First broadcast

On the way home from Lawrence on Saturday I listened to part of a preseason game broadcast. Even though it was just Bruce Chen giving it up to the mighty Padres, it was still nice to hear. I’m looking forward to listening to more games this summer, especially now that we don’t have the TV package anymore.

And speaking of packages, I downloaded the MLB At Bat app for the iPad. It was free, so I figured I didn’t have much to lose. As usual, there’s “free” and then there’s “MLB free.” The basic app doesn’t cost anything, but if you want to do anything with it (such as listen to the radio broadcasts) you have to pay a $15 subscription fee. I’ll pass on that. Over-the-air broadcasts don’t cost anything, and once the actual season is underway all the games will be available.

Indeed, I’m actually kinda impressed by the expanding variety of ways MLB doesn’t get my money. It’s sorta sad to have that kind of relationship with a sport I love, but more and more the off-field aspects of the game reek of the “everything free in America for a small fee in America” line from West Side Story.

Good news at short

The Royals just announced that they’ve signed Alcides Escobar to a multi-year deal. Suddenly the world is a little less Yuniesky-Betancourt-y. Though I expect the scruffy aficionados in the audience may disagree, I consider him an early candidate for GOTY.

Perhaps later it will grow into a baseball tree.