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Morandini is best choice for Phillies booth

Comcast SportsNet swung and missed last year in its first attempt to reconfigure its booth for Phillies telecasts. After clumsily disposing of Chris Wheeler and Gary Matthews, the suits at Comcast decided upon Jamie Moyer and Matt Stairs, two members of the 2008 World Series championship team, as their replacements.

Comcast SportsNet swung and missed last year in its first attempt to reconfigure its booth for Phillies telecasts. After clumsily disposing of Chris Wheeler and Gary Matthews, the suits at Comcast decided upon Jamie Moyer and Matt Stairs, two members of the 2008 World Series championship team, as their replacements.

Brian Monihan, the Comcast SportsNet president, never provided a public explanation as to why he thought the change needed to be made, but he did say, "I hope these guys have very long careers and are successful together." The 2014 Phillies season seemed as if it took an eternity to complete, but it is impossible to categorize Stairs and Moyer as having spent "very long careers . . . together" and it definitely was not a "successful" pairing.

Moyer, despite signing a two-year contract, was one and done, citing a desire to spend more time with his family on the West Coast as his reason for exiting. Like the Phillies, Comcast needs to do better than it did in 2014. The only thing that really worked last season was having Mike Schmidt on board for the 13 Sunday telecasts at home. It was good to hear his opinions about the Phillies and baseball last season. They also were the most pointed ones coming from the booth.

Little else, however, went well for Comcast in its first season of control. After committing $2.5 billion for Phillies TV rights through the year 2040, the company watched Phillies ratings continue to plummet. That, of course, had little to do with who was calling the games and everything to do with how the game was being played on the field.

Still, fans connect with the announcers even in the worst of times. That's how Harry and Whitey became legends around here. That's why Jerry from Queens was so upset recently when SNY in New York announced that former pitcher Bobby Ojeda would not return as the Mets' pregame and postgame studio analyst in 2015. Jerry from Queens also goes by the name Seinfeld and he tweeted this when the news about Ojeda broke: "I'm insanely furious!!!!!!!!!"

Complaints about play-by-play man Tom McCarthy are frequent, but he has had the unenviable task of following Kalas into the booth. He is a consummate professional who loves the game and the job.

Perhaps Comcast's most ill-conceived vision about its Phillies telecasts last season was the idea of a rotating team. One series it would be McCarthy with Stairs, another it would be McCarthy with Moyer, and occasionally they'd all be in the booth together.

The Phillies used to make the same mistake by rotating guys from TV to the radio booth. Other teams do it, too. It's a bad idea. Consistency counts for a lot in the booth and the telecasts lacked it last season.

Stairs had an inauspicious debut, but he should be better in his second season. He has great baseball knowledge and a terrific sense of humor that should surface more in 2015. As a Canadian citizen who likes to return to his native country when he can, it's fair to wonder how long he'll want to stick around here.

Longevity is the quality that allows broadcasters to become beloved. It's why Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen have developed such a passionate following as the Phillies' radio broadcasters. You have to also be good, of course, and those two are great together.

That's what Comcast needs in the television booth.

MLB.com's Todd Zolecki reported recently that the two finalists to replace Moyer are former big-league catcher Ben Davis and former Phillies shortstop Kevin Stocker, a member of the 1993 team that won the National League pennant.

Not sure how either one would do as an in-game analyst, but the view from here is that two other guys - Mickey Morandini and Ricky Bottalico - would be better fits. Bottalico, like Davis, has been a Comcast pregame and postgame analyst. Of the two, Bottalico has had the stronger opinions and he obviously has more of a connection with the organization. His opinions might be too strong for the Phillies front office. Even though Comcast has final say on the announcers now, the team's opinion likely counts.

Morandini, who is about to start his second season as a coach at triple-A Lehigh Valley after spending three years as a manager in the Phillies' minor-league system, is the best man for the job. His agent, Rex Gary, said Morandini interviewed for the Comcast job for the second straight year.

"I was told he was fine last year [in auditions] and really good this year," Gary said.

At a time when the Phillies are rebuilding, Morandini would offer the most substance in the booth. He knows the guys whom the Phillies will be trying to build around and has more connections with the coaching staff and manager Ryne Sandberg than anyone else.

He also is a Midwesterner who has fallen in love with Philadelphia, which is exactly what Harry and Whitey were. If Morandini doesn't get the Comcast job, he will likely become a big-league coach with the Phillies one of these days. It would be even better to hear him in the booth for the next couple of decades.

@brookob