Two years ago, Awful Announcing named the Phillies’ broadcast crew the 26th best in baseball. It was harsh but accurate. T-Mac was cheesier than Wayne Brady covered in fondue, Jamie Moyer was mind-numbing, and Matt Stairs was just learning what to do. But a couple of seasons in, and sans Moyer, the crew has improved, bumping them all the way up to 17th. Here’s what Awful Announcing had to say:

Two years ago, the Phillies’ new broadcast team was still getting its feet wet. Since replacing Jamie Moyer with Ben Davis, the crew has taken strides forward, and as such, their overall rating and grade both improved, nearly pushing Philadelphia into the top half after they were in the bottom five in our previous rankings. The Phillies are also our first team to break the 20% mark in A votes.

I mean, anyone looks great after the disaster that was Jamie Moyer’s commentary – like listening to your boring Uncle who is trying to win a bet by putting you to sleep – but the fact that the Phils team is nowhere near the bottom just shows how bad the state of local baseball broadcasting is. Stairs is getting better, Ben Davis is a broken record sometimes, and T-Mac is still the corniest freshly-waxed bowling ball in the business. Mike Schmidt is awful and Murph is necessary nonsense. It’s hard to imagine that there are a dozen crews that are worse, but I’m glad I don’t have to find out how true that is.

Kyle: I actually agree that they’ve improved. I don’t mind Ben or Matt, and Tom McCarthy… is growing on me in small doses. It’s like, I’ve hated him for so long that he actually has become a necessary part of my fandom.