Fred Manfra Aiming For July 1 Return
Amidst his amazing call of Nelson Cruz’s home run, Joe Angel revealed that his broadcast partner Fred Manfra is targeting a return to the Orioles radio booth on July 1. Manfra underwent hip replacement surgery in April and suffered a setback in his recovery in May that required a second surgery.
“Everything’s going well,” Manfra told the Baltimore Sun’s Peter Schmuck in June. “A pin slipped, and I had a second surgery two weeks ago. Hopefully, this one will take.” The second surgery took place on May 19 to correct a displaced surgical pin in his hip.
MASN’s Jim Hunter and former Orioles starters Ben McDonald and Dave Johnson have replaced Manfra in the booth this season.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m hoping that Fred gets back to 100 percent health and recovers from what has obviously been a difficult medical procedure, but I would be lying if I said I haven’t enjoyed the O’s radio broadcasts with the above combination of talent.
When Manfra and Angel are together, they alternate the play-by-play and analyst roles. I’ve found that with Manfra out, I enjoy hearing Angel do the full nine innings and have particularly been fond of McDonald’s color commentary.
I listened to the radio during Kevin Gausman’s start in Tampa Bay on Wednesday afternoon and loved McDonald breaking down the difficulties young starters face in the big leagues. His stories blended with quick insights on small aspects of the game he picks up on makes this duo the best I’ve heard all season.
It simply can’t be replicated by two play-by-play guys.
Manfra’s absence has also allowed me to hear more of Hunter’s play-by-play, which I have always thought is better suited for the radio than on television. Hunter does a great job setting the scene on radio and I find that his personality comes out more while working with Angel than in a studio with Rick Dempsey or on television with Jim Palmer or Mike Bordick. Hunter’s baseball conversational style works well while you’re in a car or away from the visuals of the game.
Yet all the current ongoing bets or hopes that the current lineup remains are long shots. WBAL is many things and loyal is certainly one of them.
Huge World Cup Ratings in The DMV
Do you have World Cup fever? Everyone in the DMV seems to. Via the Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg:
That trend continued on Monday, when the Ghana-USA broadcast on ESPN earned an 11.8 overnight rating in the Washington market, the highest number in the country by quite a bit. New York (10.2), Hartford/New Haven (10.1), Boston (10.0) Columbus (8.9) and Baltimore (8.7) rounded out the top six.
In both Washington and Baltimore, that was the highest overnight rating ever for a World Cup group-round match, on any network.
I can understand the surge in D.C. They have a Major League Soccer franchise, it’s the capital of the U.S. and one of the world’s ultimate transplant cities. But Baltimore? I’m still trying to figure that one out. I’m a huge World Cup fan personally, but I wonder why it’s seeing such a ratings spike in Charm City. Any ideas?
MASN Picks up Three Capital Emmys
Last weekend was the Capital Emmys in Washington D.C. Here’s how our regional sports networks fared:
The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network filed 11 entries to the Capital Emmys, received eight nominations and three wins.
MASN’s biggest local competitor, Comcast SportsNet, filed 47 entries, received 12 nominations and eight wins. Monumental Sports and Entertainment, who I predict will soon be a big competitor of both, filed 13 entries, received two nominations and one win.
