Courtesy New York Daily News

(August 2, 2010) It's Thursday morning, 10:30 a.m., and Gregg Picker, the producer of SNY's Mets broadcasts, can't help apologizing. The Score is with him just outside Citi Field to spend a day with the production crew.

But Picker feels bad. Really.

"This isn't a normal day," he says, citing the early noon start of the day's Mets-Cardinals showdown.

Not that The Score minds. We're getting a look at something few see. Viewers know SNY personalities such as Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, Keith Hernandez and Kevin Burkhardt. But few know the crew that resides in the cramped, dimly lit trailer, the core that guides SNY's on-air talent through every broadcast.

Until today, when The Score takes you behind the scenes and into the truck of a Mets broadcast.
11 a.m.

Picker gives us a quick trailer tour, and this is no Winnebago. It's divided into three sections, a video room headed by associate producer Dan Barr, a small audio room and a larger tape room.

Picker can't chat for long; he's headed to the booth for his regular pre-game chat with Cohen and Hernandez. Picker regularly talks baseball with the play-by-play duo, talking into their headsets during the broadcast.

"I'll say something, and then I'll hear him say, 'Why?'" Hernandez says. "I play, so sometimes I don't elaborate. When he says that, I know to elaborate."

A half-hour later, it's back to the tape room for Picker, who sits alongside Emmy award-winning director Bill Webb.

A wall of screens sits before Webb, regular director of the World Series, and his eyes dart from 10 numbered screens featuring cameras positioned throughout Citi Field to eight replay screens, to one labeled "Net Returns," which shows what's currently on the air. Two screens show factoids and stats compiled by associate producer Greg Schult.

"It's not that bad," Webb says. "When I did the (2010) All-Star Game, I had 32 cameras and 25 replays."

11:59 a.m.

"Twenty seconds . . . Stand by, guys," Picker says. He counts down every commercial break. "Five, four, three, two, one."

Burkhardt takes the cue and opens from outside the stadium, his voice heard throughout the truck. Webb begins calling out the camera shots, calling each camera's number to technical director Chris Pastore, who switches screens, changing what you see at home. Picker watches Burkhardt on screen, then leans back. Good start.

12:25 p.m.

Angel Pagan reaches first on a walk. He's a threat to steal on a good base-stealing team, and Picker wants to show it.

"You have top stolen base teams?" Picker yells to Schult, who's sitting behind him.

Schult and his assistant Dave Burke punch numbers into an overgrown typewriter-like gizmo called a Chyron Duet, which connects to stat keeper Elias Sports Bureau. Information from Elias is assigned a code. After a few tries (Burke and Schult have most codes memorized, but not this one), they pull it up. The Duet automatically formats the information to look like an SNY graphic.

"It's ready," Schult says, and seconds later it's on the air.

12:58 p.m.

Ike Davis smacks a three-run homer for a 3-0 lead. Schult and Burke ponder a cool stat and look up the Mets' record when scoring first. Pastore switches between three cameras and a custom replay done by Barr's crew, then the graphic pops up.

1:25 p.m.

A triple by Pagan. Barr wants to do a highlight package of Pagan's day when the inning's over, using an LSM, a live-slow-motion machine, which Barr describes as essentially a "fancy DVR".

This is just one example of the highlights Barr can create. He has three 750GB hard drives of clips he's collected over the last few years, everything from Mets Hall of Fame induction ceremonies to video of St. Louis Cardinals great Bob Gibson courtesy of MLB, to loads of Mets tape.

"We're pretty quick," Barr says, "but I'm still figuring out the best way to organize everything."

Sometimes, it doesn't matter. After Carlos Beltran makes the third out on a close play at home, Webb asks for a clip of that. The Pagan package gets scrapped, and SNY goes to commercial with Beltran getting tagged out.

2:27 p.m.

Finally, the ninth inning has arrived. With the Mets comfortably ahead, Burke draws up the final score box to air when the game is over while Schult types up notes for next week's road trip to Atlanta.

"It's like when you're in high school and you do your first-period homework in eighth period," Burke says.

The plan works well: a half-hour later, the Mets wrap up a 4-0 win. Almost instantly, Picker rips up the day's on-air advertising notes, and Schult grabs his coat. And just like that, they're out the door.

It's been a long day.

"It was good today," Picker says. "But now, I'm ready for an evening of rest and relaxation."

But not for long, Atlanta awaits.

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