Playoff Atmosphere?

Last night's game was great! Tight, competitive, well played. The three weird umpiring incidents just added to the drama (And for the record, Yuni did interfere with Pudge's throw, Guillen may have tagged AB the second swipe and Beltre definitely touched the bag).

But the tight competitive atmosphere was marred by the Mariners treating us to the WORST ANNOUNCER PAIRING OF ALL TIME: Ken Levine and Dave Valle. I understand that they had vacations to work around and then Sims came up sick, but surely they must have a better backup plan than this!

It was excruciating to listen to. I eventually muted it and just listened in silence. Remember the old days when you could turn on the radio and be just a hair behind? Between the satellite and the DVR you are a full two seconds behind now, so that doesn't work.

So to have any sound you had to endure Levine's akward deliveries, poorly timed jokes and Valle's absolute refusal to play along with any of it. The silences after one of Levine's jokes bombed were painful.

Valle, who grew on me a little last season was terrible too. On Sheffield's second steal, Valle said that Felix was paying no attention to him at all. Only Felix had thrown over 4 times at that point. And gone to the plate only twice. If he had thrown over 6 times, would that have qualified as paying attention? 10 times? How many does it take Val?

Anyway, where ever you are Dave Sims, get well soon!