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You can tell TBS game analyst Joe Simpson, who called Game 1 the Arizona Diamondbacks at Milwaukee Brewers telecast, is old school.

He prefers understatement to overstatement. He prefers making his points quietly rather than loudly. He prefers arching his eyebrow to pointing his finger when a manager makes a move he questions.

So when Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson elected to pitch to Brewers slugger Prince Fielder in the seventh, rather than walk him, Simpson didn’t shout or scold or issue storm warnings.

"Going right after Prince Fielder and frankly I’m surprised," Simpson said in an even voice when pitcher Ian Kennedy delivered a fastball to the Brewers’ first baseman. "Not too many teams will do this."

Fielder hit the next pitch for a two-run homer.

Later, when the sequence was shown in replay, Simpson said again, "I’m surprised they pitched to him."

His partner Victor Rojas mentioned Gibson’s decision to pitch to Jonathan Lucroy with Yuniesky Betancourt on third, rather than put Lucroy on and pitch to Yovani Gallardo.

"That one wasn’t as automatic to me as this one," Simpson said, referring to the decision about Fielder.

When Ryan Braun threw out runner Willie Bloomquist at home in the first, Simpson declared that Braun "has made himself into a real good outfielder," a sentiment not all Brewers observers would share.

Simpson, who has noted that Bloomquist had to freeze when Justin Upton lined to left on that play.

"Watch Bloomquist on this line drive," Simpson said during the replay. "Bloomquist the runner, had to freeze. He just stopped for a second. He had to make sure that line drive was going to go through. Because it was to leftfield and a short throw for Ryan Braun and with a good arm, he was a dead duck at the plate."

Dead duck. Yeah, that’s old school.

Other notes, takes and opinions about the broadcast day Saturday, when the Brewers and Wisconsin football were in the national sports spotlight:

After Rojas mentioned that Braun took the high road after Jose Reyes of the Mets took himself out of the last game of the season to protect his lead for best average in the NL, Simpson said: "I appreciated his professionalism on that. I for one disagreed with what Jose Reyes did, baling after his first at-bat. But Ryan Braun didn’t have a problem with it, so I guess I shouldn’t either."

It’s a best-of-five series between the Brewers and Diamondbacks, enough time for TBS studio analyst Dennis Eckersley to learn the correct way to pronounce Gallardo’s last name. He also is the first person we have heard refer to Miller Park as a planetarium. "I know home field advantage in baseball is silly, but not in Milwaukee because that place is funky, man," Eckersley said before the game. "You can’t really see all that well. It looks like a planetarium or something. I’m telling you. . . . GULL-ardo has to come up big." GUY-ardo did.

TBS studio analyst Cal Ripken Jr. noted Gallardo looking a lot like former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Dennis Martinez. Side-by-side video of the two delivering the ball was remarkably identical. Simpson made the same comparison in-game, not knowing that it was part of the pre-game.

Analyst John Hart of the MLB Network offered this assessment of the Brewers: "For me, this is a home grown ball club. Even though the trades are big and the draft doesn’t look like it’s that much, this is a ball club that has really hit on its stars. . . . . Doug Melvin is a player development and scouting guy. This club has succeeded wildly in developing its own players and being able to take players and go out and acquire quality starting pitchers."

During his hosting duties on Saturday, Matt Vasgersian of the MLB Network took an excellent little turn with an imitation of Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker. Spot on.

If you work on ESPN’s "College GameDay" set, you have to shout out your observations and analysis, because you are trying to talk over the din created by, in this case, Badgers fans, which were out in force Saturday morning for the show. When you’re shouting, coherence and nuance tend to take a beating. This circumstance does not bother Lee Corso, who embraces the theater of these moments.

The indefatigable Brent Musburger, who handled the play-by-play of the Nebraska at Wisconsin game on ABC-TV, may not have the big-game heft of Keith Jackson (who does?), but he’s close. For someone who has been around forever, he maintains his enthusiasm. Musburger, 72, is still having fun with this.

Is there a football broadcaster, college or pro, who is as good in studio as he is at games than Kirk Herbstreit? Maybe NBC’s Cris Collinsworth. It’s rare to have someone who is outstanding in both roles.

