While listening to the Sox drop another Spring Training game today, this time to the Arizona Diamondbacks, I heard for the first time Chris Singleton's attempt to handle an inning lone wolf. He's not entirely by himself because Ed Farmer is supplying the training wheels, but it's clearly the goal for Singleton to fill as much of the air time as possible now while still providing an accurate account of the game to listeners.
I'd call it a decent first attempt.
Farmer's goal is to have Singleton ready to call an inning regularly All-Star break, and he's still a ways away from that, but he's giant steps ahead of Darrin Jackson during his first year on the job.
He'll obviously get smoother once he gets used to balancing what he can say in between batters with game action, so there's no point in delving too much into that. My biggest beef is that he doesn't speak with enough air. Singleton's voice often creaked, like he was speaking on the phone late at night (not that I'd know) instead of broadcasting into homes across America. Having tried my hand at broadcasting football before, that's easy to do, especially when you're not sure about what you're saying. It's natural to want to avoid amplifying mistakes, lest you sound like a moron. That's why I turned to writing.
Farmer didn't have to correct Singleton, though -- he just supplemented his broadcast with a few facts, such as the score, runners on base and the like. We even got to hear Singleton try his hand at a home run call on Chris Widger's sixth-inning shot. I don't remember exactly what it was, but that's probably a good sign, because it was by the book. It was something like, "...and this ball is gone, a home run for Chris Widger!"
Of course, Farmer then had to say it was a two-run shot after Singleton failed to mention that, and instead of saying the score, Singleton said "The Sox are within six," which sounded awkward and sarcastic, though I don't think that was his intent.
Though it came out clumsy, at least he tried calling it straight instead of dressing it up. Let's not forget DJ's infamous home run call of "Uh oh!" said in a voice a mother uses when she finds out her baby made dookers.