MLB Network's broadcast of yesterday's Indians-D’Backs Spring Training game was a special “all-audio game,” with MLB Net’s Matt Vasgersian saying, "We present the game the way you’ve never seen or heard it before." Players, managers and umpires all wore mikes, and the enhanced video and audio was supposed to allow viewers the “kind of intimacy and access that really takes us inside the game.” Early in the game, the audio was often scratchy, and went in and out on occasion. Vasgersian noted, “We hope to bring you not only some of the friendly banter but some of the strategy that goes inside of a Cactus League matchup as well.” During at-bats, the broadcast featured just the audio from the miked participants and limited commentary from Vasgersian. Indians manager Manny Acta spoke with Vasgersian during the game and said the players “tend not to be themselves when they know that they’re miked up, but that’s just for the beginning of it." Acta: "Once the game gets going, they forget they have a microphone on and a lot of them have enjoyed their time.” The following are some of the highlights from the game.
- D’Backs 3B Ryan Roberts talked to Indians 3B coach Steve Smith about his new tattoo, saying, “My mom wanted me to get it on my neck, but I decided not to.”
- Umpire Gerry Davis asked another umpire if a previous out was an infield fly rule, to which the umpire said, “I don’t know.” Davis: “Good answer.”
- Davis told Smith about going to Paris in the offseason, “First time to Paris and everybody talks about how rude they’re going to be and stuff like that. I didn’t find that at all.”
- Smith said to Indians RF Shin-Soo Choo about having to duck out of the way of a line drive foul ball while he was at third base: “You almost hit me. You hit one down here at me. Why can’t they do it to you?”
- Indians CF Michael Brantley said of the Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, the D'Backs' Spring Training home: “This place is pretty sick.”
- D’Backs 2B Aaron Hill said to the Indians 1B Matt LaPorta, “You got a good young team.”
- D’Backs 1B Lyle Overbay caught a line drive and took a step to tag the bag before realizing he caught a line drive. He said, “It’s a new rule this year: If you catch it you don’t have to go and touch first. I’m like catching it and I’m like, ‘What am I doing?’” D’Backs manager Kirk Gibson: “I’ve got to get you out there more” ("Indians-D'Backs," MLB Network, 3/7).
PARTICIPANTS' THOUGHTS: MLB.com's Mark Newman wrote now everyone knows that Indians 2B Jason Kipnis "sings Adele in the field" and D'Backs RF Justin Upton has a "soprano pitch when he yells 'I got it! I got it! It got it!' to catch a shallow fly to right." Hill said, "It gives the fans an opportunity to see what goes on, how we communicate with each other. ... It's fun, I think it makes it a more personable experience for the guys. I don't like necessarily doing it during the (regular) season." Vasgersian said, "I don't know if I would say I called that game, as there was very little calling to be done. ... It was about letting people listen to what it's like out there. We had over 60 open mics out there. ... People in the (production) truck mixing the audio really worked the hardest, and did a great job." Acta said, "You can hear the ball hit the catcher's mitt. It's fun for fans at home. Too bad that a lot of stuff ... they can't hear because you have to clean it up, but it's fun. It helped me clean up my language, for sure" (MLB.com, 3/7).
