Worth watching: MLB Network steps up to the plate

Even before the airing of its first regular-season game, the MLB Network has already knocked the ball out of the park as a rookie among sports television’s major players.

The cable baseball network, which launched to a record number of about 50 million homes on Jan. 1, begins its Thursday Night Baseball telecasts tonight when the Milwaukee Brewers play the Giants in San Francisco (5 p.m. MDT). Matt Vasgersian and Joe Magrane will call the action.

That’s just a warm-up while awaiting the appearance of the network’s clean-up hitter, though. On April 16, Bob Costas returns to the baseball booth for the first time since 2000 to handle play-by-play duties at the opening of the new Yankee Stadium when New York faces the Cleveland Indians (11 a.m. MDT). Jim Kaat and Harold Reynolds will also be part of that night’s broadcasting team.

Costas and the MLB Network have made quite an impression with at least one of its Game of the Week competitors. During a conference call Tuesday with Fox announcers Joe Buck and Tim McCarver to trumpet their weekly regional telecasts that begin Saturday, Fox Sports president and executive producer Ed Goren admitted he has been watching the fledgling channel very closely.

“They’re putting out an outstanding product right now. I’ve been watching from its launch,” Goren said of the programming that has included exhibition games, World Baseball Classic coverage and a mixture of features, documentaries, classic broadcasts and MLB Tonight, a live studio show that airs at 4 p.m. MDT on Monday through Saturday during the regular season. “They’ve done a great job. As a baseball person, I think it’s a wonderful asset to the game. …

“Having Bob Costas as the face of your channel, I thought was a tremendous hire. Not an easy one because here they go sign somebody who has been at times extremely critical of the game and for that matter, in all honesty, at times disagreed with the commissioner (Bud Selig); yet they went out and hired a guy who is certainly a marquee talent. … I think that baseball lends itself to some very interesting programming almost 12 months a year and I think, if that is so, that will contribute to the success of the channel.”

Another MLB Network fan is Drew Goodman, the play-by-play voice of the Colorado Rockies on Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain.

“I love it,” he said in an interview during spring training with INDenverTimes.com. “As a baseball fan, as somebody who loves the game, you can always flip over there, and not only with their programming at night, you’re getting up-to-date information; I watched a (classic) game the other day (Tom Seaver getting his 300th win). … It takes you back. … The guy who made the final out for the Yankees was (current Rockies coach and former manager) Don Baylor. So you get to see things you may have forgotten about and it’s also, from a research standpoint, from an information standpoint, another source now for a broadcaster.”

If it’s a threat to other channels carrying a game of the week (ESPN airs baseball on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday nights; TBS on Sunday afternoons), Fox’s Goren is hiding his concerns fairly well.

“Wearing a network hat where we have Saturday broadcasts and the All-Star Game and postseason, I really do believe that the baseball channel, along with ESPN and FSN, really gives the sport greater exposure to develop personalities and sell the game,” he said. “So, in that regard, it’s a positive; there is an issue, especially in this environment, that any ad revenue that migrates to the channel, in theory, comes away from other baseball broadcasters. … But if I wore a different hat and was a cable sports executive, I might not take as diplomatic view of the channel. I think that, rightfully so, if you’re a cable sports channel, you look at the baseball network as a competitor.”

The MLB Network, which is available on many major systems including Comcast, Cox, DirecTV, Time Warner, is scheduled to air 26 live games this season. The Thursday night schedule can be found here.

WHERE ARE THE ROCKIES? At least thus far, they are difficult to to find on the national landscape. Fox has the Rockies at the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 18 (1:30 p.m. MDT) as one of three regional games but they don’t appear in upcoming schedules for ESPN, TBS and MLB.

With the offseason trade of Matt Holliday, the Rockies are flying well under the national radar. Buck and McCarver like the idea of a “Freeway Series” between the Dodgers and Angels.

“I think the Dodgers going in have to be thrilled with the way things stack up in the (National League) West with what’s going on in San Diego,” Buck said, alluding to the rebuilding Padres. “Obviously, Colorado isn’t what they were even two years ago; and then you look at Arizona. … Pitching-wise, they blow you away, rotation-wise; I think they will pose the biggest threat to the Dodgers (in the West).”

McCarver added to the L.A. hype, calling Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez, “one of the great impact players of the last 50 years and certainly one of the great right-handed hitters – one of the great hitters period – in the history of the game.”

With the Dodgers scheduled to play 28 games against NL West opponents by May 10, including six with the Rockies, Goren figured the Dodgers “could be in very good shape” by then.

Jon Miller, who teams with Joe Morgan and, starting this season, Steve Phillips on ESPN’s Sunday night telecasts, said during a recent conference call the entire division is “flawed” and the Rockies are also rebuilding.

The play-by-play announcer of the San Francisco Giants said, “It’s hard to even project where (the Rockies) are ’cause they don’t have Matt Holliday any longer; and their starting rotation is in a real state of flux; they lost (injured left-hander Jeff) Francis, who two years ago when they went to the (World) Series, he was their ace. I think that division is wide open; I think the Giants right now have the pitching and the Dodgers have the hitting and whichever one prevails in a flawed division remains to be seen.”

THE HOME TEAM: Of course, FSN is the place for Rockies coverage, with 150 regular-season games in 2009, including Friday afternoon’s home opener against the world champion Philadelphia Phillies.

Coverage begins with a 90-minute pregame show at 12:30 p.m. MDT followed by the 2 p.m. telecast from Coors Field. Goodman is in his eighth season handling play-by-play chores and will be joined again by analysts George Frazier and Jeff Huson, who will team up in a three-man booth for 20 games this season, including the Phillies series.

Despite the loss of Holliday, Goodman remains “cautiously optimistic” about the Rockies’ chances in 2009.

“I do think they’re going to score more runs than last year, even without Matt’s presence in the lineup,” he said before the season opener. “I think (first baseman Todd) Helton’s going to bounce back. … And I think from top to bottom, although they might not have the superstar that Matt was in the lineup, they have a very difficult lineup to pitch to.”

So far, so good for the prescient Goodman. The high-powered Rockies scored 20 runs in winning two out of three in the season-opening series at Arizona.

For the complete Rockies schedule, including TV information, go to coloradorockies.com

ETC.: The cable network schedule this weekend includes the Red Sox at Los Angeles Angels (Fox, 2 p.m. MDT Saturday in the Denver area), the Mets at Florida Marlins (TBS, 11 a.m. Sunday) and the Cubs at Milwaukee Brewers (ESPN, 6 p.m. Sunday). … HBO has announced the renewal for a second season of Eastbound & Down, the raunchy but hilarious series starring Danny McBride (Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express) as a former major league pitcher named Kenny Powers, who’s done in by his self-destructive behavior. Will Ferrell, who was one of the executive producers, appeared in two of the six episodes as Ashley Schaeffer, the owner of a used car dealership. See his character in a cheesy commercial at funnyordie.com. … Costas (studio host), Buck (play by play) and McCarver (sports event analyst) have been nominated in separate categories for Outstanding Sports Personality at the Sports Emmy Awards, set for April 27. ESPN led with the most overall nominations (42) followed by NBC (28), then Fox and HBO (tied with 18). See the complete list of nominees here.