadcasters, you realize we don't have it that badly.  I'd shave the pre-game and post game now to an hour total.  There's just too much all the time.

 

[LogansDad]

I forgot about the Giants guys.  Miller is also one of my favorites, though I could never deal with him when he was on ESPN, but that was more because of the clown who was with him and will not be named.  Good call on them.

 

[MuzzyField]

NESN production quality is off the charts bad.  So bad, I've actually watched Hawk to avoid the suck that is NESN.  It doesn't hurt that Steve Stone gives me flashbacks to watching Cubs games many an afternoon on the porch at the Ohio University Frontier Room enjoying Harry and bottomless pitchers of beer.  
Thanks to NESN's attempt to produce Sox baseball, the suck-o-meter in the live sports production field has been re-calibrated.  NESN is hellbent of shoving 8-pounds of shit (7 of which have nothing to do with baseball) into a 2-pound bag at the expense of  missing actual baseball content on a nightly basis.    Baseball storytelling be damned.  Every other team lets me see the score... not NESN, unless it the 3-seconds it takes to actually pitch a baseball.  Even when the team is winning, NESN is must avoid TV.
Yes, Scully has lost a bit off of his fastball, but he still throws in the 90's (while Remy currently hits 15-20 on a good day) and that's amazing for 86 going on 87.  Speaking of fossils, I enjoy Enberg in SD, too.  I think that SF, OAK and SEA make the late games worth watching on Extra Innings.  The NYM are in my top-3, even though I don't like the team.  PHI has taken a step back with the changes for 2014, no offense to Matt Stairs.  I thing the Cubs are among the worst, amazing considering the WGN lineage.   
I don't like Kay or the Stats, but the actually production value of both exceeds NESN's reality show with baseball in the background.  I think TEX, TOR, ARI and MIA are fungible.  I like Palmer with BAL and Carpenter with WAS is okay.  TOR is quality, but Buck Martinez has a voice that wears on me.  The booth in STL is not up to the on-field product, when do the Buck grandchildren come of age?    
I've also synced the Sox radio to extra innings to avoid the NESN suckfest and I haven't wasted a second watching the worthless Red Sox ball washing know as pre and post game coverage except for some occasional Eck. 

 

[mauidano]

I get the Angels games on our cable package.  I really like the Angels entire team.  They are straight forward, no hype, no stupid stories and even keeled. Obviously as expected they are home team broadcasters but still pretty fair.  Very LA laid back!  Victor Rojas and Mark Gubicza.
 
http://losangeles.angels.mlb.com/team/broadcasters.jsp?c_id=ana

 

[daveuk]

It might be heresy, but I don't get the love for Vin Sculley. He never shuts up.
 
​I do however enjoy the Giants crew.
 
NESN is just abysmal.

 

[valentinscycle]

For me the Mets crew comes first, getting an extra nod because the material they have to work with is so dull.  Cohen and Darling are incisive-- Cohen in particular has a martini-dry wit that plays well off of the others.  Hernandez turns from disinterested to passionate on a dime, and while I can see how that could be annoying, I like it: there's often good reason to be disinterested, and when he's on, in his picky/scolding mode, it's usually about something worth noting-- details you'd not have picked up.
 
Lots to like on the West Coast, from the Giants (great chemistry) to the Dodgers (the way Scully weaves an anecdote into the game is an art form that's about to vanish) to the Mariners.  I used to hate Enberg when he did NFL for NBC, but he just sounds like SoCal to me, and it works for the Padres.
 
I cant stand the Rays and Staats like pretty much everyone else.  I actually feel much the same way about the O's broadcast too-- lots of sanctimony, the tone is getting-ready-to-be-outraged (more from Thorne than from Palmer, but it reminds me of the Rays).  Maybe that's just my dislike of the O's, though. 
 
I have (really grudging) respect for YES.  Kay is... difficult to bear at times, but with each year since leaving Stirling behind he seems to get calmer and less invested in being quotable or catchphraseable.  That could just be that the team isn't as good (which might, admittedly, make me more tolerant).  Everyone around him is solid or better.
 
Chicago's a wasteland.  I might even give the nod to the White Sox.  I mean, Hawk's voice could be used by Army PSYOPS to demoralize enemy troops, but at least the awfulness is loud and intentional.  Meanwhile the quality of the Cubs broadcast is shocking.  Totally somnolent, and the first time I hear something interesting will be the first.  I get not wanting to replicate Harry, but why so vanilla?  (For a good example of what Harry was like, even in the decline phase of his career, here he is calling a great and long 1984 Cubs-Reds brawl involving Mario Soto). 

 

[glennhoffmania]

I really like the Mets guys.  While some of the others that have been mentioned are good too, one thing that I do like about NESN, and the SNY guys as well, is that they aren't blatant and annoying homers.  I get that their audience is primarily fans of that team but I really hate homerism.  

 

[Seabass]

I've probably watched more Mets games than Sox games this year, and they're my favorite booth by far. Gary Cohen is the most knowledgeable play by play man in the business, he's not afraid of crowd noise and can joke around in an unforced manner. He's got a great rapport with Keith and Ron, who are fantastic as well. Keith loves talking defense and hitting and Ron provides great insight from the pitcher's perspective. Best crew outside of Scully.
 
Also, I've said this in a few different places now, but I would love it if the Sox cut ties with Don & Jerry and brought in Kevin Burkhardt. He calls games when Gary's off, obviously does his homework and his sideline reporting is the only sideline reporting I've ever enjoyed. He finds interesting stories and reports the hell out of them. Just tons of talent at SNY.

 

[scotian1]

There is only one that I stay up past midnight to watch and listen to and that is Vin Scully.

 

[am_dial]

It might be heresy, but I don't get the love for Vin Sculley. He never shuts up.
 

 
He's simulcasting on the radio for the first three innings (pretty sure it used to be more of the game than that, so maybe it's just habit at this point), which is part of the reason he talks a lot. I could listen to him anytime, though.
 
It's been a few years since I had Extra Innings, but I agree re: the Mets and Giants teams. But man, has YES improved that much since 2009? I was stuck in the Hudson Valley for the 2004-2009 MLB seasons, and just typing the names Kay, Singleton, Flaherty, O'Neill, and Kaat is giving me PTSD. Kay's boosterism was awful, but even worse were the west coast games he skipped when it'd just be Singleton and Kaat. Talk about a somnolent booth...
 
I hate listening to Thom Brennaman of the Reds broadcast (hate his postseason MLB and NFL game calling, too) -- he approaches Kay and Joe Buck for faux-outraged sanctimony in my book.

 

[Doctuh]

Mets are the best outside of Scully. I think the combination of a lifetime fan turned professional tv/radio guy (Cohen), plus a offense/defense guy (Hernandez), plus a very smart pitcher (Darling) covers all aspects of the game well. And they have been together long enough by this point to have excellent chemistry. The team is awful, but it almost doesn't matter.

 

[mauidano]

ESPN's Dan Schulman and John "Boog"Schambi are the worst.  WAY over the top.

 

[dcmissle]

Anyone who gets fired for not bleeding enough black and orange gets a vote. Jon Miller.

I was never an Orioles fan, but loved his broadcasting here after he came down from Boston. I hope and expect he is still doing good work in SF.

When fired by Angelos, the Orioles were ludicrous. And he would lampoon them, fairly but hilariously, just by the tone and cadence of his voice -- " and there's ANOTHER error, and that makes 5. My goodness."

They played so badly during one stretch that I tuned in the games in the afternoon in my office because Miller was producing nothing less than art. And shortly thereafter, he was clipped.

Intelligence, humor and integrity go a long way.

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

ESPN's Dan Schulman and John "Boog"Schambi are the worst.  WAY over the top.

I think Schulman is as good a play by play guy as there is.

 

[mauidano]

I think Schulman is as good a play by play guy as there is.

Maybe it's the growl he intentionally does for emphasis that's over the top. It's not a natural thing. It's like he's acting.

 

[metaprosthesis]

I certainly understand the hate for the ever-bumbling Don and Jerry, as well as the attempt to make them part of the "show", and the non-stop parade of sponsored onscreen falderol.  However, I find the actual announcers easy to tune out as long as there aren't "visitors" who I am supposed to want to look at instead of a baseball game.  To me, announcers only stand out when they are annoying (see: D&J, Hawk Harrelson).  
 
I do have to say, though, that NESN has two features that keep me as a viewer.  First, I find it absolutely distressing that other broadcasts do not include the PitchFX strike zone graphic for every pitch.  Some broadcasts use it only for replays on close pitches, some don't use it at all.  I can't understand why you wouldn't want to incorporate that technology (unless you consider it clutter, though I find nothing more appealing about a quarter of the screen displaying grass).  Second, the straightaway centerfield camera at Fenway.  I really enjoy being able to see the true movement of pitches and, again, I can't understand why more parks/broadcasts don't use this angle.  
 
When I first started using MLB.tv, you could only watch the home broadcast of whatever game you are watching, and I don't recall ever thinking, "Gosh, these guys are great."  Instead, I learned who Hawk Harrelson was and I learned that the Reds have (or at least had) an old man who I think was asleep for half of the game-- lots of dead air.  They all have to come up with filler for 162 3-hour events, and most of it doesn't need to be heard by anyone.  In the end, I guess I'd rather hear the braying of the homers for my team than the homers for the opponent.

 

[CarolinaBeerGuy]

Watching the Nationals-Dodgers game on MLB Network just reminds me of how much I love Vin Scully's voice and style. I haven't watched/heard him in quite a while and, while he has clearly lost a few MPH off his fastball, he's still damn good. Hearing him during this long year where the Sox are trotting out a clown show in the booth on a nightly basis is extremely refreshing.

 

[gryoung]

Watching the Nationals-Dodgers game on MLB Network just reminds me of how much I love Vin Scully's voice and style. I haven't watched/heard him in quite a while and, while he has clearly lost a few MPH off his fastball, he's still damn good. Hearing him during this long year where the Sox are trotting out a clown show in the booth on a nightly basis is extremely refreshing.

 
Clown show?  You mean you don't enjoy deep discussions around:
 
What Jerry did today.
Who was seen hanging around the hotel lobby.
Dinner.
The hotel gym.
Don's ties.
The local weather.
What the other broadcasters are doing.
What some fans are doing.

 

[Vandalman]

 
Clown show?  You mean you don't enjoy deep discussions around:
 
What Jerry did today.
Who was seen hanging around the hotel lobby.
Dinner.
The hotel gym.
Don's ties.
The local weather.
What the other broadcasters are doing.
What some fans are doing.

 
Don't forget Don's View, where we get to see the shakiest, blurriest footage from Don's phone as he takes us to never-before-seen places.

 

[grimshaw]

Bumping this for the new season.
 
I had almost forgotten what it was like to have a teams announcers somewhat emotionally invested (not saying that's good or bad).  I was watching the Rockies/Padres series and the Rockies guys get so crestfallen when the team starts playing poorly.  They were apologizing to the viewers that sometimes those types of games happen.  It got all forlorn and quiet in the booth last night when they coughed up the lead yet again.
 
Also reiterating that the Mets crew is way ahead of everyone else.  Keith Hernandez isn't mentioned as often as Ron Darling, but he is a fantastic and always completely focused on the game.  They also both have a clue about what else is going on around baseball unlike our guys.

 

[Spacemans Bong]

The Mets and Giants broadcast teams have virtually no weaknesses as far as I know.
 
For the Mets, in addition to Cohen/Hernandez/Darling, you've got Howie Rose (who is arguably even more of a fan than Gary Cohen is) and Josh Lewin (he of the slight lisp) who are both really strong radio broadcasters.
 
For the Giants, all the broadcasters except for Krukow do time on radio so there's not really a clear demarcation. Before Dave Flemming came around, it was a little more obvious who did what (Miller radio and Kuiper TV when the game was on cable, the other way around when it was on a local Fox affiliate), but Flemming's so good that they had to give him more spots so he wouldn't leave, so it's like musical chairs.
 
I think my only criticism of the Mets would be that their guys don't seem to always have the sense of humor the Giants guys have. Cohen and Rose can both get a little stuffy about playing the game the right way, and I've heard Cohen snark on stats once or twice this year. Hernandez is a bit of a blowhard but that's his appeal really, the infamous Civil War buff/MVP in 1979. Darling seems to be a bit more easy going.
 
Meanwhile all of the Giants broadcasters are funny, and with Miller, Kuiper and Flemming that humor is often dry. Their post game shows are so popular KNBR podcasts them, because they're really funny.

 

[luckiestman]

YES has had some good pairings when Kay is away, but if Kay is on it is dreadful. The best was any pairing of Kaat with Paul Oneil or Al Leiter
 
I, as a non-sox fan, don't mind NESN, I liked McDonough when I was a kid. I have not watched NESN in about 3 years, but I think it is the same guys. I think I just like Orsillo's voice calling the game. 
 
I like Scully
 
Milwaukee has a gift for shitty announcers that think their team is something special when it sucks. I though this was only the baseball guys but I saw the broadcast of the last bucks game against the Celts on the bucks feed and the announcers need to be in an asylum. 
 
Hawk is a crazy homer but I dont mind that.

 

[MakeMineMoxie]

Hawk's voice could be used by Army PSYOPS to demoralize enemy troops
 
True, but against the Geneva Convention.
 
Like most, I think Vin Sculley is a national treasure & if I have a chance, I'll put on a Dodger or Giant home game just to listen to good announcing. The Met guys on SNY are also very good.
 
I can live with Don but Jerry is waaay past his prime. What drives me up the wall about Don is the way he reads his promos. They are word for word identical every night, same tone, same inflection, almost like a recording. I get you don't want your announcers ad libbing the paid-for commercials but Jeez, vary it a bit!
 
The NESN production quality is horrendous. You can't keep the score box on the screen when you change cameras?? And thanks, I didn't want to see the first pitch of the inning anyway.

 

[E5 Yaz]

I've been following the Pirates for a few seasons now, and I really like the low-key nature of their broadcasts. The "Jolly Roger" calls are a bit much, but most every team has something like that. They're much like the Twins in that they do the broadcast because they know their listeners are interested in baseball, not the announcers.
 
The Giants and Mariners are both rock-solid as well. Last season, when the Sox played SF and Seattle, I listened to the non-Boston broadcasts and it was almost as though it was a completely different game.
 
Schulman is good, but Ciambi is replaceable.

 

[Al Zarilla]

Heresy around here but I had the Hawk on for a while today and he wasn't bad (maybe because I had no rooting interest in the game). Cleveland hitter hits a drive to RF and it's "we've got somebody there". He uses corny stuff like can o' corn a lot. Didn't hear any put it on the boaaarrd, yes! today though. 

 

[grimshaw]

Agree about the Pirates guys being solid even if nothing about them necessarily stands out. The next best thing to being completely engaged with the game is being low key and not a distraction.
 
Dick Enberg, even at 80(!) is still really with the show and a very easy listen - even if his partner is a bit of a clown.
And I don't know why, but the entire AL Central division guys are forgettable at best.

 

[nattysez]

The Mets and Giants broadcast teams have virtually no weaknesses as far as I know.
 

 
CSNBayArea refuses (I'm guessing) to pay for pitch-mapping technology/data feeds, so every close strike call in every A's and Giants game is just eyeballed by the announcers.  It drives me absolutely nuts.  CSNBayArea runs a pretty solid broadcast, but that is a major failing.

 

[Al Zarilla]

 
CSNBayArea refuses (I'm guessing) to pay for pitch-mapping technology/data feeds, so every close strike call in every A's and Giants game is just eyeballed by the announcers.  It drives me absolutely nuts.  CSNBayArea runs a pretty solid broadcast, but that is a major failing.

Tonight's Dodgers - Giants game is  being carried by NBC. What will they have? Kershaw - Bumgarner matchup for those that didn't know. 
 
I know what you mean but it doesn't bother me because I can see every pitch, although they don't have a CF camera dead nuts over the pitcher's rubber like some games you see now. Maybe now that you mentioned this, it might bother me.  :huh:

 

[charlieoscar]

Remy and Orsillo should not be in the same booth.

 

[nattysez]

Tonight's Dodgers - Giants game is  being carried by NBC. What will they have? Kershaw - Bumgarner matchup for those that didn't know. 
 
I know what you mean but it doesn't bother me because I can see every pitch, although they don't have a CF camera dead nuts over the pitcher's rubber like some games you see now. Maybe now that you mentioned this, it might bother me.  :huh:

 
The bolded words exacerbate the problem.  There's a close pitch, they show the replay from that skewed angle, and Krukow's like "Ehhh, looked good to me."  Yes, after all these years he can probably guesstimate where the strike zone is from that angle, but would it kill them to enter the 21st century and show a graphic that shows exactly where the ball crossed the plate?

 

[Sox and Rocks]

I actually like the O's team.  Thorne talks too much, but I like his voice (maybe it's because I loved when he did hockey on ESPN) and Palmer is solid.  
 
I agree that the Mets and Giants are the best teams.  Scully has lost a bit off his fastball, but he's still right up there.  
 
Unfortunately, while I love my Rockies, the announcing team is almost unbearable.  Drew Goodman, the play-by-play guy, is okay on his own, but he's too much of an apologist for the team, and George Frazier and Jeff Huson, who alternate as color guy, make me nauseous.  Occasionally both are in the booth for an even worse 3 man team...
 
I like Orsillo and Remy more than most here, too.  When they stick to the game, they are good, and they can be entertaining when they go off script during blowouts.  It's the extended off script stuff during close games that's annoying.  
 
The guy who does play-by-play for the Rangers might have the most annoying voice I have ever heard.

 

[Al Zarilla]

 
The guy who does play-by-play for the Rangers might have the most annoying voice I have ever heard.

Worst ever to me is Buck Martinez, although he's a color guy I guess. I don't know the Rangers guy.

 

[SumnerH]

I actually like the O's team.  Thorne talks too much, but I like his voice (maybe it's because I loved when he did hockey on ESPN) and Palmer is solid.  

I agree. I've seen Palmer take some grief around here, but I think he's pretty solid. He roots for the home team, but he also calls them out for being terrible when they are. Not spectacular, but more than decent.

 

[Bosoxen]

The guy who does play-by-play for the Rangers might have the most annoying voice I have ever heard.

 
That would be Steve Busby. He's awful. He replaced Josh Lewin, who had a much better voice and was actually kind of interesting. He was so much better that he made Tom Grieve palatable. Now, Grieve tramples all over the broadcast and makes me want to punch a kitten with every "we" that comes out of his mouth. I get that he used to be the GM of the team, but only Hawk comes off as a bigger homer than him.
 
I despise tuning into that joke of a broadcast when they're playing the Sox. Unfortunately, I have no choice.

 

[geoflin]

I disagree on Busby and Grieve. One of the things they often do, which I enjoy a lot, is to discuss in a particular situation what each of them would be thinking and doing, Busby as a pitcher and Grieve as a hitter. Busby will talk about what pitch to throw, where and why, while Grieve will say what he would be looking for. This kind of insight you don't get many other places.

 

[ifmanis5]

I agree. I've seen Palmer take some grief around here, but I think he's pretty solid. He roots for the home team, but he also calls them out for being terrible when they are. Not spectacular, but more than decent.

I've always liked Palmer. He's maybe not Mr. Personality but he knows his stuff and he's exceedingly fair to both home and away teams. He's so much better than the average hometown hack or guys like Boone and Sutty who are bandwagon hacks.

 

[grimshaw]

 
Unfortunately, while I love my Rockies, the announcing team is almost unbearable.  Drew Goodman, the play-by-play guy, is okay on his own, but he's too much of an apologist for the team, and George Frazier and Jeff Huson, who alternate as color guy, make me nauseous.  Occasionally both are in the booth for an even worse 3 man team...
 
 

One positive thing about their broadcasts is that they use occasional non standard stats and explain how they are useful.  It's weird that they would do that stuff more often in Colorado than say Boston.
 
I too really liked Thorne as a hockey guy, but don't love him as a baseball guy.  Probably just Oriole fatigue.

 

[cwright]

Broadcasts I love:
1. Dodgers - last night I enjoyed listening to Vin Scully talk about how Bumgarner used to practice his roping skills on Jeremy Affeldt's furniture when he was living at Affeldt's house - he just comes up with such great ways to introduce the players to us
2. Mets - fantastic, level-headed analysis, with bonus points for making a boring team interesting (until this year)
3. Giants - great play-by-play, great insights, just fantastic all around
Too bad they're all NL broadcasts!
 
Broadcasts I think are decent - note that I tend to watch mostly AL teams:
1. Mariners - not overly biased, and I love Sims' play-by-play
2. Orioles - decent play-by-play and Palmer offers good insights
3. Twins - just a great pairing, with honest analysis and good play-by-play
4. Angels - I actually really like Mark G
5. Yankees - they've gotten better for me, and they actually offer some decent analysis
6. Nationals - no frills, just a solid broadcast
7. Indians, Athletics - generic but pretty good
 
Broadcasts I somewhat dislike:
Tigers - there's something about the color announcer that really irritates me, like he's lecturing me all the time... seems like he takes himself way too seriously. Although I think maybe he's rotating with other people this year, so I can listen to some games.
Royals - they are huge homers and don't offer much analysis
Blue Jays - I really just can't stand that dying duck's voice, Buck Martinez.  He could be describing a cure for cancer and I'd still dislike him.
 
Broadcasts I can't turn off fast enough:
Rays
White Sox

 

[Bosoxen]

I disagree on Busby and Grieve. One of the things they often do, which I enjoy a lot, is to discuss in a particular situation what each of them would be thinking and doing, Busby as a pitcher and Grieve as a hitter. Busby will talk about what pitch to throw, where and why, while Grieve will say what he would be looking for. This kind of insight you don't get many other places.

 
Maybe they've recently started doing this or they only do it during non-Sox games, but every time they're playing the Sox, Grieve has his pom-poms shaking away the whole time. He's constantly bitching about how this pitch or that didn't go the Rangers' way.
 
I do recall the version of Tom Grieve to which you're referring from the Josh Lewin days, but I don't recall any sort of hard-hitting analysis from him since Busby took over. I now refuse to watch Rangers games because he blatantly tramples all over the broadcast.
 
I'm willing to concede that maybe I'm being irrational, but I despise Tom Grieve as a broadcaster.

 

[mikeford]

The Jays broadcast has the best Kzone graphic in the league. Gives you 3D trajectory and everything.