Posted: April 24th, 2010 | Author: Brian Mortensen | Filed under: Industry | Tags: baseball, mets, mizzou baseball, mlbtv, siriusxm | 1 Comment »
Despite the absurd amount of rain this weekend, I still love this time of the year. Baseball is now officially in full swing. I have something to look forward to every day – even if it’s my lame-o Mets, shockingly winners of 3 in a row and now back to .500. MLBTV is one of the best gifts or investments you can make or give if you’re a big baseball fan because it provides almost unlimited hours of entertainment on days with a full slate of games. I’m also really happy I asked for Sirius/XM radio for my car for Christmas this past year, because road trips and drives around town become WAY more tolerable with baseball going on. I’ve really enjoyed hearing some of the crews from teams I haven’t listened to before – in particular, Seattle’s Dave Niehaus and Rick Rizzs, and Milwaukee’s Bob Uecker. I’ve also enjoyed being able to finally pick up a strong signal for the Royals’ Denny Matthews and Bob Davis, because Columbia seems to be well outside the range of the largest MLB radio network for some reason. Meanwhile there are about 3 stations in the area with the Cardinals’ broadcast…go figure.
Plus, this is the time of year with fantasy baseball at full swing. One of the leagues I’m in with guys from high school is VERY competitive, fun, and entertaining. I spend tons of time discussing matchups, stats, and funny events online with guys in the league. We only pay $20 per person to the league to pay for a trophy and provide a small prize for the eventual champion. Charting guys on our teams becomes a daily activity and helps make potentially mundane games more interesting.
If the Mets stay in contention, this will be even more fun in the fall, when college football gets started too.
Posted: April 5th, 2010 | Author: Brian Mortensen | Filed under: PA Announcing | Tags: aaron senne, busch stadium, dane opel, eric garcia, jeff emens, kauffman stadium, mets, mizzou baseball, PA Announcing | No Comments »
How’s it going, folks? Mizzou baseball has been in full swing, but not having a great season so far with a 15-11 record. The Tigers sit in last place in the Big 12 so far with a 2-4 record in conference. They’ve got a ton of freshmen, so the learning curve appears to be pretty high so far for them, while the bullpen has been very weak outside of closer Jeff Emens. I’ve been really impressed with 2 freshmen so far this year – 2b Eric Garcia, and outfielder Dane Opel. Opel is hitting a sterling .529 in conference, while Garcia made a huge impact in non-conference play – especially against Purdue where he homered twice. Garcia has struggled so far though in Big 12 play, hitting just .077. Hopefully he can keep the 2b job because I think he’s got some tremendous talent, and has shown himself to be a really solid defensive infielder too with just 2 errors in 19 games. Meanwhile, senior 1b Aaron Senne has been fantastic – .426/.464/.577 averages with 8 homers and 31 RBI. The Tigers teem with young talent on the mound too, as very-highly-touted freshman Eric Anderson has a 3.94 ERA with 24 Ks in 32 innings. He seems to have great stuff and just needs experience. The rest of the pitching staff has been average – lefty junior college transfer Jeff Scardino appears to have a solid hold on midweek starts while righty Nick Tepesch has been a bulldog on Saturdays, taking the ball every game and going deep, but he’s given up a lot of hits and homers. He’s got good stuff, and has kept his walks down, but still has a high WHIP – I’m curious to see where his season goes – he pitched 6 innings of shutout ball against North Dakota but has struggled in Big 12 play. I’m not sure this team can make the NCAA tournament this year – I just don’t see it with the inconsistency and inexperience on this team coupled with the always-challenging Big 12 schedule. Certainly I’d love to see it happen, but a .500 finish for this team would be a success in my opinion.
On the PA announcing side, it’s gone pretty well. The athletics department asked me to PA the games at Busch Stadium against Illinois in St. Louis and Kauffman Stadium against Kansas, so I’m pumped for the chance! I PA’d at Busch last year when Missouri played St. Louis University, and it was pretty wild. The sound system was incredibly powerful, which wasn’t too much of a surprise – what did surprise me was how strong the echo was throughout the stadium. It really emphasized to me how enormous a building it is compared to Taylor Stadium. Hopefully, the crowd will be better this year than it was last year, when it only drew about 1,500 people. I’m not sure how well Illinois baseball fans travel, but it’ll be fun regardless – and hopefully a better game than last year’s blowout win over SLU. As for Kauffman, that’s gonna be awesome – especially for an “exhibition” Border War baseball game. I’ll do my best to document it and get as many pictures and videos as possible!
My lowly Mets get started today too against the Florida Marlins – all I can hope for this season is a .500 finish. They’re going to stink this year!