Tonight’s Dodger game was called by Stephen Nelson and Eric Karros, with Kirsten Watson in the dugout. Nelson is the guy who replaces Joe Davis when he gets a day off, or has other assignments for Fox. Last year that guy was Tim Neverett, who is now on the radio side.
The Dodgers have 2 main announcers and 5 color analysts on the TV side. Davis, Nelson, Karros, Hershiser, Garciaparra, Mendoza, and the D-Train. The in studio gang also includes Jerry Hairston Jr.
On the radio side, it is Charlie Steiner and Neverett as the play-by-play guys with Rick Monday, unless he has a day off as the color analyst. Personally, I would prefer Monday over Orel on the TV side, but he is ying to Steiner’s yang. And he does well with Neverett.
Spanish broadcasts feature Pepe Yñiguez, in his 27th year with the organization, Fernando, and Jose Mota who just joined the team from the Angels.
For me, and maybe it is only me, I think there are way too many fingers in the pie. Two different analysts would be plenty. Joe has Fox responsibilities as does Karros. So they could easily drop Karros from the analyst spot. Now some prefer Orel, some do not, and some despise the D-Train. I find him somewhat amusing and entertaining and I prefer him to Orel’s constant babble.
I am warming somewhat to Nelson. He is free and easy in his delivery of the game. And he also laughs at himself sometimes. He also expresses some excitement. A couple of strike calls were missed in last night’s contest and you could hear him moan.
As a TV analyst, I much prefer Nomar. He does not ramble and he gives good info without going into his career accomplishments.
I liked the broadcasts much better when it was just Vin in the booth, but he was one of a kind. As bad as he was, I liked Jerry Doggett, who like Steiner, made a ton of mistakes in pronunciation and just the players’ names.
Never was a huge Ross Porter guy, but he was around a long time. Loved it when Big D was the analyst.
So, what do you guys think? Too many options in the booth or not???????
I prefer Nomar as the professional analyst, gives great details and was a player who knows the game inside out.
Karros just doesn’t do it for me.
Monday on radio is good but does get a little long in the tooth.
I don’t mind Charlie Steiner and wish he would do more TV but that’s just me. I know he makes mistakes, but I can live with that.
Thank you for saying whay I’ve been thinking. I like the consistency of having the same announcers as much as possible. Monday and Steiner are great together, Joe and Orel were fine( no one can replace Vin). I don’t get Spectrum but what I’ve seen I like that Jerry speaks out, Nomar is solid and D Train can be entertaining.
If we can’t have Joe every night Nomar and Nelson are my choice. I’m ok with Dontrelle. Monday has the voice but he comes across as full of himself.
I’d like an explanation why Nomar isn’t in the booth more often. Does he not want to be there? I don’t care for Orel, most don’t I believe, and I feel like throwing a shoe at the tv every time one of his stupid car commercials comes on. Cal Worthington was far better. Instead of throwing peanuts put Orel on a donkey. THAT I would watch.
The broadcast can be improved.
I would like Joe Davis to be alone in the broadcast booth. I suppose that could be a strain for him so my second choice would be somebody with him that doesn’t think they are equal partners and are only there for when Joe wants to include them in conversation.
The second person in the booth, whomever it is, always talks too much, way too much. It subtracts from Joe and makes him less than what he could be.
I like Orel only because Joe seems the most comfortable with him. They come across as friends.
Mendoza seems to have been told to talk less because she has been talking less. Good for her.
These days, no team seems to have a single play by play guy in the booth. They all have sidekicks. The days of Vin, Harry Carey, Joe Buck, et-al are long gone. Davis has always seemed to me like he needs someone there to play off of. Orel is who he is, but there are times when he just prattles on and it is a distraction from what is happening on the field. Nomar is much better at just analyzing and adding to the broadcast. Vin was a gem. We will never see his like again.
No runs were scored against Stone last night in OK.
Let’s see how he does in back to back days. 😃
He got me. I was just looking for the box score.
Excellent, bring him up!!
Good idea. Nobody’s scored on him in two days.
Everyone has different opinions about announcers (except when it comes to Vinnie). Here are mine, not that anyone cares, but I like to see my words in print.
Joe – excellent
Stephen Nelson – not a bad sub at all. Have no problem with him.
Orel – babbles too much but does have some interesting knowledge to impart at times.
Nomar – my choice (and apparently others of you, as well) for permanent 2nd chair. Has excellent knowledge which he gives us without being too cute. Knows that he’s the #2 person in the booth.
Jessica – drives me crazy with her constant commenting and thinks Joe is her #2 guy. Also too much giggling. She knows her stuff and is probably a wonderful friend and mother. Just please keep her out of the broadcast booth, or help her understand what her role in the broadcast is.
Karros – the world’s leading expert on everything baseball-related (and probably all other subjects as well). I used to find him unlistenable but with some of the new people they’ve added I can at least put up with him for a few broadcasts. Maybe I’ve just gotten used to him.
D-Train – loved him as a pitcher. Loved him when he’s the guy being interviewed. Very lukewarm on him as a broadcaster.
Monday – reminds me of some profs I had in school who literally put me to sleep. Always made me want to sit in the back row. I vote no on Monday (as well as Tuesday thru Sunday).
Charlie S. – Charlie’s like the uncle that you can handle a couple of times a year at a large gathering. You just don’t want him living next door to you.
Neverett – does not annoy me at all. That makes him a positive on my scorecard, although I much prefer Joe or Stephen.
One thing that I’ve pointed out previously which is a definite negative for having multiple color commentators. They can’t listen to every game (most of these folks have other gigs as well) so they tend to repeat each other when they do get air time. D-Train informs us that Pitcher X is working on a new sweeper, etc. etc. etc.
Next night we get Jessica who tells us the same thing, not realizing that Dontrelle already fed us that info the night before.
So now you have my thoughts on Dodger broadcasters, and yes, Bums, I realize most people stopped reading before the halfway point.
I’ve always liked Neverett. He’s not annoying and focuses on the game. One thing that bugs me about Monday Steiner is that they never tell you the score. They babble and babble but you tune in and have no idea what the score is, or the inning, or the situation.
Love Orel and Joe. I’ve met Orel a couple of times and he is as nice as I always thought he would be. He was my childhood hero growing up when they won in 88.
Nomar and Jerry give a lot of good non-stat non-moneyball traditional baseball insight, and they are usually right.
Mendoza is annoying. D-train is serviceable.
No time to give you a score or inning, Scott. They’re to busy amusing each other. And that’s when Rick isn’t busy asking one of 82 questions he poses every game. Have you noticed how he doesn’t comment, he just asks questions.
“Does the batter pick up the ball better when he has an open stance?”
“Will Barnes be able to beat out a bunt if he puts it right on the third base line?”
“Have peanuts gotten too expensive?”
Watson to me is unwatchable. Although I loved Orel when he was playing, as an announcer and color man, he should learn to shut up sometimes.
I finished it.
It was better than Orel. Nomar would have said it with far fewer words. Dontrelle and Monday would have stepped out for some nachos. I can hear Jessica giggling from here. But, it was better than Orel. Thanks for that.
LSU vs Florida. Anybody got a horse in that race?
I have LSU. One of my all-time Non-USC favorite college baseball teams. With Paul Skenes (RHP) and Dylan Crews (OF) as the consensus top two players in the upcoming draft, LSU does have the horses to win it all.
Baseball has many minutes where nothing happens other than the pitcher and catcher playing catch. During those times I like the back and forth between Orel and Joe.
I don’t like the color person predicting the pitch or saying what the next pitch should be. I don’t want the color person to jump in when there is action in the game. When the game is at an exciting moment give the game some air.
You got that right. Nomar would have definitely said it with fewer words.
I may be better than Orel but he still has more consecutive scoreless innings.
Horse in that race? I’ll take Silky Sullivan, I believe he’s starting at 2nd base for LSU.
Hey STB, I read the whole thing. I like Joe, the new guy, Nelson, and even Neverett in the #1 chair. Contrary to your take on Jessica I enjoy hearing a knowledgeable female voice occasionally. Agreed, a bit too much laughter, but she compliments Davis well.
I agree on your opinion of Karros. I’m was done with D-Train last year. Orel is OK, but the stories of all the stuff he did that bent the rules and/or deceived the hitters is mostly BS. He’d never have time to throw a pitch if he did all the things he said he did. Lol. Bottom line Orel talks to much.
We all have our favorites and opinions on those that we not care for. If you ever listen to other broadcast most of the announcers are awful. Being an LA native we’ve been so fortunate to have Vinny, Chick, Jaime for so many years. The Clipper and Kings announcers were around for decades as well.
Carry on.
Thanks for reading, Ted. We are very fortunate here in L.A. We’ve had some of the all-time great announcers. Dick Enberg was another great one and I remember Bob Kelley from way back on the Rams games. He was another one. Boy, am I dating myself. Just checked and Kelley passed away in 1966. And no, he’s not related to former SC announcer Tom Kelly (only 1 “e”) who was also very good.
With regard to knowledgeable female voices, I’ve got no problem with females on broadcasts. I just have a hard time handling Jessica’s overly upbeat personality and hogging of air time. Although, now that I think of it, I’m a fan of both Lauren Shehadi and Siera Santos on the MLB network and you can’t find a more upbeat personality than Shehadi. Maybe I just don’t want that in a game broadcast.
I read it all Blue. I always read your comments. They are a good source of humor. What i can’t understand is how you left out Dick Lane, the longtime television announcer for the L.A. T-Birds.
Dick Lane was a gem, and he did the wrestling matches from the Olympic Auditorium. He also left out Chick Hearn. Absolutely the best basketball play by play guy ever. The butter is in the refrigerator.
I agree, Dick Lane was great.
He did mention Chick, right after Vin.
Yeah I saw that just now….whoops
Wil Myers released by the Reds. I would take a flyer on Wil. Good defender and a solid RH bat as opposed to all the excess lefty bats they have. Also, Bobby Dalbec of the Red Sox, who is currently at AAA, wants a trade. He plays first, third SS and the OF and has pretty good power. He is also a RH bat.
Think I saw Dalbec strikes out 41% of the time. If that’s correct, we gave enough if those already.
Angels got Eduardo Escobar from the Mets.
Anybody read Plaschke this morning? He’s calling for a vehement chorus of boos to rain on the Asstros. Hope to hear it.
I’m over it. Got other things to worry about, like the state of the world.
I think Manfred is just as deserving of the boos. He totally failed as commissioner.
One last boo for the Asstros.
A continuing chorus for Manfred.
And while I’m at it, a boo for Plaschke. Not a fan.
I don’t always agree with him, but I do on this one. They cheated, they got away with it.
Yeah, as you know, I’m concerned about the state of the world, and our contributions to it, including and maybe especially the state of Texas, but this is a baseball site so I’m going to rag on the baseball cheaters from Texas. As far as I’m concerned if they ever win again it will be too soon.
Not hearing a lot of noise, so, maybe for paying fans beating them will be enough. Maybe I’ll revisit my position if we sweep.
I actually missed one of the in studio hosts, Adrian Gonzalez.
…Also the occasional James Loney and Shawn Green. I think the diversity has come for the same reason you people dislike Orel now. It wasn’t that way 4 or 5 years ago. As some know, I am from Puerto Rico and last night game begun for me at 10:10 pm. I fell asleep in the bottom of the 7th. So you can imagine I was no fan of Vin. The same goes for Orel. I can managed then the wooper dooper and the giggles, they help me stay awake. BTW for me, Nomar for color guy.
Dump Mendoza please
Mendoza giggles too much. Like a girl in junior high school. Sha laughs and giggles at every word out of Joe’s mouth.
I hope you see this as it is more than a year since you wrote it.
I don’t like Joe Davis , the warm and fuzzy man/boy who broadcasts to an 8th grade level where everything is wonderful in Dodgerland and he never speaks negative of those who sign his paycheck. His do-good background stories are endlessly nauseating.
it’s about time to start legitimately criticizing the front office for fielding a team of unemotional superstars who consistently get outplayed by the likes of the Padres and D-back players that wear their emotions and use it to propel them to play better, sharper executed plays and pitchers that take it up a notch. But only Rick Monday will ever touch that subject.
Dodgers need emotions for the playoffs and you will not get that from Betts, Freeman, Smith or Muncy. Kershaw needs to retire before he embarrasses himself again in the playoffs, because he will. Ohtani, Teoscar,
Lux and Rojas carry this team in’24. They set the table and execute reliable defense.
There’s plenty to say but you will not hear about it from this ridiculous group of announcers and commentators.
As for who I like, well, just get rid of Orel the word salad oracle and let Roger’s replace Sunday School teacher Joe Davis and then have him there for all the games.
Saw it and approved it Dave