erik lundegaard

Thursday June 14, 2012

MLB.com Gives Some Clown Answers, Bro

How many times can Major League Baseball screw things up?

This morning I wrote a post about Matt Cain's perfect game, and included a link to a post I'd written three years ago about Mark Buehrle's perfect game and DeWayne Wise's catch within that perfect game. Back then, I'd also linked to the catch, which, of course, was on MLB.com. (MLB doesn't YouTube its videos.) I'm pretty sure I linked to the specific catch, rather than the general MLB.com/videos page. I try to be specific. Especially about perfection.

Now, though, the link took me to the general MLB.com videos page. Bummer.

Ah, but MLB.com has a search function! So I searched for DeWayne Wise, who's done one super-memorable thing during his mostly late-inning, defensive-replacement career: that perfect-game catch.

Here are the titles of videos 1-12 out of the 239 videos MLB.com offered me:

  • Soriano earns the save
  • Swisher's RBI double
  • Teixeira ties it with a walk
  • Granderson's RBI groundout
  • Jeter's RBI single
  • Ludwick's two-run double
  • Costanzo's first career hit
  • Heisey's RBI double
  • Rodney earns the win
  • Granderon's 1,000th career hit
  • A-Rod's three-run blast
  • Falu's first career hit

Wise is with the Yankees now, which is why all the dull Yankees highlights, and they're sorted chronologically. So I looked for a, you know, “sort by importance” function. Maybe something that included some aspect of the search (“DeWayne Wise”) within the title.

But there isn't any “sort by importance” function. There's only this. There's only what MLB offers you. Take it or leave it.

So I left. I wound up searching via Google. And even there, because MLB.com has such SEO problems, it was like the 10th video listed. And even there, the clip offered was one comparing Wise's catch during Buehrle's perfecto with Jackson's catch during Galaragga's near perfecto.

Later, on MLB.com, I plodded through all the DeWayne Wise pages. The catch was on the 14th page listed.

Thanks, Bud.

Seriously, MLB: I'm fine with going on your site to see your videos. I don't mind the 30-second commercials to watch a 15-second clip. Much.

Just help us out with our searches. Because what you've got now? Those are some clown answers, bro.

MLB.com search function

Posted at 05:04 PM on Thursday June 14, 2012 in category Baseball  
« More Perfection   |   Home   |   Spider-Man's Uncle Ben: Yankees Fan? »
 RSS
ARCHIVES
LINKS