Courtesy St. Louis Post Dispatch

(April 30, 2010) Fox Sports Midwest's handling of the play in which the Cardinals' Albert Pujols' was thrown out at second base Monday has created a lot of buzz on talk radio and internet sites, with many comments suggesting FSM was trying to cover-up possible lollygagging on the basepaths by the team's top player.

Pujols hit a ball to deep left field that went off the wall and he was caught at second base, ending the first inning. FSM analyst Al Hrabosky said Pujols thought it was a home run. Although he never said Pujols didn't hustle, some viewers evidently perceived it that way. Fueling the fire for them was that although FSM provided a replay of his last few steps to second base, it didn't show one of his trip from the time he left the box until he was tagged out.

Tom Mee, longtime director of Cards locally-produced telecasts, bristles at that cover-up notion.

"Nothing could be farther from the truth, and it insults me that people would think that,'' he said. "I respect the game too much. Our responsibility in the truck is to respect the game. That's something we take pride in. Anybody who thinks differently doesn't know what they're talking about.''

Mee, who has worked on Cards telecasts since 1988, has worked on more than 2,000 baseball telecasts and has written a book on the nuts and bolts of televising the sport, said he never has been told by anyone to try to keep any player from being seen in an unfavorable light.

"There is absolutely no way that we would not show something to try to protect anybody,'' he said. "It would affect the integrity'' of the game and telecast.

Play-by-play announcer Dan McLaughlin said there wasn't any off-air talk about the matter.

"There was no intent not to show whether he was running out of the box,'' he said. "We went to break like normal (after) he got thrown out and we moved on.''

The situation probably wouldn't have created as much talk had it not come just two weeks after FSM failed to show Mark McGwire's introduction at Busch Stadium on opening day. Many viewers wanted to see how he was received in his first appearance before the home crowd since admitting he took performance-enhancing substances.

An interview with the Cards' Joe Mather aired instead, and FSM officials said there was no intent to cover up in case McGwire was booed, that the Mather piece had been prearranged and because the ceremonies were running late it aired when McGwire was introduced. They said such things are one of the perils of the hectic nature of live TV.

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