‘Prophetic’ Rangers Broadcaster Makes Headlines For Reverse Jinx During Athletics Game

On many occasions throughout history, baseball announcers have been chided by overly superstitious fans for jinxing the game.

There was the time when A's announcer Jenny Cavnar seemed to tempt fate by telling Rays slugger Jose Siri that it 'wasn't his night' just before Siri homered off of flamethrower Mason Miller.

Or, there was the well-timed jinx of July 25th where announcers gushed about Angels starter Jose Soriano's astonishing ability to keep the ball in the ballpark and generate ground balls, until Julio Rodriguez homered on the next pitch.

On Sunday, however, there was the rare reverse jinx: where a broadcaster correctly predicts an event in the game right before it happens.

In the fifth inning of the Rangers' 9-6 win over the Athletics, starter J.T. Ginn got set to face Josh Smith for the third time, marking his third time facing the Rangers' order. Jared Sandler, who handles the play-by-play, noted that Texas does a stellar job when facing a starter for the third time through the order.

Then, David Murphy, the color commentator, asked, "Is this like an automatic double?"