Rangers’ Announcer Tom Grieve Doesn't Seem To Like Richie Sexson

Friday, May 09, 2008

Bugs and Cranks has video of the Rangers and Mariners playing the feud last night, and announcer Tom Grieve doesn't seem to respect Richie Sexson decision to charge the mound....



In fairness to Sexson, the Mariners' Felix Hernandez had hit two batters in the previous inning and he was charging on anything close. I've also never seen a helmet throw land like that. Fun times.

Update: Here is the full thing, and as right as the Rangers announcers are about the situation....they do go a little overboard with the Sexson bashing....



Mariners/Rangers bench-clearing brawl (Bugs and Cranks)

Posted by Awful Announcing- at 10:29 AM

26 Comments:

Whatever happened to former rookie of the year Ben Grieve??? Wait, nevermind, he just emptied the trash can in my cubicle.

GMoney said...
May 9, 2008, 10:53:00 AM  

WAR SEXSON!

The Editor said...
May 9, 2008, 11:05:00 AM  

Damn, Grieve. Did Sexson take a foul ball from a kid, too?

May 9, 2008, 11:07:00 AM  

Milton Bradley a peacemaker? I've officially seen it all.

Anonymous said...
May 9, 2008, 11:12:00 AM  

Even as a peacemaker he still looked like he wanted to kick some ass.

May 9, 2008, 11:23:00 AM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fred said...
May 9, 2008, 11:23:00 AM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fred said...
May 9, 2008, 11:33:00 AM  

Sexson should be suspended for a while for this- this was obviously a premeditated I am going no matter what type deal, when the pitch wasn't even close to hitting him. The only problem is that would hardly be a punishment for the Mariners.

Anonymous said...
May 9, 2008, 11:44:00 AM  

At least he said Sexson was formerly good. It wasn't all bad.

Anonymous said...
May 9, 2008, 12:01:00 PM  

Any chance you've found video from the M's broadcast?

Having not seen the game, I'd like to think there was a little more going on than what the video out of context shows.

Patrick said...
May 9, 2008, 1:29:00 PM  

Are all the Texas announcers this big of homer tools? If there's one thing I hate in an announcer its a pep rally douche bag. Boston guys are probably the worst but this sausage wallet is right up there.

Anonymous said...
May 9, 2008, 1:30:00 PM  

MLB.com's video had the Seattle announcers, who were saying the pitch was obviously intentional.

Sexson is a punkass for throwing the helmet and charging the mound for NOT being hit. TAG and Lewin were right for piling on him.

I like Lewin alot (he also does Charger radio), and Grieve was a player and GM of the team before becoming an announcer, so if he's a homer...well, that's cause it's his home.

...and can you really talk about a guy's class when you bring his kid into the discussion?

Adam said...
May 9, 2008, 1:52:00 PM  

Seriously, how dare those announcers take up for their team? Give me a break. The pitch wasn't even close to hitting Sexson, and two Rangers players had already been drilled earlier in the night, so if anybody shoulda been pissed, it's Texas.

While Grieve may have went a little overboard, he was basically right and the Mariners need to 1)start playing better baseball or 2)convert into a boxing organization.

Robert.Rich said...
May 9, 2008, 1:53:00 PM  

Why are the texas announcers trying to bash Sexson? I mean other than Josh Hamilton, who on that team is worth a damn?

Yes, they went way overboard trying to crush the guy - they failed and looked like tools in the process.

Anonymous said...
May 9, 2008, 1:53:00 PM  

Let's be serious about "drilled" -- Ian Kinsler wasn't exactly hit very hard (although the fact that his HBP came after a homer makes it more suspicious).

May 9, 2008, 2:05:00 PM  

depends on your definition of "drilled." the radar gun on SportsCenter read 95 mph on the pitch that hit Kinsler. same for Laird, too.

and for all the Rangers announcers "homer" talk, the Mariners beat writer on mlb.com decided it was crucial to his story to note that "TV replays showed Kinsler never made much of an effort to avoid the fastball."

why should he? if he's getting thrown at, take that base.

bhurtik said...
May 9, 2008, 2:21:00 PM  

Wow, Sexson comes off as a big pansy in this, because that pitch was nowhere near hitting him. I definitely agree with whoever said he should get an extra-long suspension out of this, because his actions were essentially unprovoked. Regardless of what happened earlier in the game, you can't charge the mound on THAT pitch.

But the announcers have no reason to knock Sexson's career numbers -- they have nothing to do with the situation. I think I come up short of calling them 'classless,' but it's definitely unwarranted criticism at the time(even though he obviously does suck).

Jay said...
May 9, 2008, 2:34:00 PM  

Reminds me of the pitch to Manny that started the big brawl in I think 04.

Anonymous said...
May 9, 2008, 3:28:00 PM  

At 5:50 pm, both videos are no longer available. :(

Froggie McFrog said...
May 9, 2008, 5:49:00 PM  

@ anon 3:28: That was '03, and this Sexson pitch was even more out over the plate than the Manny one. Thankfully Don Zimmer wasn't on hand for this one.

Jay said...
May 9, 2008, 6:21:00 PM  

No, Grieve was right on target with his remarks. When you act like a doosh as Sexson did Thursday night, you deserve every ounce of ridicule that comes your way.

Gravypan said...
May 10, 2008, 12:48:00 AM  

MLB is playing copyright nazi on Scientologytube.

Try liveleak/dailymotion/vimeo.

Anonymous said...
May 10, 2008, 4:45:00 AM  

Seems stupid that people are talking about Sexson and protecting their homer announcers on a site called AWEFUL ANNOUNCING. Jeez people take a clue.

Everyone can see that Sexson is a douche (that's how you spell it if you aren't from Texas). The point is these guys saw one frustrated idiotic act and are now making him out to be the "worst of the worst." These idiot announcers are the Bill Waltons of homer announcers and it shows. Just admit you're a fanboy if you're in here defending their idiocy.

Anonymous said...
May 10, 2008, 1:44:00 PM  

the video isnt working

Anonymous said...
May 10, 2008, 3:43:00 PM  

Tom Grieve is a huge homer. And considering he played and was the GM for the Rangers, why shouldn't he be? Not to mention this is a regional broadcast so it's not like he was being a huge homer to a national audience.

He may have gone overboard a bit in the heat of the moment...but knocking him for being a homer is pretty weak considering it was the Rangers' broadcast and Rangers' fans are watching it.

@anon 1:44- Cute how you worked in a grammar lesson for the dumb Texans. DOUCHE!

Anonymous said...
May 11, 2008, 2:33:00 AM  

Grieve doesn't usually go off like that. He is very mild-mannered, and even apologized during the broadcast, saying that he was embarassed by his rant. He even said that he believed that once Sexson thought about what he had done, he would agree that he overreacted.

As far as "homer" announcers, Grieve does a good job conveying insight that the casual baseball fan might not pick up on his own. He said that he wasn't surprised that the Mariner announcers both stuck up for their players and thought that the pitch was intentional. Can someone tell me why announcers employed by a team shouldn't be tilted towards that team? It's different than a nationally televised game where McCarver or Costas fawn over the Yankees ad nauseum.

There really was no excuse for what Sexson did. Look at Gabbard's initial body language following the pitch. He looked as surprised as anyone that Sexson was charging.

Grieve's opinions have more credibility than people who only criticize other people.

TZig

Anonymous said...
May 12, 2008, 2:35:00 PM  

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