Watch: ESPN mocks Red Sox pitcher, promptly gets embarrassed on national TV
A proud tradition in basketball is the “announcer jinx,” a phenomenon where as soon as a commentator says that a player is an excellent free throw shooter, the player will miss the next shot.
Thanks to ESPN, we now have the baseball equivalent.
Rick Porcello of the Red Sox, in a rare at-bat as his team played an interleague game in a National League park, stepped up to the plate Monday against Max Scherzer of the Nationals, who leads the NL in most of the advanced math-geek pitching stats.
With the bases loaded and Porcello at bat, the ESPN crew ripped Porcello’s hitting ability, giving him no chance to impact the game.
Some of the choice comments viewers heard amid the chuckling:
“You made this seem like this was a battle right here? I mean, this is unfair right now.”
“As long as you have a bat in your hand, you never know what can happen. But in this case, I think we know.”
They didn’t:
😂 Listen to ESPN crew clown Rick Porcello during his AB vs. Scherzer before Porcello surprises everyone and hits 3-run double.
(H/t @DylanDemkowicz) #RedSox pic.twitter.com/swO5gk7nEz
— Freezing Cold Takes (@OldTakesExposed) July 3, 2018
Porcello swung wildly and missed each on of his first two attempts.
But as the old song goes, it’s “one, two, three strikes you’re out at the old ballgame.”
And with an 0-2 count, Porcello got good wood on the ball and drove the ball to deep left center. Juan Soto couldn’t get back on the ball fast enough, it went over his head, and because the runners were going on contact thanks to there being two outs in the inning, all three runners scored.
ESPN’s baseball crew isn’t exactly well-regarded. They’ve come under heavy criticism for doing a lousy job calling games, and Jessica Mendoza continues to be a polarizing figure among baseball fans for her play-by-play work.
But even Red Sox manager Alex Cora joked with the crew about Porcello’s chances against Scherzer. American League pitchers, protected as they are for 95 percent of their appearances by the designated hitter, don’t get many more cuts against National League pitchers in a season than the fans in the seats do.
A pitcher hitting a bases-clearing two-out double is like found money, the sporting answer to putting on a winter coat for the first chilly night in October and finding out you left 20 bucks in the pocket on the last cold day in April.
Porcello is, for his career, now 6-of-35 (.171) hitting the baseball, which considering he’s a pitcher isn’t all that bad. The double was his first career extra-base hit; the three RBIs are the first runs he’s driven in since 2009.
And, just for kicks, he raised his OPS+ (a measure of park-adjusted overall hitting ability) to 159, where 100 is, by design, league average.
Alex Rodriguez, for his career, had an OPS+ of 140.
So take a bow, Rick Porcello. Especially since the Red Sox needed all three of those runs as they won the game 4-3.
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