Alex Rodriguez said last night it’s important to play errorless and mistake-free baseball. But apparently, he doesn’t apply the same mantra to broadcasting.
The Red Sox were once again on “Sunday Night Baseball” for their series finale against the Rays, exposing our poor eardrums to A-Rod for the third time this season. During previous telecasts, Rodriguez alternated between stating the obvious and outlandish.
On Sunday night, he kept that streak alive.
There were the standard factual errors we’ve come to expect from A-Rod. Most annoyingly, he continually referred to Bobby Dalbec as Bobby “Daubach,” harkening us back to the glory days of the early aughts. Rodriguez also told us Nelson Cruz will be a good mentor to younger players on the Rays, such as Yandy Diaz, who will turn 30 years old this week.
It doesn’t seem like A-Rod engaged in much game prep as he was cruising the coasts of St. Tropez and Ibiza for his 46th birthday.
But in A-Rod’s defense, that’s understandable. There are plenty of poorly prepared color analysts out there. The most baffling aspect of A-Rod’s drivel is that he doesn’t even appear to be watching the game he’s calling.
Take J.D. Martinez’s fifth-inning fly out to center field, for example. After Kevin Kiermaier backed up to make the catch, Rodriguez remarked the ball would’ve been a home run at Fenway. Seconds later, Matt Vasgersian popped in with a correction: the ball, actually, would not have left Fenway, according to Statcast.
A-Rod and Vasgersian have a weird kind of forced chemistry. When they’re not engaged in awkward conversation, they’ll shilling for MLB, such as when they spoke positively about the insane plan for the Rays to play in both Tampa Bay and Montreal.
While that kind of banter may be insulting to sensible-minded individuals, at least it saves us from hearing A-Rod completely whiff on his analysis. On that note, the 14-time All-Star closed out the game in style.
First, there was Jarren Duran’s strike out. The struggling outfielder was early on Matt Wisler’s final slider of the at-bat, resulting in a strikeout. Anybody who’s watched even a sampling of baseball could see that was the case.
Yet, Rodriguez said Duran had a “little too much swing, a little too much uppercut.”
Huh?
The game ended shortly thereafter, when Martinez popped up a well-placed breaking ball into right field. It was a great 3-2 offering from Wisler, but A-Rod didn’t see it that way. Instead, he called the offering a “pitch to hit.”
In what universe?
Sadly, the game ended before the litany of Red Sox baserunners whom A-Rod predicted would steal second followed his advice.
Guy made a hell of a 3-2 pitch.
— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) August 2, 2021
Day off tomorrow and then Garrett Richards tries to play stopper. pic.twitter.com/8k5mw0LKqs
It’s hard to believe A-Rod could torture Red Sox fans more as an announcer than as a player. The great ones always find a way to defy the odds.
