The Loop
The British broadcast of the Yankees-Red Sox games in London has been absolutely electric
For those of us watching the New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox London series in America, the two viewing experiences have been pretty brutal. On Saturday Twitter's favorite human punching bag Joe Buck did the commentating on FOX with partner John Smoltz, while ESPN took the reigns on Sunday, with Matt Vasgersian on play-by-play and Alex Rodriguez and Jessica Mendoza doing the color.
Social media has not been kind to all five of the aforementioned commentators, probably to an unfair degree. But one thing is for certain: They. All. Never. Stop. Talking. It gets to the point where you don't even realize what's going on in the game because you are trying to figure out who is yapping away about what. Baseball is a sport that the commentators need to let breathe. ESPN and FOX seem hellbent on making sure someone is blabbering each and every second.
Leave it to the British broadcast on BT Sport to run circles around both FOX and ESPN. Unfortunately, we don't get to watch this version, but folks on Twitter have been providing the highlights from English play-by-play man Darren Fletcher, who has been absolutely electric behind the mic. Making it all the more impressive is that it's apparently Fletcher's first time ever calling baseball. Here were his best moments from Game 1 on Saturday:
What scenes! Why does everything sound better with a British accent? "That is fielding of the HIGHEST ORDER!" is the type of phrase that should be in every baseball play-by-play man's lexicon going forward.
Fletcher has been on his game again on Sunday:
"A ground rule duuubble!"
WALLOPED !
Let's get Darren Fletcher to America and have him call way more baseball games than just two per year, shall we? Hell, he could make the Mets broadcasts exciting.