I didn't watch the Padres game last night, instead I had it on the radio while I cleaned and did laundry. The game was apparently simulcast on both ESPN and Fox Sports San Diego, so viewers had a choice of which broadcaster team they wanted to watch.
Everything I read on Twitter said that ESPN's coverage was the worst they'd ever seen. With that said, it's not surprising that FSSD absolutely destroyed ESPN in last night's ratings locally. FSSD scored 4.23 households and ESPN .76 HH.
As an aside FSSD says that their ratings are up 24% over the last year. August was also their highest rated month ever with an average of 3.59 HH tuning in. That's a 7% increase over the previous high of 3.35 HH in June 2013.
For a time I was trying to keep track of the Top 10 most highly rated Padres games but it's been impossible to keep up this season. When last I checked only 8 games on my Top 10 had over a 4.0 rating. This season alone they've scored 25 games above that benchmark, 17 more than last year.
Here's some of the disparaging tweets aimed at ESPN during last night's game:
ESPN is utilizing a reporter (Pedro Gomez) and a studio analyst (Mark Mulder) for Padres vs. Dbacks announcing. Not sure that was a wise....
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 4, 2014If a blind person was watching this Padres and Diamondbacks game on ESPN, they'd have no idea the count, the inning, or the SCORE.
— Mike Buzz-saw Asti (@MikeAsti11) September 4, 2014The announcing on this @espn@Padres / @Dbacks game is horrible, sounds like high school football , amateur announcing.
— JJ (@ISavedChristmas) September 4, 2014espn is so bored with this padres/dbacks game they're talking to james shields on the phone
— Janiece (@feelingamazing) September 4, 2014I’ve watched a couple innings of both, and the @FOXSportsSD broadcast of this #Padres game is much better than ESPN.
— Brady Phelps (@LobShots) September 4, 2014Who's broadcasting on ESPN right now during this @Padres game? I'm falling asleep.
— Steven Woods (@thestevenwoods) September 4, 2014ESPN couldn’t care less about the #Padres game they’re airing. SD gets a hit & here’s Larkin’s Wild Card predictions pic.twitter.com/aN4t6wMZsO
— Brady Phelps (@LobShots) September 4, 2014Wow, watching #Padres ESPN broadcast while on the road. These announcers are bad... Missing me some @Mudcat55 et all
— Ken Farmer (@kfarmer4444) September 4, 2014@gaslampball this espn broadcast is an all timer when it comes to horrible horrible commentary
— Harrison Montague (@harrisonmontagu) September 4, 2014