(From The USA Today -- By Michael Hiestand)
Sunday, LOU PINIELLA, BOB BRENLY and MIKE PIAZZA made baseball's playoffs -- as talkers.
Piniella and Brenly signed with FOX as game analysts, starting with LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES play. Piniella, who just finished his last season managing Tampa Bay, will join JOE BUCK and TIM McCARVER on the ALCS -- giving Piniella, an ex-New York Yankees local broadcaster, a big-time audition tape if he'd rather move to TV work than to another dugout. Brenly, an ex-FOX analyst who now works on local Chicago Cubs TV, will work with THOM BRENNAMAN and STEVE LYONS on NLCS games.
ESPN assigned New York Met Piazza to the Boston/Chicago White Sox opener Tuesday at 4 pm ET, even though he has played his 13 major league seasons in the NL. ESPN clearly didn't want to crowd its top team, JON MILLER and JOE MORGAN, with a third voice on its San Diego/St. Louis series opener Tuesday at 1 pm
FOX begins its playoff coverage Tuesday at 8 pm, having selected the New York Yankees at Los Angeles Angels. That was a no-brainer, given the series involves the biggest brand name in team sports and the nation's two biggest markets, which, together, constitute 11.7% of U.S. TV households.
As expected, FOX will use its top team -- Buck and McCarver -- on the Yankees/Angels opener. Buck, FOX's top MLB and NFL play-by-play announcer, will begin his annual NFL hiatus after working the Philadelphia Eagles/Dallas Cowboys game this Sunday; he won't return to NFL games until as late as November 6th.
He brings a keen eye to baseball, such as on FOX's Yankees/Red Sox game Saturday. Said Buck, after a close-up of author STEPHEN KING holding a book close to his face in the stands -- "Is he checking for typos?"
Wednesday, FOX is off; ESPN picks up with the Red Sox/White Sox and Yankees/Angels series, and will use DAVE O'BRIEN, STEVE PHILLIPS and ERIC KARROS on the Houston/Atlanta series opener.
FOX, ESPN and MLB lucked out with Boston making the postseason. While it seems FOX and ESPN are obsessed with the Yankees and Red Sox, those two teams deliver.
FOX's regionalized MLB coverage Saturday, led by the Yankees/Red Sox game in 72% of the USA, drew 5.4% of households in the 56 urban TV markets used in overnight ratings. That mark tied two 1998 games, involving the MARK McGWIRE/SAMMY SOSA homer chase, for FOX's highest regular-season overnight in its decade of MLB coverage.
But ESPN wasn't so lucky Sunday. It walked away without getting any tiebreaker games, which it would have aired Monday.
And the action wasn't always hot. Morgan and Miller tried to build up late-inning excitement in the Red Sox' 10-1 rout of the Yankees by noting an out would put DAVID ORTIZ under .300. But ESPN missed Ortiz drawing a walk, instead showing Morgan and Miller instead of the live action.
During the White Sox' 3-1 road win against Cleveland, which ended the Indians' playoff hopes, ESPN showed home fans leaving the stadium with an inning to go. RICK SUTCLIFFE was blunt -- "I can't believe anybody is leaving."
Hey, it was just the regular season.
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