ALDS Coverage: TBS, C.B., and the Boston Offense Fail in Game One

One thing to look forward to in this series: the game where Jeff Mathis and Jason Varitek both catch for their respective teams. Buck Martinez is acting as analyst for TBS. He used to do a little catching (and managing) himself which makes this an absolute treat. If you’ve ever experienced Kevin Kennedy talking about Joe Mauer or Varitek or … Gregg Zaun, you know what’s coming, otherwise prepare for a barrage of tales on how amazing Mathis handles a staff or the number of little things he could learn from someone like Varitek. It’s going to be delightful my friends.

And not to turn this into a post dedicated to bashing TBS, but time to get this out of the way.

In the third inning they committed a pair of errors:

1) Jacoby Ellsbury took a swing and knocked the ball back to pitcher John Lackey who tossed to first and ended the top-half of the inning, or so it appeared. Seconds later the game would go on commercial break then promptly return to inform everyone that catcher Jeff Mathis had committed interference.

2) After Dustin Pedroia lined out, TBS re-went to commercial break and following a pattern of black and white blank screens finally began playing actual advertisements. This was preferable to the flickering screen and apparently so much so that TBS allowed the commercial to last through the first batter of the bottom half of the inning. This would not be the first time such an incident occurred.

Those are less egregious than some of their analyst gaffes, but really, is it too much to ask for a clean broadcast? Yes, evidently it is.

Moving on.

Did anyone else find the Angels method of scoring amusing? Erick Aybar doubled, Chone Figgins bunted – and nearly beat it out –, Bobby Abreu walked (so typical), and then Torii Hunter launched a three-run homer. That goes against the seemingly ideal Angels scoring scenario: infield single, stolen base, bunt, and a sac fly.

C.B. Bucknor with a solid effort. Certainly showed why he qualified for the post-season. Pray for this man’s well-being upon entering the state of Massachusetts if this game is any indication.

The Red Sox’s offense can be summed up by this:

That is all.