On Bob Carpenter

While watching Ian Desmond's homer sail out of the park, I thought something I've been meaning to get down.

For all the bitching I've done about Bob Carpenter in the last few years, it seems like he's made a conscious effort to cut down on the number of times he anticipates plays.   I can't recall a single "How far is this one gonna go!" on a flyball that doesn't make it to the wall.  I don't really remember any "This could be two!" on a grounder that Desmond would airmail past the second-base bag.

So good on him.  The guy's always been a pro.

95% of my criticism of him (beyond those points) were style-based; and I'm not stupid enough to think that my style is everyone else's.  We can't all be like me and rock the jean shorts.

I will say this: when he was paired with Ray Knight, it wasn't half bad.  Carp and Dibble sometimes bring the worst out of each other.  But with Knight, it was two hayseeds in the booth.  And just like how when you multiply two negative numbers and get a positive one, bringing two hayseeds together with a mic somehow just sorta works.