Eighth inning, Yankees v. Diamondbacks, YES network, May 17 2016

Watching the eighth inning of the Yankees/Diamondbacks game on May 17 one received an instructive lesson in what is wrong with televised baseball.

Brandon Drury hit a ball off the right-field wall and the camera stayed on Carlos Beltran as he fielded it; only after he fielded it and threw it in did the camera show Drury, who at that point was rounding second on his way to third; the throw caught him in-between second and third and he was tagged out.  What we missed, of course, was seeing both the ball as Beltran tried to field it and Drury running.  That tension between the batter and the fielder, a crucial part of the beauty of baseball, was entirely missing.  In other words, the producers do not care about the immediacy that the contributes significantly to the beauty of the game.  After all, they can always show additional angles on the replays, another proof that they do not care about the what's happening as it's happening.   I refer you to my post of  Oct. 30, 2013, in which Fox producer Pete Macteska said he missed a key moment in a World Series game because the game was too boring to show without plenty of cuts to the fans!

Another big problem with televised baseball is the announcers, especially when they lose interest in a one-sided game.  In the eighth inning the Diamondbacks were leading 12-2 and announcer Michael Kay said the score wrong three times:  the Yankees leading 12-2, the Diamondbacks leading  15-2 (they had fifteen hits) and the score in the middle of the eighth being 12-5!

My suggested solutions include showing the whole field much of the time (common when baseball was televised in the fifties), which would undoubtedly cause problems with the advertisers who advertise behind home plate, and only having one announcer, who should concentrate on the game and wouldn't have to indulge in boring chitchat with additional commentators who have nothing to say.  I recommend listening to Vin Scully when the MLB Network broadcasts from Dodger Stadium; he knows that the game is still beautiful even when the score is lopsided.