Phillies announcer Larry Andersen rips everyone, including Bryce Harper
Andersen has the reputation of telling fans what’s on his mind. That didn’t change during Tuesday’s loss.
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Longtime Phillies announcer Larry Andersen has the reputation of telling fans what’s on his mind. And Tuesday night, that meant calling out everyone involved with the team, including slugger Bryce Harper.
These days, Andersen calls games on the radio only when the team is playing at Citizens Bank Park. So he was in the ballpark Tuesday night for the Phillies’ disappointing 6-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs, their sixth loss in seven games.
Harper drew Andersen’s ire in the bottom of the 6th inning after belting the ball to right field, driving in a run on an RBI double. But the Phillies star wasn’t running hard out of the batter’s box and was forced to slide into second base, barely beating the outfield throw.
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“That’s just really bad base running. I’m sorry,” Andersen said during the team’s radio broadcast. “If he runs, he goes to second standing up. And this happens over and over and over — does anyone even address that? Does a player say anything? Does Joe say anything?”
“He might be the MVP, but he is certainly not setting a very good example for young players,” Andersen continued. “That’s just terrible. I’m sorry. Lucky he was safe.”
Joe would be Phillies manager Joe Girardi, whose decisions this season have often been questioned by Anderson. In May, Andersen lit up Girardi for pulling relief pitcher Connor Brogdon in favor of Héctor Neris, who subsequently cost the team the game by giving up a two-run home run to Michael Conforto.
“I’m not second-guessing Joe Girardi. I’m first-guessing him,” Andersen said.
Despite Tuesday’s loss, the Phillies remain in the playoff hunt. They’re 4½ games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East with 18 games remaining, including a nationally televised Sunday night matchup against the New York Mets on ESPN. But Andersen isn’t exactly optimistic about the team’s chances.
“There comes a point where you’re not out of the playoff picture, but your time’s running out and it’s running out quick,” Andersen said. “No matter what happens, you’d like to see improvement, and I haven’t seen it. All across the board, all across the whole system, the whole organization.”
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Quick hits
Comedian Norm Macdonald died on Tuesday of cancer at 61. While Macdonald is probably best known for his stint as the “Weekend Update” anchor on Saturday Night Live, he was a passionate sports fan and might best be remembered for a joke he told while hosting the 1998 ESPYs that involved then-rookie cornerback Charles Woodson and O.J. Simpson.
Macdonald also once randomly showed up to a 2011 news conference to question then-Los Angeles Clippers rookie Blake Griffin. “My favorite news conference moment ever,” Griffin, now 32, wrote on Twitter Tuesday.
The NFL will make an announcement about the long-running HBO documentary series Hard Knocks during halftime of Thursday’s game between Washington and the New York Giants. It’s doubtful the NFL would preview a decision to cancel the show, so it’s possible the league is expanding it in-season.
On Tuesday, Max Kellerman’s new sports show This Just In premiered on ESPN. But at first glance, it’d be easy to confused it with the network’s Mike Greenberg-hosted morning show, Get Up!
Late night host Jimmy Kimmel revealed on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast that he was nearly fired early into his run on FOX NFL Sunday because Terry Bradshaw and the other hosts didn’t think he was funny.