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Rays-Red Sox ALCS Game 1: Two Cents

By Tom Jones, Times Staff Writer
In print: Saturday, October 11, 2008

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Best sense of history

Either TBS analyst Buck Martinez did loads of homework, or he spent all summer watching the Rays on the dish. He remembered things that happened during the Rays' season that most Rays fans had probably forgotten, even little things like the White Sox's A.J. Pierzynski tagging up from first on a fly ball against B.J. Upton back in August. Martinez and analyst Ron Darling were both impressive, though they're heavy on nuts and bolts and low on humor and irreverence.

Most tired story line

Maybe it's because national television is so rarely here, but TBS seems overly interested — some might say obsessed — with the catwalks. Those things simply don't come into play as much as everyone outside of Tampa Bay seems to think. Put it this way: Fenway's Green Monster monkeys with routine fly balls way more than the Trop's catwalks. Most insane statistic

Twice, TBS pointed out that Boston pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka had given up only one run on a 2-and-1 or 2-and-0 pitch all season. Really interesting, but what nut job keeps such statistics? My guess is the person who records such statistics has a 0 percent chance of meeting anyone of the opposite sex on a Friday or Saturday night at any bar or nightclub south of the North Pole between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31.

Best insight

TBS analyst Ron Darling made this comment in the first inning about home-plate umpire Tim McClelland:

"He's one of those umpires who has a really constricted strike zone early in the game, but he'll open it up later in the game if you hit your spots,'' Darling said. "But it will be tight early in the game.''

Interesting stuff, though quite frankly, McClelland's strike zone, as usual, was all over the place and pretty much a mystery throughout the game. For both sides.

Best use of the name

Hey, what do you know, someone at TBS must have gotten the memo. No references to the "Tampa Rays." It was all "Tampa Bay" and "St. Petersburg" from game announcers Chip Caray, Buck Martinez and Ron Darling.