The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network was already shaken up when lead play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown was removed from the booth after he made a factual statement in a pregame segment about the Orioles’ record in previous years against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Now, the booth has been reshuffled again. Color commenter and Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer has COVID and is at home.

“It’s hit me hard! With you in spirit, birdland,” he said in a tweet.

Melanie Newman, who has a split contract between radio and TV but has not been on the MASN broadcast since early June, was moved to play-by-play for Wednesday’s and Thursday’s games against the Astros. Dave Johnson filled in as color analyst for both games.

On Wednesday, Scott Garceau and Steve Melewski made up the booth for WBAL Radio. Garceau teamed with Roch Kubatko for Thursday’s game. Melewski and Kubatko are both writers for masn.com.

The crews for this weekend’s series in Seattle are not yet known, but Brown is expected to make his return. The broadcast and radio teams will travel commercially, not on the team charter.

danielle.allentuck@thebaltimorebanner.com

Danielle Allentuck

danielle.allentuck@thebaltimorebanner.com

Danielle Allentuck covers the Orioles for The Baltimore Banner. She previously reported on the Rockies for the Denver Gazette and general sports assignments for The New York Times as part of its fellowship program. A Maryland native, Danielle grew up in Montgomery County and graduated from Ithaca College. 

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