6 Responses to Early Returns on Sweet Lou in the Booth

1. Chuck Johnson
   March 14th, 2012 at 8:14 am

   MLBNetwork picked up the YES feed for the game yesterday.

   It seemed to me Kay was almost interviewing Piniella as if he were a booth guest and wasn’t part of the broadcast team.

   It was hard to determine if Kay was forcing questions on Lou in order to make him feel comfortable or to generate participation or even if Kay was star-struck by his being there and was just babbling.

   It was an uncomfortable listen either way.

2. Joseph DelGrippo
   March 14th, 2012 at 9:28 am

   Kay forces questions on everyone in the YES booth, all the time.

   Kay is a TMZ host trapped in a baseball booth. Most of his talk is about off field stuff and controversy. Things the fan doesn’t want or need.

   After another off the field topic Kay question in the YES booth, I can hear Michael Corleone’s voice in that great end of movie Godfather scene say “Don’t ask me about my business, Kay!”

   Piniella is bland (always has been in the booth or on TV) and can’t analyze the game other than the obvious. Lou has fire on the field but that does not translate well to analyzing on field content.

   As he is only a very part-time guy, O’Neill is fun to listen to in his brief stints.

   Best YES team would be Bob Lorenz at play by play with Cone and Singleton him in the booth as the color analysts.

3. Frank Russo
   March 14th, 2012 at 12:43 pm

   The big question is, why did YES pair Lou with Paul inb the first place? Everyone know that the two did not like each other at all when O’Neill was with the Yankees and Piniella was manager of the Mariners. Paulie always felt that Lou had his pitchers throwing at him intentionally. There was always animosity between the two. It actually started in Cincinnati. Did YES pair Piniella and O’Neill intentionally in order to stir things up? Did Paul and Lou bury the hatchet? Frankly, I felt Kay seemed to be acting more like a buffer last night between Lou and Paul. Kay sounded very measuered when it came to asking Lou questins, although his discussion about all the baseball players to come out of the Tampa area was good. Still, it felt rather uncomfortable.

4. dirty dave
   March 14th, 2012 at 1:55 pm

   Eh, it was OK if not great. I gave them a C minus. I think there is room to grow, tho, so that is by no means a final grade. I think Lou will have the opportunity to really give great, indepth knowledge of the game and if you listened closely, he gave some good analysis. Kay is always awkward, Paulie is always a breath of fresh air, not only funny but knowledgeable. Since that was their first pairing, I’m sure they were feeling each other out, too (figuratively, of course).

   Joey was right, the best CURRENT teaming would be Lorenz, Singey and Conie. However, the best team possible would be Lorenz, Singey and Kitty Kaat. Wonder why they’ve never brought Kitty back??? I know I do.

5. Ken Bland
   March 15th, 2012 at 6:41 pm

   I didn’t pay any attention to the rapport between MK and Lou, so no comment on that.

   Oner thing I noticed is Lou is not surprisingly a good story teller. So he’s “listenable.”

   This might sound nit-pickyish, but I look at it as a where there’s smoke fire heads up. Maybe you only need to know so much about the opponent, but last Sunday, Michael Martinez of the Phillies made a play that drew a “I saw him last year, and he’s a good , young player” review from Lou.

   Martinez had 3 real good games last year that inflated his offensive numbers from dreadful up to pathetic. He’s 28 years old. That’s not young, and he’s not good. I suspect Lou at best drew too general a conclusion off at best, too small a sampling. The network guys often fall into that trap, and it’s why they get hate mail from both sides fans. I prefer an announce not feel compelled to make a comment unless they know what they are talking about, and at the very least, defining 28 as young is weak.

6. Rob
   March 17th, 2012 at 4:34 pm

   The early broadcasts were okay, although a bit flat. Hardly a well-oiled machine as Kay and Piniella were trying to find their rhythm, which is understandable. Both the broadcasters and the viewers have to adjust to each other.

   I actually thought it improved once O’Neill was added into the mix. Paul always brings a certain energy level and he’s not afraid to mix it up, even if just for fun, with the other broadcasters.

   Piniella does have a relaxed style in the booth, perhaps too relaxed. Yet he’s not awkward, like Tino Martinez was when they tried him out a few years back. I suspect with repetition he’ll be a solid addition.

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