Baseball ... on Radio

It’s baseball season -- especially for us fans of ‘Le canadien,’ who bowed out in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs! Baseball is already completing its second month.
I was a fan of the Montreal Expos since their birth in 1969, until their sad departure and re-branding as the Washington Nationals a few seasons ago. The Expos had excellent announcers on TV and radio, led by the legendary Dave Van Horne.
I sometimes took a keen interest in the Boston Red Sox, especially while spending the 1975 season in Boston, when they lost the 7th game of the World Series. Their announcers were usually excellent, also, on both media.
Now, left with supporting the Blue Jays, I’ve recently made an important move -- I’ve changed over from TV to radio.
Here in Halifax, we can tune in to ‘Rogers SportsNet’ on TV for almost all 162 season games, or check out the games on local Rogers radio, part of the ‘Blue Jays Radio Network.’
FYI, dear reader, the Rogers conglomerate owns ALL the parts in the baseball package -- the Blue Jays team, the Rogers Centre in Toronto, and the radio stations and TV specialty channels on cable / satellite.
Their radio play-by-play announcerss -- Gerry Howarth and Allan Ashby -- are superb. They paint great word pictures, deliver the usual flurrty of baseball stats in an interesting manner, share some technical points for many game situations, and are comfortable to hear.
For example, they discuss if / when a runner on 1st base should try to steal 2nd, to get into ‘scoring position,’ and if / when he SHOULDN’T. It may have to do with ... how many outs, the game score, how late in the game, who is the batter, how good the pitcher is at throwing to 1st base ... etc.
Another point discusses when should a manager remove the starting pitcher, to insert ‘long-relief’ or ’closer’ specialists. Consider: total pitch count; is he getting tired, erratic; game score; who's on, who's up, who's on deck, maybe a pinch-hitter ... etc.
The radio accounts have other advantages;
-- you can listen while driving, or walking;
-- you can listen in the dark ... and rest your eyes!;
-- you get a higher level of baseball expertise, on Blue Jays games, anyway.

And, if a certain game play is THAT good, I can always check it out on the TV Highlights the next morning!