In defense of Don Zimmer's lineup selection... it was standard practice back then, to put a couple of whippets with .300 OBAs and absolutely no power at the top of the order. Guys like Omar Moreno, a leadoff hitter from Remy's era with a .306 career OBA. (If Juan Pierre had come along 30 years ago, some people would be talking Hall of Fame. Don't believe me? Maury Wills' numbers: .281/330/331.)
If a guy could steal bases, he was a leadoff hitter -- even if he rarely reached first. And the magic words for a #2 hitter were "bat control." The prototype was a guy like Remy: a middle infielder with no power, who'd occasionally poke a grounder into a strategic spot and move up a runner.
In his old Baseball Abstracts, Bill James used to rail about this constantly. At the time, it made him "controversial." One of his major contributions to the sport is the fact that baseball organizations now place a high value on OBA, especially at the top of the order.
If he could find a way, Remy would blame his offensive futility on Manny.
johnw, no one should ever come to Zimmer's defense for anything.
Chad,
great piece on Remy. I, too, am a Remy fan. What's your problem with DO? I love him.
Re: Curtis Martin. I feel like his numbers are a result of health. I know he was good but I don't think he was ever one of the top 3 RB in any year he played. Not yards wise, but talent wise. Maybe he 'quietly' amassed his yards because he wasn't as good as Emmitt, Barry, Terrell...
hey where did you get that picture of Manny and Okajima on the plane?
Soog: I'm not really defending Zimmer... just sayin' that batting Remy #2 was pretty much SOP at the time. Indeed, if he'd done something like bat Dwight Evans #2, he would have been tarred and feathered. Dewey, with his consistently high OBAs, would have made a great top-of-the-order hitter.
But in general, I agree with Bill Lee's characterization of Zim.
Chad,
Great piece on Remy with mention of Denny Doyle. Ironically my first Red Sox memory was turning on WSBK TV38 after neighborhood wiffleball game back in 1975. The Red Sox were on and Denny Doyle was at the plate. He wrapped a homerun around Pesky's Pole to put the Sox ahead. I now realize that I witnessed 50% of Denny's career homerun total.
PS Thanks for being the first writer to call out ESPN regarding the Who's NOW segment. It is the most self-indulgent waste of airtime on TV.
I love Remy, but I am tired of I'll plug RSN and then I can plug Remy Report, etc. Would like it better if he just stuck to the game and making DO laugh.
Playing nine comments while waiting for the underwhelming trade deadline deal...
1. I love how, under the New Regime, Remy analyzes Frank Webb's Bath Centers, Dunkin Donuts, the all-new Red Sox Nation (TM), feeling good about Hood, Sovereign Bank (great bank), theremyreport.com (TM), Granite City Electric's Extra Innings Extra, CVS Pharmacy's token donations to charity, Monster.com, and any other ad copy Dr. Charles can dream up and pile next to the microphone. Sometimes even between individual pitches. It's almost starting to make the Fox and ESPN games seem better. Almost. I'm finding watching the Sox on NESN every day unbearable this year.
2. Mr. Orsillo, you are no Sean McDonough.
3. Please, NEVER say, "the great Joe Morgan." Even if he was. I'm begging you, here.
4. That Denny Doyle card looks like a bad Photoshop of a man's head on a Little Leaguer's body. Maybe he pioneered the unsuccessful Early Steroid Era, when you injected them directly in your skull.
5. Are Papi and Manny really fading, or not? These are the questions that haunt GMs' souls. And might convince us all to take yet another year of Wily Mo Tease.
6. If you're not going to be Oakland and give the keys to Lester, Buchholz, Masterson, Gabbard, and Bowden, you have to trade SOME of them SOMETIME. Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka are not walking out that door.
7. Replace .200 hitter Pena with .200 hitter Kielty?
8. Another Devil Ray on the radar to go with Lugo and two Marlins? Theo, when they talk about "taking the heat in Boston," it's a figure of speech.
9. Someday soon we'll regret not overpaying for Saltalamacchia.
Brian W. Re:#1. You forgot Charlie Moore and Sox Appeal. The promos never stop. And when they do them, they ramp up the music and Remy turns it up a notch. I scream and reach for the remote. NESN is turning the RS into a circus. In NY, I have to watch RS-Yankees games on YES. It's great. No circus, just good baseball talk. And when they do the rare promo, they do it without music and in a natural voice. Classy.
The extracurricular patter of Remdawg and Orsillo gets a bit much at times. As for their actual coverage of the game it's pretty good. Objective, anyway. Here in Canada we pick up some White Sox telecasts. Listen to Hawk Harrelson a few times and you're thankful for the NESN guys. The Hawk is the consummate homer, to an embarrassing degree. He repeatedly refers to the White Sox as the good guys and muses on how nice it would be if Thome or Konerko went deep on the next pitch.
When Manny retires, he should replace Remy. My teevee device shows pictures. Silence is golden.
"Who's Now?": putting the "Entertainment" back in "E"SPN...or so they think. Unfortunately, it's not entertaining, and the celebrities they bring on to discuss the athletes are largely uninformed shills for whatever project is just coming out in theaters that week. While they're showing that crap I'm wondering why I can't watch the PanAm games (ESPN Deportes isn't in very high demand here in one of the whitest, WASPiest corners of the country).
Tomson, thanks for catching a couple of the ones I missed. I agree, the music is terrible too. I especially hate the blaring "NESN Sox riff" that they punctuate everything with. I try to leave the mute on until I see actual pitches, at which point they MIGHT be compelled to talk about the game.
Remy's objectivity and appreciation of good baseball from both teams is his saving grace.
Chad,
Denny Doyle, oh Denny Doyle. Surprised you didn't mention the 1975 world Series game seven, when the Buffalo Head, Bill Lee, was holding the mighty Reds at bay. Runner on first, one out, when Deeny Doyle got the force out on the runner at second, if he makes the throw to first...inning over, but no, he overthrows Cooper and then the next batter is Tony Perez. If only we had Remy in 1975.
If ESPN Classic was still doing (bad) original programming, they could do a series called "Who's Then," in which retired athletes and has-been celebrities talk about which sports star was the hottest in, say, 1982. It'd be best if they could bring back an early-era ESPN anchor like maybe Len Berman. He could moderate a discussion between John Schneider and Olivia Newton-John about the relative hotness of Robin Yount and Greg Louganis.
The possibilities are simply endless.
Actually, come to think of it, vh1 is already the "Who's Then" channel. Never mind.
Denny Doyle actually got MVP votes in '75, finishing 23d. It must have been the .310/.339/.429 numbers he put up after coming over from the Angels.
Pete,
The Manny/Okajima photo first appeared on Barstoolsports.com, I believe. It's from the flight to San Fran for the All-Star game. You can see Paps, Beckett, and Lowell in the background playing cards. Pretty funny.
Remy and Orsillo are the two most obnoxious announcers in baseball. Even the mute button doesn't help because the camera is focused on those two clowns. NESN and the RS organization display a total disregard for the fans. JUST BROADCAST THE GAME!
Chad,
I can't find your 9 innings on foxsports. Link?
"Remy and Orsillo are the two most obnoxious announcers in baseball."
It's obvious you haven't heard a lot of announcers. No where near the worst.
And how long are we going to drag out the old 'lowell fades during the second half' lazy cliche? I know there's a history of it, but so far so good.
It's not a lazy cliche, it's a fact. He's faded six years running, and he's doing it again - he has one homer, one triple, and one double since the break in 62 plate appearances. He has 116 homers in the first half in his career, 62 in the second. He has almost 180 more RBIs in the first half. His average is nearly 20 points higher. It's something to be concerned about, especially because they NEED him to hit.
For serious Red Sox fans who PAY to watch the games Remy and Orsillo are an insult. I have to blame the organization for allowing them to spew all their nonsense and turn the game into the home shopping network. The promotions are shameless.
stop watching tv
Gee that's creative thinking. thank you.
FWIW--Lowell's July (and 2nd half) are better than his June. Maybe he has a "contract year" 2nd half? before the Sox "mueller" him (as they should)after the season.
Maureen,
Turn off or down the sound. But compared to many other announcers, the twins, white sox, and yankees come to mind, the DO/JR team isnt really that bad. And while Remy can be over the top with the commercialization (please make the red sox nation presidency go away. PLEASE!), its still nothing compared to Hawk Harrelson and his annoying self or Blyleven seemingly feeling the need to circle everybody with a sign on the telestraiter...plus Remy is pretty honest in his analysis, and not as much of a homer as you might think.
Hi Bob
One of my gripes with Remy is that during important parts of the game he blabs nonsense and during this time the camera is focused on him and Orsillo. All I ask is to announce the game and talk baseball. I don't give a tinker's damm about his flat screen TV, his house, workout routine and other crap. JUST talk baseball. Actually I blame the organization more than him for nencouraging this nonsense. They are making money so the fans be dammed.
One thing they could try once in awhile is the novel concept of not talking at all. I understand that they have a million drop-in ads to read from, but even after that, there are times where there just isn't anything of value to say. It seems to me that those are the times that they start with the irrelevant and annoying chitchat. With the ever-increasing number of crowd microphones, a few seconds of nothing but ambient baseball noise--instead of Orsillo-Remy noise--would be fine.
You can't blame Remy and DO for all the plugs.
Many are pre-arranged by the sales people. There are only so many spots for commercials, stadium signs, etc. So the sales manager creates new spots to sell or gives "value added" mentions to sponsors. The boys in the booth and the truck call most of the shots. Any, as an out of market nomad, 90% of announcers are worse. The TB team was pretty good, and pretty fair. I give them credit for mustering excitement for that team.
Oh, yeah, another thing:
Who's NOW gets me to switch stations faster than a Stephen A. Smith sighting.
From yesterday's NYTimes, file under "too good to be true":
By TYLER KEPNER
Published: July 29, 2007
BALTIMORE, July 28 — When Roger Clemens joined the Yankees last month, he gave T-shirts to his new teammates. On the front is Clemens’s Rocket Man logo, and on the back, in bold letters, is a personal slogan: Tough All Day.
Correct me if I'm wrong but one of the things that makes Remy a great analyst is the fact that he was such a crappy player.
You are trying to justify JD Drew ROBBER Player status as an aweful player taking millions of dollars??? because his kid is ill???? welcome to the real world... people all over the world WORK I MEAN WORK while their kids are ill.... or GET Fired.... Drew is not different... but HE is A SKANK for taking all those millions for NOTHING .... ROBBER PLAYER....
You should write about the enless people who work 2 jobs a day for crap and they have sick children....
You're right, he is a robber player. My bad.
If my son or daughter was in a full body cast, I think it might affect my performance at work, no matter whether I'm a $70 million robber player, a copy editor at a newspaper, or whatever.
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