FSN Kansas City Straining to Help Tony Pena, Jr.
By CHRIS RASMUSSEN
Big Tony shows little Tony how not to hit.
It isn’t Tony Peña Jr.’s ineptitude that offends me. It is the Royals’ television broadcast team hyping his talents.
On Saturday, FSN Kansas City ran a graphic comparing his batting statistics to Frank White’s, neglecting to mention that it was a different era and that White was four years younger than Peña is today. On Sunday, FSN Kansas City’s Joel Goldberg asked Ozzie Smith on the pre-game show if he struggled at the plate like Peña when he was younger (the short answer, which Ozzie was too polite to provide: at Peña’s age, no, Ozzie Smith was much better).
Almost every game, FSN Kansas City excuses or ignores Peña’s deficiencies at the plate and exaggerates his defensive skills. At this point of the season, one has to ask:
