OPEN MIC NIGHTS
SNY must plan for less Ron next year
Will Ron Darling be spending less time together with Keith Hernandez and Gary Cohen in SportsNet New York’s Mets broadcast booth next season?
The logical answer is yes. In 2022, the new seven-year contract extension between Turner Sports and Major League Baseball begins. It includes a Tuesday night “Game of the Week” on TBS, which will air for the entire season. Turner’s current contract has Sunday afternoon games broadcast over the last half of the season.
Darling has been TBS’ No. 1 baseball analyst on its current package since 2008. It’s not a reach to suggest that Darling, one of the finest analysts in the game, will be working TBS’ entire Tuesday night schedule in 2022. Simple math (even that’s challenging for us) reveals that since TBS is doing an entire season worth of Tuesday night games (about 26), Darling will be working double the games for Turner Sports then when TBS’ Sunday sked only lasted one-half of the season (about 13 games).
Darling, depending on where the Tuesday game is being played, would likely travel on Monday. Could he make up some of the lost Mets’ games on weekends? That’s a possibility. Like any voice, he wants to feel energetic and be fully prepared every time he walks into a broadcast booth.
During Darling’s TBS tenure, SNY suits have been reluctant to bring in a third voice to work with Hernandez and Cohen. The same holds true when Hernandez is off. When that happens, Darling and Cohen man the microphones.
This turned out to be the smart move. It kept the Hernandez-Darling-Cohen/SNY brand strong, and fans wanting more.
Still, with Darling’s new TBS schedule a factor, do SNY honchos stick to the two-person booth formula? Or do they use a designated third voice to work with Hernandez and Cohen.
SNY already has options under its own roof. During this season, former Mets catcher Anthony V. Recker, a regular on “SNY’s Baseball Night in New York,” has appeared as an analyst on both Mets Radio Network game broadcasts and in the SNY booth when both Hernandez and Darling were absent. The same holds true for Todd Zeile, SNY’s Mets studio analyst, who filled in on the TV side. Other “BNNY” regulars SNY could call on are former Mets GM’s Jim Duquette/Omar Minaya, former Mets manager Terry Collins and former Mets reliever Jerry (Gordo) Blevins.
Still, ain’t nothing like the real thing. Especially for the Mets fans who find Darling, Hernandez, and Cohen to be the most consistent and entertaining part of the franchise.
THUMBS UP, BART
When discussing the Mets “thumbs down” caper, Valley of the Stupid Gasbags marched in lockstep.
Not only did they dismantle Francisco Lindor and Javier Baez, they used their platforms to go all the way back to 1962 and chronicle the history of Mets’ dysfunction. The rants were so similar it seemed the mouths had received their talking points from a political operation.
So, the assignment became to find one voice, one hot-air instrument, who had a different take; a Gasbag who leaped over the pile of trash-talking, same-take mouths. Bart Scott did. On ESPN Radio, he sided with the Mets players.
“You boo me, I boo you. Are you imposing your motivation on the other team?” Scott, who when he was a Jet pushed back on those who booed Mark Sanchez, asked. And he made a larger point: How can Gasbags who are rude to callers who disagree with them, including cutting the caller off, get angry when a player pushes back at a fan for booing?
Good question.
DIAMONDS IN THE TURF
At least when historians look back at the case of Baez’s missing diamond (reports value it at $200,000), they will have SNY’s video breakdown of the episode, which, narrated by Doug Williams on “BNNY,” tracked the particle from ear to apparent landing spot.
While the video did not bring any closure to the situation, Williams did explain one possibility. He said the Citi Field drainage system “is so sensitive” the Baez Diamond, no relation to the Hope Diamond, might have been sucked into the turf.
Now that’s analysis.
LOYAL TO A FAULT
OK. Here goes. Cohen delivers a righteous, chin-chilling, call of Baez’s dash from first-to-home (“Turn those thumbs up”) scoring the winning run in the 6-5 comefrom-behind win over Miami Tuesday afternoon.
A day later ESPN-98.7’s Michael Kay, the TV voice of the Yankees, was talking about Cohen’s call and, for reasons known only to him, segued into a soliloquy on the virtues of his YES boothmates, David Cone and Paul O’Neill, complete with comparisons.
“You can compare Paul to Keith and David to Ron,” Kay proclaimed.
“I’ll put our guys against anybody.”
Now that’s loyalty. But when is Kay going to give some love to John Flaherty and Kenny Singleton?
AROUND THE DIAL
Best wishes to veteran Mets radio voice Howie Rose who is dealing with medical issues and will return to the microphone for the 2022 season. He leaves the booth in good hands with his partners Wayne Randazzo and Eddie (C No Evil) Coleman . ... During the Tuesday afternoon telecast, Hernandez, Darling and Cohen spent time talking about why the Mets went thumbs down on their fans. The discussion was thought provoking (Cohen said the player’s sensitivity has much to do with “the bubble” players live in) and far from the foaming-at-the-mouth stylings of other opinionistas. Darling summed the conflict up, saying: “You have to take ownership of yourself and what you and your squad do. Once you do, it sets you free.” Amen . ... The ESPN Faculty, in a gutsy/mind-bending move, are bringing in Michael Irvin as a regular Monday debate partner for Stephen A. Smith on “First Take.” Will their mouths fit under one roof? ... SNY’s Todd Zeile did not look happy near the end of Tuesday afternoon’s pregame show. Zeile was in the middle of making a point when, suddenly, he said: “Go to tease. Gary [Apple] go to tease!” Did a producer get in Zeile’s ear, interrupting him and looking to squeeze one more commercial break into the show? Or was Zeile caught “running” through a stop sign?
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