The Weekend That Was & MASN's Coverage

I was at the games this weekend, and I'll say it was good to see both Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles fans out en masse to see their teams. The games at Camden Yards were far from a sellout; however, strong crowds on all three days made the series very interesting and enjoyable to watch.

Unlike a Yankee/Red Sox series in Baltimore, the Washington fans were very friendly and there were no fights -- at least from what I know and saw. Anyhow, it was kind of a home game for some Nationals fans who trekked up I-95 and the Parkway (they must be given props for dealing with the awful Friday traffic) to see their team.

The O's fans were out too in force, and it was good to see Baltimore continue it's winning ways and take two out of three from the Nationals.

Baltimore's pitching has been excellent, perhaps with the exception of the performance of the bullpen on Saturday. They'll need the luck the next weeks as they take on the Yankees in the Bronx, face the emerging Rays this weekend, tango with the Evil Empire again over Memorial Day Weekend, and then the Red Sox aka the Evil Empire 1A rolls into Charm City again.

The next two weeks will break or make the Baltimore Orioles. I figured we would not be contenders at all, but are we all not shocked by the 23-20 record so far? I think we are more ‘pretenders’ than ‘contenders’; however, as the first seven weeks have shown us, anything can happen.

If we finish .500 during this stretch, we should petition MLB to give Dave Trembley Manager of the Year consideration. Ok, we can't vote for him -- however, you cannot understate the job he's doing motivating his team with the talent on board.

MASN's Coverage This Weekend:

This weekend, MASN has a mixed talent broadcast of both the O's and Nationals series. Last year when I saw the games on TV, I thought it was kind of silly to have two broadcasts of the same game within pretty much one region -- so, I guess the network decided to use it's resources and combine everything.

I have been awfully critical of MASN since I started this blog from day one; however, I liked what I saw this weekend. Granted, I only watch perhaps half the game on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, meaning that I didn't see everything; however, MASN had put together a very solid product with the games on air. I'm sure a lot of fans who got to see the games live on TV enjoyed what they saw.

I'll say that the network did a good job in getting the talent together, and I was especially impressed how Jim Palmer and Don Sutton interacted and played off one another. It's pretty obvious both men had known each other for years and had a relationship established, but it was fun hear some of their stories (they both played in the '66 Series) and analyze the game.

Needless to say, the chemistry was nothing but great between the two. Yes, both men can very much talk, talk and talk.

Sometimes it's kind of difficult to hear seasoned pros like Jim Palmer and Don Sutton in the same room doing a broadcast; however, it worked out very well and I'll be looking forward to seeing them on TV in Washington.

Sutton is a gentleman and the pro's pro, thus, it is always a joy when I can to see him break down a game -- especially when it comes to pitching; Palmer is a little different -- he tend to be far more critical, more of a storyteller and well, likes to talk about himself, however, he worked very well in the setup this weekend.

It looked like Bob Carpenter and Gary Thorne acted as sort of the supporting cast over the weekend, thus, both men seemed to be regulated to simply calling the game, which is fine. I could imagine it was a little difficult trying to give everyone equal time; however, considering everything involved, the broadcasts this weekend were nothing but solid and as a baseball fan, I thoroughly enjoyed the coverage.