Nothing inspires groans, curses, and aggravation from a Mets fan more than a national TV broadcast. It’s as if the baseball gods are punishing us by taking away our beloved Gary, Keith, and Ron for a night. I don’t know why these supernatural tricksters do it but it bothers us all the same.
So when I got set to turn on Thursday night’s series opener against the Cardinals on Fox (gross!) I was skeptical. What clown shoes husks of mediocrity would be ruining this game? Isn’t it bad enough that our season has gone down like a submersible on the way to the Titanic? Isn’t violent implosion enough?
So it was a wonderful surprise that the collective Apollos and Aphrodites of the ballyards gave us a reprieve from the misery on Thursday night. For they gave us Jason Benetti and John Smoltz.
Okay, I can already hear Mets fans reading this and losing their minds. “John Smoltz? Are you kidding me?!” No, I’m not. When I’m joking you’ll know it. Cause it’ll be hilarious.
Many loud Mets fans on the internet dislike Smoltz. Well, that’s not entirely true. They HATE him with the power of a wipeout Edwin Diaz slider. It’s bad enough Smoltz got the Mets out for years as a pitcher for the Braves. It’s unreasonable to have to listen to him talk about it too.
Now I’m in a very small minority when it comes to Smoltz as a game broadcaster and I’ll get to him soon. But I’d like to start by stating what should be obvious for anyone who enjoys watching the Mets or baseball itself: Jason Benetti is the absolute man.
Benetti, the regular TV play-by-play man for the Chicago White Sox, is everything good about a game broadcaster. He is composed, prepared, and engaging. His style is laid-back even when the excitement comes. Benetti not only makes the play more dynamic, he describes it with context while it’s happening.
Case in point was a double in the seventh inning by Brandon Nimmo. Benetti described the play and pointed out that Nimmo had reached base for the third time in the game all in the same sentence. It sounds easy but it’s not.
Jason Benetti also does the research. In the bottom-half of the seventh, Drew Smith came in (oh God no!) to replace Jose Quintana. The Cardinals pinch-hit Alec Burleson. Benetti said, “Smith throws a lot of fastballs and Burleson is very much a fastball hitter.”
Huh? You’re telling me a national broadcaster took the time to know the tendencies of two players down the benches of two cellar-dwelling teams in August? The man is a professional.
And his professionalism certainly doesn’t stop there. Benetti appears to enjoy correctly pronouncing a player’s name. He said Franciso’s Lindor’s name properly (LIN-dor). Then he rolled around Jonathan Arauz’s name in his mouth like a tumbler of fine scotch (ah-rah-OOZ).
Beyond that Benetti knows how to read a room. When the game looked to be slipping away from the Mets courtesy of the bullpen, he laid it plain, “This is what feels like The Neverending Story for Mets fans.” You’re damn right it does.
One more thing on Benetti and not that it matters (although it absolutely does), he has cerebral palsy. He was born prematurely with a respiratory illness that deprived his blood of oxygen. It took him years of physical therapy to improve his ability to walk. And what has he done since then?
Benetti graduated from S.I. Newhouse School of Communications with Syracuse University, an extremely well-regarded communications school, with degrees in broadcast journalism, economics, and psychology. Three degrees would be enough for most people, but not him. Benetti then went to the Wake Forest University School of Law and earned a professional degree in law.
My favorite professor in college used to say, “when I repeat something it’s because I think it’s important.” So I repeat: Jason Benetti is the absolute man.
Now we come to John Smoltz. I absolutely do not get, respect, or take seriously the anger from Mets fans at Smoltz. It’s undeserved and without merit beyond “he used to be a Brave.” Now I hate the Braves. Who wouldn’t, they’re farts. But we can’t judge a man simply for the jersey on his back but for his deeds in the world.
Smoltz is an intelligent, thoughtful, and fair broadcaster. Mets fans are always crying about an anit-Mets bias from Smoltz. Nothing can be further from the truth. Smoltz has always been complimentary and level-headed about the Mets.
I remember hearing him on The Michael Kay Show back in the glory days of 2015. While I don’t remember exactly what he said, it was in the nature of, “this could be the best pitching staff in the history of baseball.” That doesn’t sound like criticism to me.
And he didn’t dance on their graves on Thrusday night either. His comments on the current season were researched and honest. They were more in the vain of “damn, this shouldn’t have happened but it did.”
Smoltz’s analysis, especially when it comes to pitching, is always clinical. During Thursday night’s game he broke down how Adam Wainwright was using all quadrants of the strike zone. Then he went on to describe how the location of the ball out of the pitcher’s hand is perceived by the batter. This isn’t casual, uninformed analysis. He’s done it so he knows.
I don’t eat up everything John Smoltz says with a spoon. He once said that the World Series won by the Dodgers during the pandemic-shortened 60 game season was the toughest World Series to win in the game’s history. Umm no. Absolutely not. But you can’t agree with everyone all of the time, people are imperfect, and the world spins on.
Benetti and Smoltz, who I don’t believe have worked many games together, have a chemistry born of professionalism. After Pete Alonso’s home run in the fourth (my man!) Benetti said, “Watch where this pitch was.” That led Smoltz into discussing how it wasn’t a bad pitch location, but Alonso with his “Popeye forearms” got to it anyway.
Smoltz then went on to praise Alonso as a top-class home run hitter. He said, “It’s not speculation. It’s data-driven and statistically provable.” There’s that anti-Mets bias again.
Late in the game the powers that be did a smart thing: they showed a picture of our beloved Gary, Keith, and Ron in the booth with Jerry Seinfeld. Both Benetti and Smoltz spoke with reverence about our guys. Benetti said, “One of the great combinations in a broadcast booth in history.”
They sure are. But because of the fine work done by Jason Benetti, John Smoltz, and the rest of the crew at Fox Sports on Thursday night, they made the impossible happen: I didn’t miss them that much.
it’s interesting how well the folks with a smidge of journalistic integrity do their job on Fox.