A Rant About Joe Castiglione And Announcers In General

Longtime Red Sox radio play-by-play man Joe Castiglione has an on-going problem calling pitches from the booth above home plate.

In the top of the first on Wednesday night, Rick Porcello threw a called strike right down the middle to Justin Smoak of the Blue Jays. Castiglione said it "was low for a ball", getting both the location and the umpire's call wrong.

In the bottom of the second, Marco Estrada's first pitch to Xander Bogaerts was on the outside corner for a strike. Castiglione said it was "right down the middle". Estrada's first pitch to the next batter (Dustin Pedroia) was in the exact same spot. This time, Castiglione got the location correct.

I've always assumed that Castiglione and Tim Neverett have at least one monitor, because they talk about seeing replays on TV and they frequently quote factoids that NESN puts on the screen as if they came up with them themselves. So how hard would it be to also look at the monitor to see where the pitch was actually thrown? Isn't giving an accurate description of the game supposed to be a priority? Castiglione routinely calls high pitches low, and low pitches high. Inside pitches are sometimes deemed to be outside, and vice versa.

This is far from an isolated problem. I have noticed it throughout this season.

I noted numerous mistakes that Castiglione made on August 28, including claiming that an outfield catch on Rafael Devers's line drive "saved a run" even though Devers was leading off the inning.

Three days later, against the Yankees, Devers struck out swinging on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded to end the first inning. Castiglione told listeners that Devers had swung at ball four, but that was completely untrue. The pitch was in the strike zone; after the game, I posted a picture from Brooks Baseball. When Castiglione came back from commercial in the bottom of the first, he repeated the incorrect information. And when Devers walked later in the game, he brought it up again, misinforming fans a third time.

On September 9, Eduardo Nunez injured his right knee when it slammed into the ground during a headfirst slide into second base. For several innings (at least), Castiglione and Neverett were convinced that Nunez was hurt (and later left the game) because he had been spiked in the chest by the Tampa Bay infielder covering the bag.

(Note: NESN's Dave O'Brien also gives incorrect information. There was one instance earlier this year where he kept repeating the wrong information for three days in a row. Part of my brain still can't believe that happened.)

I also cannot stand when Castiglione (or Neverett or O'Brien) references a company's name when calling a pitch or a hit. It's bad enough that every aspect of the game, from the national anthem to the first pitch to every call to the bullpen to out-of-town scores and everyfuckingthing else, is sponsored by someone. (A pizza company is being touted as "the official pizza of the Red Sox radio network". Seriously.) In addition to all of that (and the ads (and other shit) on the screen), we also have to endure hearing that the ball "hits up against the CVS sign" or it hits the wall "over by the W.B. Mason sign". Later, a ball is fouled "over by the State Street Pavilion" or "into the Coca-Cola seats". Other foul balls sometimes land "in the direction of the Cumberland Farms sign".

This is a serious question: Are Castiglione and Neverett contractually obligated to mention these companies? Is it part of the advertising package the corporations pay for? If it is, then that is really disgusting. If not, then knock it off and stop giving these corporations free advertising.

Radio announcers are supposed to paint a picture with their words, so the listener at home can imagine, somewhat, what is going on at the park. But if a Red Sox fan follows the team only by radio, those descriptions are completely worthless. They tell the fan absolutely nothing about where the ball was hit. If you only listen to the radio, how would you know where the "Coca-Cola seats" are? (Of course, many announcers do this. Years ago, I would get pissed at the Yankees announcers for saying a pitch was fouled off "down the line". WHICH LINE? How hard could it be to add that vital bit of information?)

It is obvious that many radio announcers call the game with the assumption that everyone is watching the game on TV. Castiglione and Neverett are certainly among them. There are many times during every game where they do not call every pitch, so the count will suddenly jump from 1-0 to 2-1 with only one pitch being mentioned. They also describe things on replays as though we are all watching the same thing. They even say things like "you can see his hand touching the bag". NO! We can't! It's fucking radio!

In 2017, everyone has devices and can follow all kinds of stuff during a game, no matter what they are doing or where they are. However, I maintain that a radio announcer should do his job with the assumption that he is broadcasting to people listening to the radio. That sounds both simple and obvious, but it's so rare as to be non-existent these days.

Back in 2009, I posted some complaints about Castiglione and Dave O'Brien (when he used to do radio). I concluded: "Some listeners may not care that much or listen that carefully. But [accuracy is] a reasonable expectation from someone whose job is describing an event that others cannot see."