Baseball fans will catch a game any way they can; at their desks via an app, websites, streaming, on the radio while commuting or driving, on the television and sometimes live from stadium seats. This week was one of those weeks when I caught the game a number of times from the driver’s seat of my VW. And multiple times I found myself screaming at the radio, particularly on the first night of the four game set against the Red Sox.
Now, I am all for giving commentary that helps shape the fan experience but what I can’t stand for any longer is negativity toward Yankee pitchers, particularly from our radio duo John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman. It seems to me that our pitchers are being scrutinized severely with every pitch. So, if they are going to be negative, I am going to be the negativity police and I am sorry to say, Sterling & Waldman, you are under arrest.
Exhibit A- CC Sabathia and his first two outings of the season. The partners in crime just could not help themselves. They just dug into CC, particularly on day one. Why is that? I felt myself defending him a number of times with simple phrases as “give the guy a chance”; “whose side are you on anyway”; “one bad pitch does not make a bad pitcher.” But Sterling droned on and Waldman agreed again and again with her counterpart’s analysis. Hey, I am trying to listen to the game, not one-sided commentary.
Exhibit B- David Phelps and his last two appearances of the season so far. Now this time I really got into a shouting match with the car radio tuned to 66-WFAN. My daughter was seated in the back and my best friend in the passenger seat as I screamed at Sterling and Waldman from behind the wheel. “Mom, you know they can’t hear you,” my daughter said. “I know they can’t hear me from right here, but maybe they will read me.”
It does not help the pitcher or the fan base to predict a pitcher’s misfortune. Please focus on the game right now, not on the bad pitch from last time or how this match up could be a mismatch up. I found myself rooting for Phelps to strike out Big Papi not just because I wanted the K, but to prove the dynamic duo wrong.
I have always been a fan of radio broadcasting because it is colorful and intimate and it makes you feel like you are on the field with the players. I grew up loving to listen to Frank Messer, Fran Healy, Bill White and Phil Rizzuto. Later on, I loved listening to Bobby Murcer. And I have always liked the passion exuding from the home run call of Sterling and all of his Sterlingisms. I like Waldman’s pre-game analysis for the most part, but I what I can’t stand right now is the negativity against Yankee pitchers and particularly Exhibit A and B.
Masahiro Tanaka gave up a home run to Melky Cabrera too in the first inning and Joe Girardi said “Good, glad he got that over with.” But when Sabathia or Phelps give up a home run or throw a pitch or two out of zone, “it’s poor pitch placement or lack of velocity” or in Phelps’ case Waldman called it “he’s trying to establish himself as a pitcher”; “he is trying to build back his confidence after that bad outing yesterday.” Relax, guys, give our pitchers a chance. Be more understanding. Baseball is a game of nine innings; it is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Baseball is a team sport, not an individual pitching match.
One day Michael Pineda is your hero and the next day he is the villain. One day you love Tanaka and the next day you will be saying, “Welcome to Major League Baseball,” as he leaves a pitch up too high. It is one thing for Girardi to get to the nitty gritty of the pitcher’s style and form and performance and it is another thing to hear Sterling and Waldman says things like “he looks terrible tonight.”
So, I hope for the best going forward and wish our pitchers great success as they battle batters and force hitters to fly out.
For those who are predicting the season based on April alone, I am calling you out. I’m the negativity police and you are under arrest.
--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Opinion Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof
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