Colorado Rockies: The Phillies TV broadcast’s mistakes and snafus were aplenty this weekend

This year, I’ve been doing something a little bit different than usual in my watching of the Rockies: I watch and/or listen to the opposing team’s broadcasts.

Usually, it’s only for a game or two of the series or some times, just a few innings, but this weekend, it was a little different. I watched all three games via the Phillies television feed and, if you follow us on Twitter, you may have realized that.

I didn’t necessarily watch all three games on their broadcast because it was great.

In fact, it was the exact opposite. The mistakes, snafus, and just plain ignorant statements on the broadcast were simply laughable.

Now, let me be clear: We all make mistakes. We’re human. Players make mistakes, managers and coaches make mistakes, umpires make mistakes, and I know I have made plenty mistakes, whether it’s typo in a tweet, article, or getting info wrong, or just not saying the right thing (on a podcast or when I used to broadcast baseball or other sports collegiately). I guarantee you that 99 percent of the people that are in sports media will tell you that.

But there were so many mistakes on the Phillies TV broadcasts against the Rockies this weekend.

And most of the baffling statements made, just by a lack of research and preparation.

Their play-by-play man for the series was Tom McCarthy and he is their regular play-by-play broadcaster and I’ll be very honest with you: I think he had a pretty good series.

Broadcasting a game off of a monitor when the game is taking place nearly 2,000 miles away is not an easy task and if not for the occasional “there in Denver,” showing them in the studio, or knowing that most teams’ broadcasters are not traveling right now, I wouldn’t have known that they weren’t there.

But his analyst was Ruben Amaro Jr. and he was a different story. Amaro Jr. is not the Phillies regular color analyst as he is usually a pre-and post-game analyst.

Essentially, for comparison, it’s like having Cory Sullivan in the booth for the Rockies (he’s there doing pre- and post-game and he knows the team, but he only does in-game color analysis on occasion).

Amaro Jr., the former MLB infielder who was a teammate and locker mate with Rockies manager Bud Black in Cleveland in 1995, is a former player, general manager, coach, and scout so he, in theory, should bring a lot to the broadcast.

But he didn’t.

Why? A lot of his information was either incorrect, missing context, outdated, or he just flat out didn’t know.

For example, multiple times in the series, it seemed evident that Amaro Jr. was not scoring the game, which is a common practice in broadcasts and media so you can easily refer back to the previous at-bats while you’re in the game.

I could be wrong but when you ask the play-by-play guy what a hitter did in a previous at-bat in the game multiple times, it’s apparent.

But let’s go through the many examples throughout the weekend of mistakes, snafus, and statements not based on facts.

1) “Coors”

You knew this one was coming and this applied for both broadcasters this weekend.

In a way, you can’t blame them because this is the narrative for just about anybody that covers or watches baseball but not the Rockies on a daily basis. It takes a lot of digging and/or watching of Rockies games to discover the nuances of Coors Field.

Does Coors Field impact the Rockies play? Yes, it does. Is it as big of a factor as most people or even the sabermetricians would like you to believe? No.

In reality, the biggest factor for the Rockies is going to sea level from altitude and back again. The Rockies, obviously, play at a mile-high in altitude. The next highest is Arizona, and they are just above 1,000 feet in altitude, so they are 80 percent lower than the Rockies.

Atlanta is just over 1,000 feet (they were just under 1,000 feet until they moved out of Turner Field), but the other 27 stadiums are between sea level and 900 feet in elevation.

This creates an adjustment for Rockies hitters and pitchers, especially when San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles are all between sea level and, roughly, 100 feet in elevation.

It also creates more strain on Rockies players with injuries and recovery (for injuries and regular play).

But contrary to the belief of the Phillies broadcast and most other broadcasts, a home run that is hit 400 feet or more is going to be a home run just about anywhere. When you hit a ball that is 433 feet or 447 feet, like C.J. Cron or Trevor Story did on Sunday, that’s going to be a home run everywhere.

Ryan McMahon leading the NL in home runs is not because Coors Field. When the average exit velocity is nearly 104 MPH and a distance of 408 feet on your homers thus far in 2021, they weren’t 301-foot cheapies. And when you pull a ball and hit it 424 feet like he did on Saturday, that’s going to be out anywhere.

To top it off, if you check out his seven home runs by stadium, there are four stadiums in which he’d have more than seven home runs. Guess where one of them is? Citizens Bank Park, in Philadelphia. So, if you want to talk about a bandbox, look no further than the Phillies own stadium.

We’ll touch more on McMahon later.

2) Jordan Sheffield and his family tree

Jordan Sheffield does have family in Major League Baseball. In fact, his brother, Justus, is a pitcher with the Seattle Mariners and they even pitched in the same game a few weeks ago in spring training.

However, he is not “the nephew of Gary Sheffield,” as Amaro mentioned on Saturday.

It literally takes 10 seconds to look up “Jordan Sheffield Gary Sheffield” on your favorite search engine. The first article that comes up for me is this one from 2018 from YES, the Yankees TV home (Justus was with the Yankees at the time). You go to the second paragraph and it says that Justus isn’t related to Gary, so Jordan wouldn’t be either.

Considering that they talked to Justus for the article, it’s probably good info. MLB.com also has an article on it too from 2018 and 2016 (when Justus was a prospect with Cleveland). Justus was asked point-blank about if he is asked if he is related to Gary Sheffield a lot and he said this.

“All the time,” said Justus Sheffield. “I have baseball cards that say he’s my uncle. It’s just an old fairy tale …  (T)here’s no relation.”

There you go! Mystery solved.

3)  Graphics snafus

There are always going to be occasional graphic errors, especially with in-game stats. And again, they are human as well.

But these were just so odd.

Case number one: This one on Sunday when Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper hit a home run in the first inning.

This must have been corrected in the archives later as it’s not on MLB.TV now but it was live, and multiple people, including me, noticed it.

The second case in point was also on Sunday.

In the top of the 7th inning, with the Rockies up 10-2, Rockies reliever Carlos Estevez was in a little trouble so the Rockies started getting the bullpen up and going. It was Robert Stephenson warming up but, for about a second, you would not have thought that.

There are so many things with this one.

1. Austin Gomber didn’t even appear in the series.
2. Gomber is a starting pitcher.
3. Gomber is a left-handed pitcher

They noticed quickly, though, and pulled it off the screen and play-by-play man Tom McCarthy said that it was, in fact, Robert Stephenson and not Austin Gomber warming up in the bullpen.

4) Apparently, not all guys should have the opportunity to drive in runs

Fourth inning on Sunday. Rockies are down 2-0 but they have a good opportunity to score some runs.

Ryan McMahon led the inning off with a single to center field. C.J. Cron blooped a hit to shallow center field to follow (Coors was blamed on this hit, too).

So you have Yonathan Daza at the plate with two on and nobody out. A lot of people don’t like the bunt and for good reason: you are giving your opponent an out.

But Daza bunts and does so successfully, moving McMahon and Cron up to third and second with one out.

Josh Fuentes comes up and considering how cold his bat is, that may be a puzzling move but there’s a few reasons why it could be explained.

1. Daza could have beaten the bunt/been bunting for a base hit
2. You still only have one out
3. Dom Nunez, who is hitting very well right now, is after Fuentes.

McCarthy said that he was “a little surprised that they did it there” by the bunt there but conceded that it was a “nice bunt” and Amaro Jr. agreed. However, Amaro Jr. was interrupted by Josh Fuentes getting a sac fly, to put the Rockies on the board.

Here’s what Amaro Jr. said:

“I don’t like that play,” said Amaro Jr. “I believe that was somewhere in between a sac bunt and a bunt for a base hit and I guess the feeling that Daza had, I gotta believe that he did that on his own because, very rarely, unless it’s late in the game, do you want to give up outs in Colorado and I just have a feeling that Daza was trying to bunt for a base hit and then, if he failed (in) bunting for a base hit, he at least moves the runners over.”

First off, again, there’s the Colorado/Coors thing. Always a factor in opposing broadcasts.

Secondly, what’s wrong with that play then? He is doing something to further his team’s scoring chances either way.

But as Fuentes is batting (1-0 count by the time Amaro finished saying what he said above), he hits a sac fly to center field on the 1-0 pitch to score McMahon. 2-1 Phillies.

But Amaro Jr. describes what Fuentes hit and then continues on his previous point:

“One of the reasons why I don’t like that play — that drag bunt — in that situation, actually, is that I don’t like to give the back end of my lineup the opportunity to drive runs in. You want to try to get as many shots at base hits as you can in the deep part of your lineup and you’ve got the pitcher coming up in a couple of batters. I mean, I understand why he did it, I just don’t agree with it.”

But the Rockies had a good 8th place hitter coming up after Fuentes

Simply put, Dom Nunez has been hitting much better than your average catcher or average 8th place hitter.

In fact, he was in the top ten percent in baseball entering the game in:

• Weighted On-Base Average (.585), top three percent
• Barrel Percentage (18.2 percent), top nine percent
• Expected Weighted On-Base Average (.551), top seven percent

But, most importantly, you always want to give everyone opportunities to drive in runs for three main reasons.

1. You do have to score to win games.
2. You have to have all players playing well to be a playoff-caliber team.
3. Even the worst hitters in baseball (pitchers) do occasionally have hits.

So, after this, Dom Nunez comes up and walks … and the Rockies get a hit … from the pitcher.

Jon Gray gets an RBI single and the Rockies are business. Enough business that they score seven in the inning (single inning taco’s) and Daza comes back around later in the inning.

The broadcasters then comment that Daza was “probably thinking ‘I shouldn’t have sacrificed’ with the way that the ball is jumping now in this inning.”

Yet again, another Coors thing … but Coors just popped up in this inning.

Chase Anderson was just a victim of Coors, apparently.

5) Ryan McMahon’s defense

This was the most egregious one of the weekend.

On Friday, after Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm hit an infield single to Ryan McMahon, who was playing third base and did not misplay the ball and didn’t have a play on Bohm anyway, Amaro Jr. said this.

“He’s not a great defender and he’s one of those guys that they’re still trying to find out what his best position is but they’ve gotta keep that bat in the lineup right now,” said Amaro Jr.

Huh? What? There are so many things with that one sentence to unpack.

First off, he’s a very good defender. Entering Friday, he was leading the NL in defensive WAR and was in the top handful of players by Defensive Runs Saved (6 DRS with three at second base and three at third base, per Baseball-Reference, entering Friday).

Secondly, the Rockies know and have already said that third base is his best position. McMahon has long said that he will play anywhere as long as he can play every day. The only reason why he is playing second base some is that Brendan Rodgers is injured so, when Josh Fuentes plays third, McMahon plays second base.

The thing that was concerning entering the season for McMahon was his bat. Could he cut down the chase rate, the strikeout rate, boost the walk rate, and replace Nolan Arenado at third base? Not all of that has happened for him so far in 2021 but he has been, arguably, the most consistent at-bat in the Rockies order in 2021.

When Arenado was injured in 2020, who moved to third base? Ryan McMahon. Who still played nearly every day despite having poor results at the plate? Ryan McMahon. Why did he play nearly every game? His defense.

Amaro Jr., half-heartedly, doubled down on this on a force out in the 5th inning.

“Nice play there by McMahon,” said Amaro Jr. “He’s not the greatest defender but he must be working on some things because he made a very good range play.”

Then came the comparison game for the Rockies infielder.

“Nobody’s Nolan Arenado over there (at third) because he’s probably the best third baseman –one of the best third basemen–I’ve ever seen so it’s going to be a little bit of a dropoff from the third baseman they had,” said Amaro Jr.

Well, actually, entering Friday, McMahon had more DRS than Arenado … and McMahon has been playing two positions.

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I asked Bud Black about McMahon’s defense on Saturday and he said this:

“I think Mac, if you grade him out, he has good range, I think the hands are solid, he’s got a powerful arm that plays from second or third,” said Black. “I know what my eyes tell me and I know what the data tells me (and) I think he’s an above-average defender.”

So Amaro Jr.’s former teammate and locker mate, Bud Black, says that McMahon is “an above-average defender.” But Amaro Jr. didn’t have to ask Black (who said that he was texting with Amaro Jr. prior to the game on Friday) on that, but he could have easily looked at the numbers, which show that McMahon is “above-average” and has been since he has reached the major league level in 2017.

It’s the simple things that can make a good broadcast for baseball and, unfortunately, many of them were lacking this weekend.

The Phillies broadcast crew ranked 24th in The Athletic’s rankings by readers of The Athletic (subscription required) and that was with their regular color commentators, former ESPN analyst John Kruk and former MLB catcher Ben Davis. For comparison, the Rockies TV crew was ranked lower than that, partially, because, as one reader commented for the Rockies section, “they sound like cheerleaders.”

The Rockies will face the Giants this weekend, who are widely regarded as one of the top five TV broadcasts in baseball, and particularly, for the classic baseball video game lovers of the old MVP Baseball series of the early- and mid-2000s with Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow, it will be a much better broadcast.