Fox adds Leiter to NLCS broadcasts

Barry Jackson

 

Pitcher Al Leiter helped the Marlins win the 1997 World Series. Now, he will have a different perspective as the Marlins try to win their second championship.

 

Fox announced Monday that Leiter, now a New York Met, will join Thom Brennaman and Steve Lyons in the booth for the Marlins-Cubs National League Championship Series.

 

Leiter -- who's articulate, sharp and personable -- seems destined for a career in television when he retires. His addition was a smart move by Fox Sports president Ed Goren, who will use Seattle third baseman Bret Boone with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver on the American League Championship Series.

 

Buck and McCarver, Fox's lead team, will stick with the American League playoffs because the Yankees advanced. Had Minnesota beaten New York, Buck and McCarver likely would have called the NLCS.

 

Before adding Boone, Fox approached Tampa Bay Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella, who had a vacation scheduled, and retiring Arizona first baseman Mark Grace, who is awaiting the birth of a child.

 

''We wanted to expand the opinions in the booth,'' Fox spokesman Dan Bell said. ``Al and Bret should add a unique insight.''

 

Leiter maintains an offseason home in Weston.

 

Fox officials would like a Yankees-Cubs World Series, but even a Marlins-Yankees series would have broader national appeal than last year's Anaheim-San Francisco ratings debacle.

 

RATINGS RISING

 

The Marlins-Giants division series averaged a strong 16.0 local television rating, factoring in the broadcasts on Channel 7 and ESPN/ESPN2. One local ratings point equals nearly 15,500 homes.

 

Games 3 and 4 each produced an 18.1 rating in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market, topping Channel 4's 17.7 local rating for Sunday's Dolphins-Giants game. Game 1 of the Marlins-Giants series generated a 13.7 rating, and Game 2 finished with a 14.2.

 

NOTABLE

 

? Playoff ratings also have been strong nationally. Sunday night's Game 5 of the Atlanta-Chicago series had a 12.0 overnight rating, the highest for a division series game since the playoffs were expanded in 1995. An overnight rating covers 55 metered markets.

 

? To avoid carrying a typically low-rated Wednesday afternoon game, Fox again has scheduled Game 2 of the National League series and Game 1 of the American League series at the same time (8 p.m. Wednesday). In South Florida, Channels 7 and 29 will air Marlins-Cubs and Fox Sports Net will carry the American League game.

 

All other league championship series games will air nationally on Fox.

 

? Smart move by the Marlins to incorporate television announcers Len Kasper and Tommy Hutton into WQAM's radio broadcasts.

I look forward to hearing Leiter. Good guy.

 

I agree with his opinion about the WQAM broadcasts, using Len and Tommy in the booths along with Dave & Boog.

Good ol' Al coming to help us out

Fox and their damn infatuation with the Yankees.

Mr. Leiter will be great to see/hear tonight.

Thom Brennaman and Steve Lyons have actually been speaking highly of the Marlins, they have ben stating that over the last 4 months of the regular season no team had a better record...

 

Adding Leiter is probably a stunt to get some NY interest in the "other" playoff series...

i love Al

Thom is good, but I was talking about the FOX coverage balancing out the newspaper and online junk.

 

Thom and Leiter are good, but Steve, is just Steve, Psycho.

Too bad they couldn't get Grace. He's a former Flub, yes, but he hates them now. And he's probably the funniest guy in all of MLB!

I am talking about how the Yankees always get prefrential treatment by Fox.

And he's probably the funniest guy in all of MLB!

Grace (with a wine cork glued to the end of his bat): I didn't know my bat was corked! I swear it!

 

:lol

I love Gracey, met him once when he was playing the Marlins when he was with the Slubs and he was really nice.

 

Met him later when he was with Arizona and he said it was nice to be free of the "Friendly Confines."

Gracey is classic.

 

 

I have always enjoyed watching him play, even when he was a member of the Fuzzy Cubbies.

to think the Cubs at one time had Rafael Palmeiro AND Mark Grace, now they have Randall Simon AND Erick Karros...

grace made the cubs watchable for me. Thank god we didn't get WGN in Miami. (WBZL local WB station fought WGN being added until WGN bought them, but by then the local cable companies had all added WTBS, WPIX, and KTVT and WWOR and met the limit for superstations on a single cable system.)

to think the Cubs at one time had Rafael Palmeiro AND Mark Grace, now they have Randall Simon AND Erick Karros...

:lol

 

Wasn't Maddux on that team, too?

It should be noted that Brennaman used to be a Cubs announcer before he went to the Diamondbacks. Lyons, aka "Psycho," spent a number of years with the White Sox and was most famous for taking his pants off at first base in Detroit. He also had a spring training stint with the Cubs.

all i know is they havent been hating on the Marlins like alot of people have...

Thom has a big dislike for the Cubs on the air. Lyons is just Lyons. Leiter is going to try and not talk too much in favor of anyone unless something happens.

 

I think FOX has done us a favor, they saved the "B" team for the NLCS and saved our ears from Buck and McCarver for one more round. I find Buck and McCarver to be annoying, like the Mets or the Cardinals.

seeing psycho pulling down his pants was classic.

 

 

 

there was one guy on a follies video with this white sox player teaching the people how to wear a uniform.

 

 

it was one of the 10 million uniforms the sox wore in the 80s. I think it was the one with the number on the leg?

I just hope tomorrow night I dont get the Red Sox/Yankees over the Marlins/Cubs. You never know living in Tallahassee...

 

My question is, why would MLB have both games going at the same time? Seems kind of lame...unless I am mistaken?

Tomorrow night, both games will be broadcast nationally with one game being on FOX and the other being on a FOX cable network (I think FX, but Ive also seen where its listed Fox Sports Net, so Im not sure), depending on which is the "main" game in your area.