SI

It Was One Memorable Call After Another in a Wild Yankees-Guardians Game

Brian Anderson, Tom Hamilton and John Sterling each came through with their broadcasts in thrilling playoff game.

Jimmy Traina

Guardians outfielder Jhonkensy Noel gave the Guardians some life in their series with the Yankees.
Guardians outfielder Jhonkensy Noel gave the Guardians some life in their series with the Yankees. / David Dermer-Imagn Images

1. The late innings of Thursday’s Yankees-Guardians game featured four home runs. Two were game-tying shots, the other two were go-ahead homers, including a game-winner.

Brian Anderson, on the mic for TBS, delivered in a major way. So did Tom Hamilton, calling the game on Guardians radio, and Yankees radio voice John Sterling.

However, the best call of the entire night might have been the one from Cleveland’s Spanish radio crew on Jhonkensy Noel’s game-tying two-run blast in the bottom of the ninth.

Hamilton's call of Noel’s bomb was just pure madness.

Anderson also had an A+ call of Noel’s clutch homer.

Before Noel tied the game, it was Giancarlo Stanton who gave the Yankees a 4–3 lead after a two-run game-tying homer by Aaron Judge. That gave us a vintage Sterling performance.

However, Stanton’s homer ended up being for naught after Noel tied the game in the ninth and David Fry won it in the 10th.

Again, Hamilton was just pure pandemonium.

Meanhwhile Anderson had another great call on Fry's game-winner.

No sport can touch baseball when it comes to dramatic moments that lead to memorable calls. There is downtime in the action, which adds to the buildup. Then you have the pitch and the swing. Then you have those one or two seconds where you’re waiting to see where the ball lands. And during those few seconds, which actually seem like an eternity, the baseball broadcaster has a chance to make magic.

The play-by-play callers across the board did that in Game 3 of the ALCS. Well done.

2. Quick update for those of you who read yesterday’s Traina Thoughts and my … thoughts … on Fox sticking the NLCS on FS1.

On Wednesday, the Mets-Dodgers game on FS1 drew 6.2 million viewers.

The Masked Singer on Fox drew 2.8 million viewers.

3. So, Fox wouldn’t let Tom Brady call one of the Christmas Day Netflix games, but is letting Greg Olsen work one of them? Weird.

Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reports that Ian Eagle, Nate Burleson and J.J. Watt will call the Steelers-Chiefs game at 1 p.m. on Dec. 25.

Noah Eagle and Olsen will be in the booth for the Ravens-Texans game at 4:30 p.m.

4. A tremendous over/under reference by Al Michaels on Amazon last night when the Saints scored a garbage time touchdown with 1:25 to make the game 33–10. The total was 37.5.

5. Speaking of sports betting, good nugget here for any of you who plan to dip into the FSU-Duke game.

6. This week’s SI Media Podcast is an all–Traina Thoughts, all-Mailbag edition with Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY.

Among the questions and topics: How will Tom Brady be affected as a broadcaster by the new restrictions put on him once he became a part-owner of the Raiders? Are Joe Buck and Troy Aikman ESPN’s biggest win over the past five years? Will Bob Costas ever call postseason baseball again? What changes should Major League Baseball make to the way the sport is broadcasted during the playoffs? The problem with the WNBA’s schedule during the Finals. Which games should the NFL and NBC consider flexing out of Sunday Night Football? Where does Bobby “The Brain” Heenan rank among the greatest analysts in sports history?

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Today marks the 40th anniversary of The Cosby Show’s Gordon Gartrelle episode. If you’re old like me, this was peak TV as a kid in the ‘80s.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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