Enduring Tino

Who's the guy at ESPN that decided Tino Martinez would be a good addition to its Baseball Tonight coverage?

I know that working on TV is likely harder than I realize, and I'm sure Martinez knows much, much more about baseball than I do. And I liked the guy as a player. Players like him who just approached their jobs professionally and came up with clutch hits when needed are why I found it difficult to truly hate the Yankees during their great run over the past decade.

But the dude is just painful to watch in the studio. He comes across much as I'd expect I would, except slimmer and probably more handsome. His hair looks awkwardly styled, like it's Picture Day at school. And he's hard to understand, blurting out often inarticulate sentences, trying to form a coherent thought as he's talking.

That last problem is compounded when paired with Buster Olney (to me, the gem of ESPN's baseball coverage right now), who can be something of a motormouth while darting his hands back and forth, like someone directing a airplane on a tarmac.

When Tino takes a deep breath and relaxes enough for me to make out what he's saying, however, he offers some interesting analysis - especially in regards to the Yankees, which was rather timely last night after Hideki Matsui broke his wrist. So maybe he just needs to exhale just before the red light on the ESPN cameras go on, and will get better later in the season.

But maybe I'm being too hard on Tino. In his defense, at least he's never been as totally shit-faced incoherent (and wobbly) as Rick Sutcliffe was in the Padres' broadcast booth Wednesday night. Check out the clip at Deadspin - you can almost smell the alcohol coming off it.