NESN Struck Gold with Remy and Eckersley in the Booth

On Friday night, the Red Sox welcomed back Jerry Remy into the booth for the first time since he left on June 12^th to have surgery and chemotherapy treatment for his cancer.

What a sight it was to have Remy back in the booth. Interestingly, Remy was joined alongside Dave O’Brien and Dennis Eckersley for a three-man crew.

It is hard to remember if NESN has ever done a three-man crew. For a few innings here and there, sports writers will join the booth to offer their analysis. However, for a full game, they normally have only one color analyst.

It was a great success.

For the first time since Don Orsillo left, the NESN broadcast was actually fun and entertaining to listen to. For the first time in a long time, I felt myself smiling and laughing during a broadcast.

O’Brien brilliantly kept himself out of the broadcast all weekend, while he let Eck and Remy talk about their playing days.

We all know Eck has a great personality and is a fun guy to listen to in the booth. He does not need a play-by-play broadcaster to pull out his personality.

Remy does.

This is the problem with the new NESN broadcast since Orsillo left. Dave O’Brien just isn’t great at getting the most out of Jerry Remy.

O'Brien is simply a boring guy. This is a problem when he works with Remy because Remy can also be dull if he is not with the right broadcast partner.

However, this weekend, Eck was able to pull out Remy’s personality, just like Orsillo did back in the day.

And boy, was it a joy listen to.

The NESN broadcasts have simply not been the same since NESN irrationally replaced beloved play-by-play broadcaster Don Orsillo with Dave O’Brien.

Not only was Orsillo great at the play-by-play, but he had a special personality that made a baseball game fun to listen to for all nine innings. He was able to make Jerry Remy, a quieter person with not much personality into someone who was hilarious.

Everyone knows about the great moments between Orsillo and the Rem Dog. Whether it was the pizza throw or the normal banter about Jerry’s boring lifestyle, once Orsillo or Remy started laughing, it made you in the audience laugh as well.

How often can you say that you laugh by yourself during a baseball broadcast?

Rarely.

Don’t get me wrong.  O’Brien is a very solid, professional broadcaster. He calls a good game, provides good analysis, and has a good understanding of baseball.

He also seems like a genuinely nice person and has done a remarkable job working with a number of different mediocre analysts.

Since Jerry Remy left the booth, NESN has been throwing different darts at the dartboard with the color analyst position, and have been waiting to see which one will stick.

One has yet to stick.

The normal backups for Remy are Dennis Eckersley, who everyone loves, and Steve Lyons. Lyons had a domestic violence issue and is no longer available to be in the booth.

Therefore, the only main backup is Dennis Eckersley, who does not broadcast every game.

NESN decided to throw any former Red Sox player into the booth, no matter how obscure the player. These include Jonny Gomes, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Todd Walker, and, wait for it, Lenny Dinardo.

Yes, you heard that right. Only the true Sox fans remember the mediocre relief pitcher Lenny Dinardo.

In fairness to all of these former players, they all did a decent job for a first timer in the booth. However, nobody did an exceptional job.

The most entertaining of them was obviously Jonny Gomes. But his somewhat odd and funny expressions very quickly became quite annoying.

Lenny Dinardo was probably the best commentator of them all. However, he lacked the personality to make a 9-inning baseball game fun.

But on Friday night, NESN struck gold and hit the bullseye with O'Brien, Eck, and Remy. If they want people to finally forget about Orsillo, they should keep these three men together.