Fenway and No-Hitters

Well, I'm watching the Red Sox get no-hit by John Lackey at Fenway Park, and I'm doing everything I can think of to jinx it. A few observations:

1. When did Fenway Park become a suitable park for pitchers? Fenway has always been a very good hitters park. Now, we're 5 outs away from seeing the 3rd no-hitter in Fenway within the last 5 (baseball) months. That seems pretty weird. Of course, maybe it's just a lucky convergence of the Red Sox having several good pitchers, since the last 2 no-hitters were 2 young Sox pitchers.

2. I really haven't been able to follow the game closely because I usually just have the games on in the background while I do other things. And actually, I usually have the game on mute because I cannot stand the voice of Don Orsillo, the NESN play-by-play guy. And here we come to the real point of this post.

I loathe Don Orsillo. Well, that's not exactly right. I have nothing against Don Orsillo as a human being. He seems like a nice guy. He's pretty funny. And he's actually a pretty entertaining baseball announcer.

No, I don't hate Don Orsillo. I hate Don Orsillo's voice. I'm beginning to wonder if I have a mild form of a OCD, because I find myself cringing at the voice of many, many TV or radio personalities. It's not so much what they say (though sometimes it is), but their actual diction, pronunciation, vowel emphasis, and enunciation.

The biggest thing that bothers me about Orsillo's voice is the way he pronounces the "S" sound. If it's at the end of a word, he dragssssssssss it out. But what makes it worse is that he really hitsssss it hard. He literally hisses. Even "S" sounds in the middle of words, he hisssssssessssss them out. It's extremely annoying. It's beyond annoying. It makes me want to rip his vocal cords out of his throat. It makes me want to dig out my eardrums with a dull spoon. It's roughly on the same annoying level as scraping your teeth along a chalkboard.

There are other parts of his speech that bother me. His voice rises up and down during certain segments. He doesn't pronounce some words at all. His favorite word is not one that is in any English dictionary. It's "mnehh". He uses it after he has not spoken for a few moments. If there has been silence, he will use this non-word to begin whatever sentence he follows it with. Usually something like "mneh Dustin Pedroia to lead-off the inning for the Red Sox."

So that is why I watch Red Sox games on mute now. I literally cannot stand the voice of Don Orsillo -- Dustin Pedroia breaks up the no-no!!!

While I was typing that last sentence, Peedy gets the first base knock of the evening. And then we are treated to classic Don Orsillo with this gem: "mneh, strike one to Kevin Youkilissssssss."

And then Youk knocks one into the AAA sign over the Monstah. The game is out of reach for the Sox anyway, but that's good to see. I don't think John Lackey deserves to no-hit a team as good as the Sox.

And how the hell do the Angels have the best record in the majors without a hitter OBPing over .350???? That's mind-boggling. I hate them.




Alright, thanks for letting me vent.




Edit: Yes, I am fully aware that I am probably completely neurotic for being so annoyed with a man's enunciation that I cannot listen to him speak or I get angry. Hey believe me, I wish I wasn't like this. I would give anything to be able to listen to him and not be bothered by it.