Rotation
| Game 4: April 10, 2009 | |||
| Red Sox | 3 | L: Tim Wakefield (0-1) | 1-3, 3 game losing streak |
 Angels |
6 |
W: Jered Weaver (1-0) H: Jose Arredondo (3) S: Scot Shields (1) |
2-2, 1 game winning streak |
| Highlights: “The show must go on.” Freddie Mercury sang it, as did David Gilmour. In the aftermath of Nick Adenhart’s untimely death his team paid tribute to him by playing strong. Weaver went for 6⅔ innings, fanning 8 and permitting just a pair of walks. The Angels didn’t hit homers but rather scattered Wakefield’s knucklers across the field in a timely manner, resulting in a home win. | |||
It was an odd evening. The Red Sox debuted their new blue road uniforms and the hanging pair of socks cap. I kept on thinking it was a spring training game or that I was watching the Brewers.
Jerry Remy was ill so a color analyst rotation of Sean McAdam, Rex Hudler, Ken Rosenthal, and Tony Massarotti accompanied Don Orsillo. Orsillo is not ready to go Vin Scully just yet. Why Hudler was talking in the second slot is beyond me; who is the idiot that put together this staff?
McAdam was something of a surprise to be the ace of staff, but his solid contributions make up for his lack of flash. Think of him as the Kevin Millwood of the team. He seasoned his monotone delivery with a few droll observations, just as Millwood breaks up his 90 MPH fastballs with sliders and curves.
The argument could be made that Rosenthal should have spoke second because of keen repertoire of general baseball insight, but I would have placed him third. He has the national profile of being Fox’s field reporter and his writing has garnered awards, but to make the leap from field-level reporting to the booth might be expecting too much of him. His short soundbite style did not play well over two innings, just as some relievers shouldn’t be stretched out to become starters. He called to mind Brandon Morrow, who is better out of the bullpen than carrying the burden of having to last as many innings as possible in a game. Rosenthal also lacks deep insight into either team’s particulars; that he wasn’t confounded by Jacoby Ellsbury grounding into a 3-6-3 double play to end the fifth revealed a lack of specifc Red Sox knowledge.
Instead of Rex “Wonder Dog” Hudler in the second spot I would have gone with Tony Massarotti. His piercing, high-pitched tone counters McAdam’s deep timbre, perplexing listeners and thereby maintaining their attention. Massarotti’s career has been on the rise ever since he left the Herald for the Globe, which can be compared to David Price rocketing through the Rays minor league system to hurl in key games in late September.
To even have Hudler in a major league broadcasting rotation is an embarrassment. That someone saw fit to fill the two hole with his yammering is a travesty. At one point he assumed the voice of a woman to add drama to his anecdote and it went over like Julian Tavarez coming off the mound and bolting to second in an attempt to get a runner out. Except not as hilarious in retrospect. He also broke the “what happens in the clubhouse stays in the clubhouse” rule by bringing up a skirmish between Curt Schilling and Ricky Bottalico. I suppose his justification is that it happened in a plane, not at the ballpark. We can only be thankful that he wasn’t peckish during his stint as he has been known to eat a bug if the occasion called for it.
There is indeed a need to fear, Rex Hudler is near... a microphone.
