compare/contrast three game stories- Sun, July 13 - Baltimore 1, Boston 2

"Spring Break" by Amalie Benjamin - The Boston Globe
This was my favorite of the three game stories I read. The author used a "feature" approach, by starting off with an anecdotal lead, giving the reader an image of the train heading for the All-Star Game in New York City. The author ended the story with a quote from Sean Casey, whose slowness was analyzed in the middle of the article, about the team's overall performance.

There were other techniques that made the story seem like a "feature," like the author's personal interjections regarding fan reactions and player performance. Sentences like "It was ugly, as usual. It featured too many walks, as usual. And Matsuzaka won, as usual," made the story stand out because reading that, you would learn about that game, but also about Matsuzaka's performance in general. It gave the article a definite style, which I liked.

The second paragraph was where the author got to the score, and in turn, what place the Red Sox are in. After that, she used facts and statistics interwoven with quotes and scene-setting descriptions, like "Lulling the 37,344 at Fenway Park into a near stupor, Matsuzaka was at 76 pitches through four innings."

There was a quote from Terry Francona regarding Dice-K's inconsistency. There were also quotes from Terry Francona, David Ortiz, and Sean Casey himself, regarding Casey's slowness. The end gave figures on the bullpen's performance, a recap of the end of the game, and ended the story on a quote from Sean Casey.

I liked the "feature" approach, because it gave the article some life and personality.
I didn’t like the flow of the article, it seemed disjointed at points.


"American League Game Summary - Baltimore at Boston" - Boston Herald
This author, which is only stated as Sports Network, used a "hard news" style, cutting to the chase right in the first paragraph, with the score and the pitcher's performance.

The second paragraph told where the Red Sox are in the standings. Then there was a quote from Terry Francona, which didn't make much sense, and didn't seem to logically fit with what came before and after it.

The next four paragraphs were single sentences recapping the important plays and players of the game, followed by a quote from the Orioles manager, which broke up all the stats well. Then the author finished with a recap of the end of the game, and ended on a quote from Terry Francona.

What I liked about this one was that it really got to the point. If I needed to know right away, the score and a quick recap of the game, I'd read the first few paragraphs of this article, as opposed to the longer, more in-depth "feature" article from the Globe.
What I didn't like was that there was no flavor to this article, no voice or style whatsoever. It felt like I was basically reading a score card, but in words rather than numbers.


"Red Sox reclaim AL East lead at All-Star break" - USA Today

This AP story used a "hard news" approach. It was a lot like the Herald story, but with different quotes.

Again, the author utilized the fact that the Sox are in first at the All-Star break in the intro. The second sentence was almost identical to the Herald's, recapping the pitcher's performance and the score.

The author then went into more detail about Dice-K and Papelbon's pitching, followed by quote from Papelbon. Like the Herald article, the author talked about Matsuzaka's inconsistency and otherwise great numbers. The author used the same Terry Francona quote (or a part of it) about Dice-K that the Globe author used in her article. As well as the same quote from the Orioles manager in the Herald story.

After quotes from David Ortiz and Manny Delcarmen, were one sentence summaries about the important plays and players- just like the Herald story.

The author ended the story by stating which play won the game. What I liked about this article was the sense of trust I had in the author - random tidbits of information, like the major league record for consecutive losses on a specific day, though a bit elitist, made me think that the author really knew the game. And mentioning Pedroia's stats at the All-Star break, in relation to the franchise's record was really neat too.

What I didn't like was the abruptness of everything. Like the Herald story, it featured a "hard news" approach, but even so, I think the story could've been strung together a little more cohesively.