Rick Sutcliffe: Baseball Ignoramus
A question often debated among knowledgeable fans, which ESPN baseball expert is the dumbest, choices have traditionally included Joe Morgan as the popular pick, John Kruk as most likely to be mentally challenged, and Steve Phillips, my own whipping boy. After Boston’s loss to New York last night, I stand corrected.
Never did 5 minutes pass during the 3 hour game when Sutcliffe wasn’t spouting either the dumbest of cliches or the most ignorant of opinions. A few examples:
- With Damon on second and Wakefield trying to hold him close A-Rod hit a two run homer. On a night where Wakefield clearly did not have his best stuff, when Giambi also hit a mammoth home run, when the Yankees had 9 hits, 8 walks, and scored 6 runs in 5 innings, against a hitter that will one day hold the record for most home runs in a career, Sutcliffe was convinced, and stated it as fact on several occasions, that it was Damon bouncing around second base that caused the knuckler to not knuckle.
- When discussing the possible firing of Joe Torre Sutcliffe brought up the Yankee’s lack of success in the years preceding his arrival, failing to mention that Torre was an also-ran manager with very little success until getting the opportunity to coach a team with consistently the highest payroll and therefore the best talent.
- During the second inning with the bases loaded, two out, and Kevin Youkilis at the plate with a 3 balls, 1 strike count the 5th pitch was called a strike despite replays showing the pitch being several inches off the black. Sutcliffe called it a perfect pitch. Later in the game with Derek Jeter at the plate a pitch in the exact same spot was thrown. Jeter headed towards first believing it was ball 4 but was called back by the ump who had called it a strike. The two had a brief discussion that Sutcliffe determined was the umpire admitting he blew the call because the pitch was “obviously well outside”.
- During one 2 strike count on a Sox player Yankee fans rose to their feet cheering and hoping for a strikeout. Sutcliffe observed that Yankee fans were among the best in the league at understanding when big moments were happening, seemingly unaware that every crowd at every stadium in every Major League city does the same.
- Sutcliffe commented that the Yankees had scored their 6 runs with 2 homers and a triple. “That’s Yankee baseball,” he said. Make of that what you will.
- When discussing the return of Roger Clemens, Sutcliffe asked the question “which is better, Clemens at 75 percent or a pitcher called up from the minors?”, to which he answered matter-of-factly “Clemens”, seemingly unaware of the near no-hitter thrown by call-up Phil Hughes or the recent 3 hits over 6 innings allowed by call-up Tyler Clippard.
Logically it seems the best baseball pundits would be former players, yet those employed by ESPN prove otherwise. Having played baseball professionally doesn’t necessarily translate into baseball intelligence. You can play the game and at the same time have no business describing it. Rick Sutcliffe, a baseball ignoramus, is proof (or perhaps Mr. Sutcliffe was drunk).
Either way, he’s no Jerry Remy, a former player turned announcer who, if baseball knowledge was actually used as a hiring criteria by ESPN, would have been snapped up by the sports channel long ago.
As it stands, the viewer is the loser.
