Courtesy the Boston Globe

(August 6, 2010) Lou Merloni continues to prove as versatile in his second career as he was in his first, filling in ably for Jon Rish alongside Joe Castiglione during the radio broadcast of Wednesday night’s Red Sox-Indians game. (Dave O’Brien, Castiglione’s usual partner, was in Detroit for his weekly “Wednesday Night Baseball’’ duties for ESPN, and Rish, the usual pinch hitter, was absent because of a family matter.)

Merloni, the former Red Sox utilityman who was making his debut as a color analyst on a major league game, acquitted himself well, sharing his insights and opinions with an uncommonly casual candor for an ex-player and providing fresh anecdotes about his own career when prodded by Castiglione. Who knew he had once beaten out Bill Mueller for the Cape League batting title?

While the fast-talking, well-prepared Merloni was at times too wordy, he has proven a remarkably quick study in the various aspects of his burgeoning media career, and he will undoubtedly learn to pick his spots more with experience. In baseball parlance, his debut was at least a stand-up double.

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