FOX AND ESPN ANNOUNCERS CRUCIFY BASEBALL --Raissman

"It always happens during baseball's postseason. National networks - Fox/ESPN - take over the coverage, voices parachute in and the dreaded trio - mistakes, misconceptions, massive hype - takes over.

Take Dodgers-Mets NLDS Game No. 2 Thursday at Shea. Jose Reyes at the plate and Fox's Thom Brennaman said: "There were some in this town who called this player soft . . . This is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately kind of town."

• Fox Sports shows their total incompetence. Jose Reyes is 'soft?' What a laugh.

If Brennaman was an artist his style would be abstract. See, it's hard figuring out the "some" he was referring to. Is there just one "some" or a few of them. Sam Some? Son of Some? Brennaman did not name names because there are no names to name.

These culprits are ghosts existing only in his mind. No one - not even "some" - ever called Reyes "soft." At one point in his career Reyes was injury prone - even brittle - but no one ever doubted his heart or willingness to play - even hurt.

It was the Mets organization that came under fire for not providing its phenom shortstop with better trainers, training techniques, and competent doctors.

At least Brennaman was talking baseball. The same cannot be said for Fox's in-house icon Joe Buck. This guy wears so many hats (baseball/football play-by-play, NFL pregame host, commercial pitchman) that he actually seems confused as to what sport he is working.

• If MLB is so great, why doesn't it "transfer funds" for an inexpensive instructional audio tape giving a synopsis of each player to the incompetent TV guys?

During the fifth inning of Tigers-Yankees ALDS Game No. 1 Tuesday night, up popped a promo for today's Cowboys-Eagles game. When he finished reading it, Buck, prompted by Tim McCarver (Buck may have mistaken T-Mac for Terry Bradshaw), began rapping about Fox's football pregame show before analyzing other NFL East matchups.

About those mistakes. ESPN's Jon Miller had one Thursday (Tigers-Yankees ALDS Game No. 2) in the third inning. Sean Casey hit a grounder to the right side which Miller described: "(Derek) Jeter, far afield to get that one over to (Mike) Mussina covering (first base)." Jeter can cover plenty of ground, but even he could not cover that much ground. It was first baseman Gary Sheffield who went "far afield."

• Then there was Gary Thorne who made his share of boo-boos on ESPN during Dodgers-Mets NLDS Game No. 1. As pointed out by the Molecular Sherri Shapiro, Thorne seemed to think he was working an American League game. He said Jose Valentin was the Mets "number nine" hitter. Then, with Valentin leading off an inning, Thorne said the Mets were sending their "nine, one, and two hitters" to the plate.

There could be a valid reason for this epidemic of botchitis. These network play-by-play voices are so busy reading promos, sending it back to the studio, pointing out celebrities, interviewing actors - while always trying to be witty - they are easily distracted and lose focus.

• Whatever happened to just calling a baseball game?"

From NY Daily News column by Bob Raissman, Oct. 8, 2006 Solution: Do not patronize any advertiser of ESPN or Fox.

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