The bases are loaded, the count is 3-2, and the announcer says "What he needs here is a strike-out!" -- This from the department of baseball duh.
I love when teams that haven't been hitting finally start to get a few hits, and the announcer says, "The Giants have found their bats!" Makes me laugh every time.
When the announcers talk about an old player or recently deceased announcer, suddenly they sound high-toned -- or try to. Their entire way of speaking changes and we're treated to sentences like: "Just a superb gentleman, one of the finest I've ever been associated with." Indeed. Now, let's get back to the game.
Speaking of trying to sound high-toned (and coming off sounding ridiculous), I saw a graphic where they printed the question of the day: "Off of whom did --- hit nine grand slams?" I love "off of whom". I really do. They aimed for high-falutin' and failed miserably.
Lately, White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson has taken to saying "Mercy! You've gotta be bleepin' me!" There's a reason he's my favorite announcer.
They just go wild over pitchers, don't they? Pitcher talk is almost sexual: "You can't make a much better pitch than that one, with that kind of stuff on it, and in that location." They're truly roused by pitchers. (This is reminiscent of when announcers rave over a batter's "sweet swing".)
When a guy needed to throw a ball to a baseman quickly but threw it in a high, lazy arc instead, the announcer said, "It had a little too much air under it." Nice. Another way I've heard this said is "he threw a rainbow in." A little off the beaten path, but I like it.
There's an odd phrase I often hear the announcers use. If, for instance, it seems that the opposing team, leading 3-2 in the 8th inning, is about to make it a 7-2 game, the announcers may say, "You don't want them puttin' a crooked number up there." I like that. Unbalanced = crooked.
Okay, one more. When a pitcher was throwing easy-to-hit pitches I heard Keith Hernandez say the guy was "throwing a lot of fat pitches". I find that interesting because I think it means that's how the batter actually sees it. It's as if the ball is literally larger. When the pitcher continued this behavior, Keith said in an exasperated voice: "He's throwin' grapefruits up there!" Made me laugh.
Okay, that's it from the magic land of baseball talk. Heard any good phrases in a game lately?
