Baseball’s daily rhythms offer a mystical quality, different than once-a-week football, or twice-a-week basketball and hockey. Baseball is our endless companion, faithfully part of every summer day. The game’s voices echo through the hallways of our homes. Every day. The announcers — our announcers — are de facto family.

I never met Bill White or Phil Rizzuto. But they were the voices of my childhood, voices that would help us laugh the summers away, everywhere the baseball season took us. They may have been talking about cannolis, sure. But they entertained us. Keyword: entertain. This is baseball. Sports. Toy department. Not MacNeill/Lehrer.

And this is why so many fans of the Red Sox are disillusioned today over the impending breakup of Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy, the unflaggingly entertaining NESN television broadcast duo, the voices of a generation of fans who couldn’t wait for the next giggle.

We learned earlier this week that NESN will not renew Orsillo’s contract at the end of the season. Sad? Sure. And another example of institutional gutlessness. Several published reports from Boston suggest this decision is the whim of a NESN executive. And the Red Sox brass, who apparently can’t distinguish it from their elbows, won’t step in, despite owning 80 percent of NESN.

Hello? Can you be more tone deaf?

There’s an online petition of more than 20,000 names circulating to keep Orsillo. Unless the signees are willing to drop NESN, though, network executives will endure the blather and then conduct unfair business as usual.

I can’t think of any broadcast duo that fortified the mission of the job more than Orsillo and Remy. They were eclectic, eccentric and entertaining. NESN’s ratings for Red Sox games would be swirling the bowl with greater momentum were it not for the two best reasons to watch, especially with three last-place finishes in four years.

The growing legion of the humorless may have found their giggles sophomoric. I couldn’t wait for them. Again: I know sports talk gets shouted at us now and the idea that we’re supposed to have fun watching games went out years ago. But at least Orsillo and Remy tried. I mean, earlier this season, they got into Remy’s penchant to add an "R" to many last names. Orsillo: “Daniel Naver.” Orsillo: “We flew Delter to get here to Tamper Bay.” On it went. Until they couldn’t speak.

There was the night Remy lost a tooth on the air … the night they discussed whether Remy would ever give Orsillo mouth-to-mouth ... the night of the mistyped promo, leading to Orsillo’s marble mouth. Classic stuff.

But none better than the night NESN was coming back from commercial and showed two couples in the stands having a good time. Suddenly, on camera, one of the men grabbed a particular part of his girlfriend’s anatomy, north of the equator, but south of the shoulder. There was 30 seconds of silence. Until Orsillo tried to give the count on Nick Markakis and nearly cried with laughter. So did the rest of us.

“This used to be a family show,” Orsillo said.

I defy anybody to watch that — just google the words “Orsillo,” “Remy” and “breast” — and keep a straight face.

Orsillo is no stranger to this corner of the world. He was once the radio broadcaster of the Binghamton Mets, who would frequent Dodd Stadium. First-rate guy. He liked it here because the press box during the Navigators games couldn’t have been more irreverent. And he liked to hear the laughing, ducking in between innings.

Orsillo, despite the giggles, is the pro’s pro. He worked the playoffs on TNT and TBS. Sean McAdam of Comcast said Wednesday on Mad Dog Russo’s show that Orsillo worked with 26 different partners in the same season once, one of the years when Remy had health issues. Unless you’ve ever spoken live on the air, you may not appreciate such a degree of difficulty.

I’m not corporate. Nor do I aspire to be. I understand that many decisions are made based on whim over fact. And I’m not trying to equate the job of baseball announcer to Secretary of State. But then, we identify with baseball announcers more than our politicians. Our announcers are with us every day. They make us laugh. We associate them with good times, good days and good memories.

It’ll take Orsillo about 30 seconds to get his next job. To the everlasting chagrin of us here in New England, even if we can’t stand the Red Sox.

So far, NESN has dumped Sean McDonough — for my money the best all-around broadcaster out there — and now Don Orsillo.

And the Red Sox let it happen.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius