WEEI Revolving Door Of Announcers: Josh Lewin: Ignorant And Unable To Get Facts Right

I listened to the Red Sox's radio broadcast on Saturday night. Joe Castiglione was paired with Josh Lewin, the first of his many broadcast partners this season.

Josh Lewin was horrible. He talked way too fast and made numerous factual errors. Several comments made him sound like someone who had never watched baseball before and did not understand the game. Part of this act seemed linked with a strong desire of making Red Sox fans crank up the gloom-&-doom meter before the third regular season game was even over.

Recapping the top of the first inning, Lewin said - only three batters (and fewer than 10 pitches) after it happened - that Eduardo Rodriguez "had wanted no part of Jay Bruce" and had walked the Mariners' cleanup hitter on four pitches. Lewin had clearly forgotten that Rodriguez's first pitch to Bruce was actually a strike, but plate umpire Dan Bellino did not call it.

In the top of the fourth, Dylan Moore had a long plate appearance against Rodriguez. After Moore fouled off Rodriguez's ninth pitch, Lewin said correctly that the at-bat would be going to a 10th pitch ... but then quickly checked himself and said (wrongly) that it would be going to an 11th pitch.

Lewin: 3-2 on its way. Swing, another ground ball foul. So this is going to be a 10 -- check that, an 11 pitch at-bat now. Dylan Moore. Who started last year in Biloxi, Mississippi. Double AA ball for the Brewers. And really working hard here against Eddie Rodriguez. Memorably, Alex Cora once had a 14-pitch at-bat, he homered on the 14th pitch.

Castiglione: Off Matt Clement.

Lewin: Yep. Back when he was with the Dodgers, was Alex. 3-2 pitch. Busted that, roller towards short, could be two. The flip to second, one, turned on to first, double play! It was worth the wait. 11 pitch AB and finally a splintered-bat roller
from the rookie Dylan Moore.

Alex Cora's "memorable" at-bat from 2004 lasted 18 pitches, not 14. It's a fairly well-known highlight. Castiglione knew the opposing pitcher and I'm assuming he did not want to blatantly point out Lewin's mistake on the air.

Lewin was also getting things that were happening in front of his face completely wrong. By saying again (wrongly) that the double play happened on the 11th pitch of the at-bat, Lewin committed three errors in quick succession before Moore did the same thing on the field in the ninth inning. Two batters later, the inning ended when Mitch Haniger struck out swinging. Lewin said it was a called strike three.

At another point, Lewin was speaking at length about teenage pitcher David Clyde's debut for the Rangers back in 1973. His recollections were colourful (something about Clyde making his MLB debut only six days after his high school prom), but since he got the Cora story wrong, and said other strange things, I have no idea if anything he said about Clyde was truthful. He also rattled off the names of players who had never played in the minors before making the majors, including Dave Winfield, who played his first game more than 45 years ago. Everything Lewin said was delivered with the confidence of someone describing the clothes he is wearing.

Bruce hit a three-run homer in the next inning, giving Seattle a 6-2 lead. Lewin said it "was really hard to figure" how the Mariners were scoring so many runs, since they were not expected to be a high-scoring club. I guess the idea that any team could have a three-game stretch where they did not conform to a pre-season stereotype was utterly foreign to him.

The 2018 Red Sox led the AL in runs, hits, doubles, average, on-base, and slugging, but they also had a three-game stretch (April 21-24) in which they scored only four runs and a four-game stretch ((June 8-11) with only eight runs.

The 1927 Yankees scored only five runs over three games (June 1-3). ... And the 2018 Orioles went 47-115, but somehow managed to score 46 runs on 54 hits in five games (May 10-13), 37 runs on 45 hits in three games (July 27-29), and 29 runs on 41 hits in three games (August 27-29). ... This kind of stuff happens all the time. But Lewin acted like he had no idea.

Lewin also seemed mystified at how Seattle starter Mike Leake was getting batters out since he was not throwing 95+ mph. He expressed this confusion several times. Clearly, Lewin has never heard of Greg Maddux - or even Tim Wakefield.

Lewin was often way off in describing where pitches were thrown. He told listeners that a pitch up and away, which barely edged into the strike zone, had been thrown "right down the middle". (Castiglione does this, too, with alarming frequency. A good rule of thumb: If you are listening to the radio without a TV nearby, never trust the announced location of any pitch.)

NESN also had issues because ... NESN. In the top of the first, instead of showing the batted ball or third strike, the broadcast reversed back through the at-bat's pitches. That happened for both of the first two batters. For the third batter, the screen simply went black.

And check out the strike zone graphic in the top of the sixth: