Len is more loose and fun when he does his radio hits on the SCORE. But when he's calling a game, he's more serious. In that, he wants the game to be the main focus. Or baseball talk to be the main focus. I know today was a blow out. The game was over in the 1st inning. That's when you're free to do other stuff in a baseball broadcast. That's why Jason tried some goofy topics more then he usually does. But Len still didn't like it.

I'm not saying Jason is wrong for doing some other stuff when the game is over in the 1st. Just pointing out that Len doesn't want to do it. Which makes it an awkward listen.

Len>>Boog.

By a shit ton

Len falls into the analytics trap, find it all annoying because the current product that MLB is trotting out does not really resemble the game as it was meant to be played.

He does recognize that the game is out of balance though. He said as much last night. It really all comes down to the fascination with the walk.

Quit walking them then. I mentioned this the other day. Grandal, hitting a buck, was walked 4 times in 2 days. If I'm the catcher, I walk out to the mound and knee him in the nuts.

I really think the idea of counting a called strike as two strikes would solve a few problems. It would force batters to swing at strikes, put more balls in play, speed up the game, and save pitchers’ arms. For fairness, though, I think it would require the computerized strike zone.

They're not walking them. The amount of walks has remained pretty static, up just a bit. What the fascination with the walk is causing is long counts that often result in strikeouts, as strikeouts are obviously at historic rates.

Len needs to work on HISSELF and not being a boring turd. Subtract a little bit of Jason and give it to Len and they’d both be better.

That's pretty radical, but I think it would solve the problem. I would try to just call the rulebook strikezone first though before going such a radical route. A letter high pitch is a strike, though it's almost never called. If the strikezone were expanded to the actual one designated in the rules, I think it would force batters into looking to swing rather than looking to take.

they have to do what the best announcers in the game do when it's a blowout. they keep the audience engaged with baseball stories, or anecdotes that keep it interesting.

For example, I was watching the Giants broadcast (Kuiper/Krukow) the other day when they scored 7 runs in the first and the game was basically over. But their banter was great where they talked about back in the 70s/80s they went to so many winter ball leauges in Puerto Rico, the DR, Mexico, etc... They talked about how each was different and what ballplayers they met there that were in the majors or natives of those lands who eventually made it to the majors. They also mixed some jokes in there which was great.

Kuiper then followed up with a great story about how in one of the blowout games when he played for Giants, they had a pitcher injured and everyone got off the field and into the dugout but him. He said he took his glove off and bent down on one knee to relax. He then got into the story how the manager at that time, Frank Robinson was pissed at him. It was some real funny stuff that kept me tuned into a blow out even in the 5th inning.


I think Binetti tries to do that but tries too hard. He needs a former player to bounce that off of like steve stone. Len isn't a player so it really doesn't' work.

Walks are up from a historic low in 2013. But yes, not like Ks. Some say the correct answer would be to move the rubber back two feet. I don't know.

The problem with Ks is they cover up the mistakes that are inherent in baseball. And the problem with HRs is they cover for the Ks. So while it's a game killing problem, the problem itself and the ways to deal with it is very interesting.

Used to be a mix of power hitters and contact guys in a lineup, now you have everyone swinging for the fences, trying to pull everything which creates tons of Ks and easy groundouts to short or second as guys try to pull stuff that is well out of the zone.

The main frustration is with the approach guys take with runners on base and less than two outs. Baseball 101 used to be that you try to move runners into scoring position, it made perfect sense because making contact forces the defense to make a play. You can swing for the fences and maybe it will work five percent of the time, but you give yourself a much better chance if you cut down and make contact.

Good points by all, but find the Cubs broadcasts somewhat unlistenable while the Sox games are at least mildly entertaining at times.

Len falls into the analytics trap, find it all annoying because the current product that MLB is trotting out does not really resemble the game as it was meant to be played. It seems that a speed/contact based team like the last 80's Cardinals would easily run all day on a modern team.

Striking out, failing to move runners, and failing to make contact with a runner on 3rd with less than two outs used to result in a quick trip to the minors, but now you have teams full guys that are fine with hitting 20 homeruns with 23 RBI's, the modern game is almost embarrassing to watch and must be incredibly difficult to broadcast.

Benetti is on the call tonight on ESPN. Sheesh.

i was thinking about the 80s cards teams the other day. would they be able to win in today's baseball? I think they would dominate. especially against shifts.

why doesn't some GM assemble a team like that?

Seems MLB is realizing the product is broken. Watched a pitcher lay down a perfect bunt single and the broadcasters were amazed, heard Len and Jason repeatedly say it was good the 3rd base coach was being aggressive sending runners because it made the defense have to make a play. These were all commonly known baseball principles in the past.

However this stuff is hard to quantify, so the analytics types will not understand what's going on and will continue to drone on about spin rate and exit velocity because they really know nothing about the game.

Seems MLB is realizing the product is broken. Watched a pitcher lay down a perfect bunt single and the broadcasters were amazed, heard Len and Jason repeatedly say it was good the 3rd base coach was being aggressive sending runners because it made the defense have to make a play. These were all commonly known baseball principles in the past.

However this stuff is hard to quantify, so the analytics types will not understand what's going on and will continue to drone on about spin rate and exit velocity because they really know nothing about the game.