Why I watch ESPN's Monday Night Baseball on Mute

So I turn on ESPN's Monday Night Baseball this evening for a traditional rivalry contest between two of the National League's more popular clubs in the Mets and the Cardinals, and I'm excited.

Now I'm always excited when the Mets play on national television, but I'm especially excited this evening because John Maine is on the hill, one of the Mets' most consistent starters this season. But to my dismay, as has become custom far too often this season, the Mets fail to show up to the ballpark, and get annihilated by a Cardinals team chock full of 5'8" no-names who bust their butt on every play, and conduct themselves as if its the ninth inning of a game seven.

Aside from my disappointment at the game's outcome, I'm almost as disappointed with the coverage of this nationally televised game.

Now I know that Dan Shulman is probably better known for his prowess calling the NBA with the venerable Hubie Brown. Steve Phillips is a former GM who's used to giving analysis and anecdotes on ESPN's Baseball Tonight, and Orel Hershiser is a former pitcher who alternates between calling life-changing events like the Little League World Series. But to be completely frank, it was tough to watch and listen to these gentlemen tonight, and I had to put the TV on mute on more than one occasion.

Yes, this game was not a particularly close contest, and the Mets played with as much life as David Wells after a night of makin it rain at Bungalow 8.

But I calculated an eight-minute span in the second inning of this game where Shulman, Phillips and Hershiser discussed the after-effects of concussions in professional sports, not even limiting their discussion to the Mets' Ryan Church. As this was occurring, Endy Chavez gave the Mets their first hit of the game on a line single to right. This "concussion" conversation (which almost gave me one) continued as Brian Schneider fouled off seven consecutive pitches, after finally reaching base. John Maine was the next hitter up, and made the final out as abruptly as one might expect.

But never once did Shulman call the action on the field during both Chavez' and Schneider at bats. They were concentrating on a relatively inconsequential, and irrelevant human interest story far more than they were concentrating on the actual game action.

Now I understand that these "nationally televised games" give a chance for fair-weather sports fans and fans of other teams to catch a glimpse of teams and players they've seen on a limited basis up to this point in the season, but the job of a sports caster is to call the action in the game.

Period.

Shulman failed to do that for an eight-minute span during the SECOND inning of this game...and this result hadn't even become a blowout yet.

The point being that there are far too many pointless diatribes being discussed during telecasts of professional sporting events these days. Whatever happened to just calling the action, and concentrating on the events directly pertinent to the game and its overall outcome?

Human interest stories are interesting every so often, especially in the latter innings of blowout ballgames. But these guys get paid FAR too much money NOT to call the baseball game, and need to give the viewer the action as it occurs on the ball field.

Shulman's not the only perpetrator of this act, but he seems to be part of a greater problem in sportscasting. If you want give the viewer human interest stories and anecdotes, go ask for Bob Ley's position on ESPN's "Outside the Lines." I don't really care about what your hotel was like in Omaha, Nebraska during the College World Series for two minutes, or your thoughts on whether Dave Duncan deserves to be in the Hall of Fame for 15 straight minutes. (And as angry as I may seem right now, Duncan actually should be the first non-managing coach to enter)

99% of people who watch ESPN baseball telecasts like the ones shown on Monday Nights tune in to watch the game and hear intelligent analysis by so-called experts.

They don't tune in to hear eight-minute diatribes about the dangers of post-concussion syndrome, or minute-long comments about large fat white natives of St. Louis eating melting ice cream.

Call the game, and give us pertinent analysis. After all, isn't that why you're paid?
Now to be fair, maybe the producers informed the announcers of these types of transgressions because they seemed to improve after the sixth inning. But these guys were extremely unimpressive for the first two hours of the game.

Maybe I've been spoiled from hearing the best announcing team in Major League Baseball in SNY's Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, and Keith Hernandez. But, I really didn't enjoy this evening's telecast on ESPN...and it wasn't just because of the result.

ESPN needs to address this issue...or surely other intelligent viewers will begin to take notice of this mediocrity, and cause ESPN to wonder what happened to their previously respectable Monday Night Baseball ratings.