It was a rough home opener for the Jupiter Hammerheads, the Miami Marlins’ Single-A affiliate.
That much was evident in Brennan Erlandsen’s call of the top of the fourth inning.
As the Hammerheads walked yet another member of the Dunedin Blue Jays, Jupiter’s play-by-play voice made note of the trouble the home team was having throwing strikes. At that point, the score was 15-2 with the bases loaded and no outs in what would ultimately be a 19-5 victory for the Toronto affiliate.
“This is only my fifth season. I’ve been in baseball a little under a decade because of my college days — I’ve never written so many RBI walks in a book before,” Erlandsen said. “Listen, I know that I’m supposed to be optimistic about our team here, but I mean, come on guys. Like I could go out there. Let me loosen up my shoulder, I’ll go help things out. Because you gotta put it over the plate. You gotta give your defense a shot. You’ve not been given a shot all game.”
Later in the game, Erlandsen joked that he and analyst Ian Behnke were broadcasting for “maybe two people.” Those two people, however, would witness history in the top of the seventh inning, as the Hammerheads tallied their record-breaking 22nd walk.
“This has been a night,” Behnke said. “I can’t say it’s been any night — it’s just been a night.”
“It’s one of the nights of all time,” Erlandsen replied. “That’s for sure.”
“It’s a historical night,” Behnke added.
“It’s one of the nights of all time. This is a night in history,” Erlandsen continued. “I hope it never comes back.”
While even the announcers acknowledged they were likely being harsher on the home team than their bosses would have preferred, the reality is there is only so much of a positive spin that you can put on such a historically bad performance. If nothing else, the viral nature of their commentary ensured that more than just two people would hear their call, which should at least count for something in the world of minor league baseball.