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Don Hahn
I'll eat it.
Peter Rosenberg
Han, Peter, the most used sweat is at a buffet.
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Allen
I'll be honest, the one thing I miss about having an office is the taste of Steve Hart's nuts.
Don Hahn
This isn't North Dakota. This is New York.
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Don Hahn
YouTube 300 one of the big city. Don Hahn and Rosenberg with you until six. And then at Yankee Baseball. Yankees and the Red Sox. And believe it or not, the Yankees are facing elimination. This could be it tonight after a really disheartening 31 loss in game one. And there's just so many different places we can go, so many different opinions have been thrown out. And I want Allen to be able to really, because he had the heart in the game, because that's his team. So I know you got a lot to say, Alan, but the one thing I just wanted to kind of get started off with, and I know talking to Allen before the game, that he agrees wholeheartedly, is that we gotta stop just preemptively with all the phone calls. So. 1-800-919-3776. Talking about, Aaron Boone's got to get fired. As if Aaron Boone is the reason why Freed was taken out, that Aaron Boone was the reason why Jazz Chisholm was not in the lineup. These are done collaboratively. Hey, Boone may agree, but he's got to be the face of these decisions. But I've been around the Yankees long enough doing the shows with Michael, doing the shows on. Yes. That he is doing the bidding of the organization. And the decisions blew up in their face.
Allen
You could be sick about the decision.
Don Hahn
Be sick about the decisions. Right, Peter?
Allen
But don't pretend he was like, all.
Don Hahn
Right, I've seen it enough. And this is why, you know, everybody thinks that Michael K. Protects Boone. Oh, if they fire, boom, they'll just bring in somebody just like he actually went last night right on him. But it's not him. He's the one that. That is the face of the decisions. He's the One that is going to tell you, I did this.
Peter Rosenberg
You know what happened.
Don Hahn
Do you think he went with his gut there or was this was all out.
Peter Rosenberg
There you go, Aaron. Here's the numbers, here's his. This is what will work.
Don Hahn
We played this game last night, and this is the way it comes out.
Peter Rosenberg
So what did I tell you yesterday? The Caballero was what, one for eight? Yeah, lifetime against Crochet. But he's got to be in the lineup, though, so that's when the numbers don't make it. You know what the Yankees did yet last night, which I think is a more dangerous thing than even losing game one, is what you saw post game was a disillusioned clubhouse because it's as if, like, you guys are trusting the numbers more than you trust us. You know what I mean? Like Jazz. Like Jazz. Turn his back on the camera. Says a lot because it's his way of knowing that if I turn in face, like, I'm gonna say things that I don't want to say. Frustrated. That whole team was frustrated by the decision making that was made. But that's not even the most egregious thing to me. So the boon th. I'm not. I'm not putting the lineup on Boone. I'm telling you, these were numbers they put together. They had a game plan. Alex Cora definitely had a game plan. And you saw it unfold in several different instances in this game. He outmanaged Aaron Boone, no question. But if we're going to get on Aaron Boone for taking out Freed after six and a third, that's where I'm also going to hit pause. Because you know what I need? First of all, I don't need Max Freed then saying, you know, that's what they wanted. They took me out, right? Total surrender. I have no control over this issue. You're an ace, and you know what the ace does? Garrett Cole, cece Sabathia, you can go down the list. You start seeing the manager come out, you know what they do? Take your ass back in the dugout. I'm not going anywhere. I'm out here for my team. Right? Ask David Cohen. David Cohen did it to Joe Tory.
Don Hahn
Yeah. Mike Messina did it to Joe Tory.
Peter Rosenberg
Messina did it very publicly. But the whole point is, if you want the game, you're not coming out. You saw the story with Crochet, what he told Cora, right? I'm handing the ball to Chapman.
Don Hahn
That's it.
Peter Rosenberg
I'm not coming out and don't come get me. And so he gave up the Home run. And then he proceeded to retire. The next 17 straight, he just locked down Max Freed. I'm not gonna say he wanted out of the game, but it didn't sound like he wanted in. He was fine with being taken out. He didn't fight it. He just left. Leave it to the bullpen. That, to me, is inexcusable. I question that more than I question anything else.
Don Hahn
It's a great point.
Peter Rosenberg
You want it out of this game. You were. You were dealing. Now, was he struggling? Yes, he had a 20 pitch hitting just the previous inning. And that curveball he was missing, he started losing control of it, and I think he lost confidence. And I think at that point, you take. He. They come in to get me, I. All right, that's it for me.
Don Hahn
Well, that's all I got.
Peter Rosenberg
That bothers me, because if that's true. And then you throw your manager under the bus. Are you crazy? It's a bad. Look, that clubhouse last night had a lot of issues, and I'm curious, see how they respond tonight. But last night, after the game, you talk about, oh, they don't trust us. They trust the numbers, right? And then the Max Freedom who. If you wanted to stay in, you know, you could have told Boone, no, I got this. But he didn't. That stuff bothers me. But then you go and say it to the media, what you said to the media. No, that's. There's problems in that clubhouse over this, and I hope it was last night. They slept on it and they're fine today. But it bothered me after that game. Yeah.
Don Hahn
And the lineup is what it's supposed to be today.
Peter Rosenberg
You got it right.
Don Hahn
And. But it just. There's just so many different places to go. 1-800-9193776. The obvious decision to take Freed out. And Alan's right. Listen, I pitched in high school. I didn't pitch at a high level. I got cut from my college team. But as a pitcher, you want to finish what you start. You don't want to be taken out of a game because you built that. You built that house. You don't want somebody to put the shingles on the roof. You want to finish the house. You built it. You take pride in it. You don't walk away and hand over your day, your handiwork over to somebody.
Allen
Else to screw it up.
Don Hahn
You want. You want to finish that. You want to finish where you start. And I understand pitchers nowadays aren't thinking about nine innings, but I'm sorry, I give a guy eight years in a contract he won 19 games during the regular season. Am I wrong to want to get more than six and a third? He can't face the eight, nine guys in the order. And is there a world where Aaron Boone's gonna have more faith in Luke Weaver then his ace pitcher? That starting Game 1 of the playoffs, you lined it up and you're freed can pitch game one and you're hot to take him out in a one nothing game.
Peter Rosenberg
He's not hot to take him out. That's the point where you say he just got out of that sixth inning. He had been battling. He wasn't. He wasn't perfect, but he was battling.
Don Hahn
He was battling outs he needed to get.
Allen
But by the way, baseball has never operated previously till this soft generation. That one inning of battle is done.
Peter Rosenberg
No, you go back how many people out there watching that game last night, the minute he came out of the game, just knew, right. I put in the group chat, right? What I say, Deadpool, here comes.
Don Hahn
Yep.
Peter Rosenberg
You know, because it's not going to be just one guy out of the bullpen. It's going to be three. One of them. All it takes is one to have a bad day. K says it all the time. And he's right. One guy had it going and you wanted to see him bulldog his way as far as he could into the game. And, and in the seventh inning he gets one out, the manager comes out and he just hands the ball and walks off. No, man, no.
Don Hahn
You know why? You know why. And I've complained about this all year and four years is the magic number of 100. Because once you get past 100 pitches, now all bets are off. So yeah, it's six and a third. You can't give me more than that. Well, it's the magic. He had thrown 102 pitches. So once you go over 100, it's like now we're itching to get you out. Now the game's played before, it's played in the computer on paper how it's all going to go down. But once that pitcher gets beyond 100, you're not allowed to get it out. And I think these pitchers mentality now is I know I'm over 100. They, they don't want me in the game anymore and I'm just going to agree. But it's the postseason you're at. The bets are off in the should be all bets. And it was all bets for crochet because he threw 117 pitches, the most he's ever pitched.
Allen
So because the idea, Peter, was I.
Don Hahn
Want to get to my cloth. I am going to gut out seven and two thirds. I'm going to throw 117 pitches because I want to get to my close.
Allen
Not do the middle ground where you have to put in two, three other guys. You don't get it done. Now unless you have a player who's coming off of an injury and you're worried about their well being. We're going to use them in the playoffs. We don't. They don't have 100% of them. There's no reason for it. But we'd be remiss because this is getting the most of the attention. And it should if we don't also point out that the Yankees also lost for the same reason they've lost in the playoffs for the last decade.
Peter Rosenberg
Couldn't score.
Allen
They don't hit.
Peter Rosenberg
Yep.
Allen
They don't score runs.
Peter Rosenberg
Bases loaded, nobody out, middle part of their lineup.
Allen
Twice opportunities, nothing happened.
Peter Rosenberg
How about the first beginning and end of the game? The first inning looked like they were going to blow this thing over. They had question two on nobody out and you can't get anything there. And then in the ninth, same thing, baseload, Nobody. And you couldn't do anything there. And again, it's a credit to the Red Sox and their game plan, I guess. But it also does show you it is feast or famine a lot of times with the Yankees. It is maddening. It really is.
Allen
This is who they are, you know. So you had the same thing happen twice, right? Goldschmidt gets a hit and then Judge, first pitch, another base hit back to back. He had a good game and no, he's two for four, has a good game, but it makes you think, hey, he's just gotta hit home runs. Judge puts the ball on the ground.
Don Hahn
Gets on the base. That's great.
Allen
If he doesn't hit home runs, they don't win.
Don Hahn
And if nobody hits home runs, they don't score. Right, because Volpe hits the solo home run and you get nothing. 17 straight batters retired in the middle of all that. And you get the three straigh singles, but nobody's able to come up with a big hit. And Peter and I were talking off the air and we all had the same feeling that once Stanton struck out and you know, lefties are coming up against Chapman, it's like they really felt like there's an avenue for the Red Sox to be able to get out of this. I didn't think it was going to be two straight Strikeouts or the pop up and then the strikeout to Grisham. I thought maybe it'd be a double play or something once you get that first out. Cause Stan's the danger, right? He's a righty. He does nothing but hit home runs in the postseason.
Peter Rosenberg
I'll tell you what, I was walk off Grant slam. I got up off the couch and stood up for that at bet.
Allen
Oh, you had. You had go out playoff G. And then.
Peter Rosenberg
And then I couldn't sit for that. Yeah, it was stand up.
Allen
It was like he listened to our show yesterday, heard the praise, and said, I'm going to look completely lost in the most critical playoff at bat I've had in some time.
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah.
Don Hahn
Oh, it was before. But we're on. We're on the close.
Peter Rosenberg
Like.
Don Hahn
Like Chapman. You could see everything that we talked about. The bright lights, the failures, and it was there. Right. Because he had the disengagement that put a runner in scoring position in the eighth inning. So right away, you're in the head. I thought the Yankees right there were going to take advantage of that. Messed with him, and then three consecutive hits. So I'm thinking to myself is Stan's gonna hit the ball to Jersey because he's shot. Chapman shot. Yeah. Because again, the disengagement of the inning got out of that. Now three straight hits on three straight pitches like he's cooked. We've seen this act before. Yeah, but give him credit. He got Stanton. And that's the problem with Stanton, right? Because for every great home run, there's an at bat where you're like, ugh, not. Not great. And then he's got the two lefties, the two lefties that weren't good enough to hit the play in. The one lefty wasn't good enough to play in the game because you had a lefty on the mound. And where does he come up? Because he had to. He had to go and play second base for defensive purposes. Now he ends up hitting a lazy fly ball. And then Grisham strikes out, who, by the way, he's in the lineup. He can't hit lefties either, but he's in the lineup because they don't have a center fielder. Because Dominguez is somebody they don't trust to put in a spot. It's so maddening to not at least tie the game. I'm figuring this game's gonna at least tie. The best chance the Red Sox have is to be able to win in extra innings. Right. Cause bases loaded, nobody out. Stanton's Up.
Peter Rosenberg
Completely agree.
Don Hahn
And it was earlier in the day. It was weird. Out of nowhere, during breakfast, Marco goes, daddy, can you show me a walk off grand slam? So I went to YouTube and there's like, there's like an hour worth of game winning grand slam home runs. I'm like, I almost wanted to wake him up. Say you want to see one live because it's happening. Stan's going to hit it to the moon. No, no, he's to the moon.
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah.
Don Hahn
And it was like, oh, he struck out. Oh, my God. I can't believe it. Oh, my God. But you were, you were. I just wanted to get that out because Chapman looked. There are little.
Peter Rosenberg
There's so many little things about this game. This. But I'm going to go back what I said at the beginning, which is the. I don't criticize Boone for decisions that are out of his hands when it comes to lineup decisions. And also, you want your pitcher telling you, no, take your ass back into the dugout. I'm good. I got this. Because I'm sure Boone probably wanted to hear that. Yeah, we have a plan, we have lanes, whatever the line is. But if I hear that from my ace and the way he's pitching. All right, let's go. Now, he did say they talked about in the dugout, like, get, get me Duran. And then, yeah, then we're gonna chow. But you're putting in his head, like, all right, then we'll take you out. It's almost like, oh, I'm off the hook. No, like, no, just, just keep going, kids. Go anyway.
Allen
How you feel, Buddy, whatever you want.
Don Hahn
Is not the answer.
Peter Rosenberg
Whatever it is. But then what you said after the game, like, you're killing your manager there. But he did get out. Managed. Strategy wise. It's to me. Alex Cora once again showed you that he plays chess because so Guard said after the game that they knew about Judd. Remember we talked about this a couple weeks ago when Judge was going to get back? I said, you watch, because guys like Alex Cora, if they see Judge out there in the playoffs, they're going to test his arm. They're going to test him. And sure enough, that's what happened. Judge plays the ball. And so Guard decides, I'm not just taking a single. Let me see if this guy can throw one. And he said after the game, oh, yeah, we talked about this before the game. It was definitely something on their minds. If you have an opportunity to test Judge's arm, do it. And in the biggest moment of the game, he did it. And that led of course to the two run single that was following the next at bat. You know, Weaver wasn't great. He threw a million changeups. You could tell he wasn't confident. He was trying to battle. He had that, what was that 11 pitch at bat that he really battled, that were 20 actually. But he threw a ton of change ups through one fastball and, and it ended up being the game changing hit. But so guard making that play, forcing Judge to throw and Judge one hopping it to Volpe, that's gonna be that double was gigantic play and it's not going to get. And it's because they were prepared for that moment. And that tells you a lot about how the Red Sox are managed.
Don Hahn
And it's a different animal now. They did take two out of three from the Red Sox at Fenway during that gauntlet. But you know, a lot of the, you know, Yankees, eight straight wins came against what? Twins, Orioles, White Sox. You know, they're not thinking about testing judges arm. They're not trying to micromanage. They're just trying to get to the end of the season, right? They're going to try, don't get me wrong. But there's a reason why the Red Sox are in the playoffs. There's a reason why the brewers are the best team in baseball. They're thinking, they know, they scout. It's a different animal. That's why I say take the analytics and wipe yourself with it. It's the postseason here, man. And this is what I want to watch. I'm giving this guy eight year contract. I know it's way more money and way more years than it's supposed to be. Because I want you to be here for this spot. I don't have Cole, you're my guy. And I'm thinking to try to get to Luke Weaver. Because of lanes?
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah, lanes.
Don Hahn
Michael made a great point when I was driving in. It's like if you asked Aaron Boone, forget about the analytics, throw him away. Shut the computer off. Your life's on the line. Who do you want to get those final outs in the seventh inning? Your life's on the line. Here's a rifle to your forehead. Life's on the line. You want a taxed Max Freed or Luke Weaver? Come on, honestly, forget about Lane's analytics. Who do you want? And then if you lose, Peter, you go and you tell the press, you know what? He's Max Freed.
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah.
Don Hahn
We just gave him an eight year contract.
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah. Did you watch him?
Don Hahn
He's going to win the American League Cy Young award, maybe. Why did I. Why did I leave him in it? Was you.
Allen
Was it you? In the group chat, Six strikeouts and.
Peter Rosenberg
He gave up four hits.
Allen
Was it Allen? I don't remember which of you it was, but in what other sport does this make sense?
Don Hahn
That's.
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah.
Allen
You have great players. You pull your goaltender, you tell your quarterback, hey, hey, Jaden, you've had a great day. You put up 400 yards. You throw the ball 45 times. Time to get Mario in there.
Don Hahn
The analytics show that Henry throw the ball more than 35 times every throw. After 30 there's a 16 chance it's going to go incomplete.
Peter Rosenberg
And bad enough it might be intercepted.
Allen
Henry. Hank, you've been on your head tonight. 55 stops is too many.
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah, it's too many bucks. You've seen too many.
Don Hahn
The numbers say that your save percentage goes dramatically down after the 34th shot. By the way, there is a chance.
Allen
Those stats exist in all these sports. We'll never know because you'd have to be a psycho to listen to them.
Peter Rosenberg
But the funny thing that you just said there is that that does exist. Because everything now is numbers they know exists. There are. There are percentages in the NBA about after your 15th field goal attempt.
Allen
Oh, I'm sure.
Peter Rosenberg
Like it's nuts, but it's true. But the problem is is that no one's psycho enough when a guy is about 50. Luca, be like, yeah, you know, we.
Allen
See you're getting tired, Luca. Yes, we know you have 40 now.
Peter Rosenberg
Steph, that's your 12 three point attempt.
Don Hahn
But the way it works in the NBA is. Listen, we. We got the Grizzlies tonight. Go relax.
Allen
And by the way, once you get.
Don Hahn
To the playoff, that's because five days get to the playoffs.
Allen
But I'm glad you said it because we rightfully at times beat up the NBA for the load management. And they deserve it. You would take the load management 10 times out of 10 compared to in a playoff game, not letting your best players play.
Peter Rosenberg
It's the opposite in baseball. You need to keep playing. It's the long breaks between that actually hurt you.
Allen
Right?
Don Hahn
But what do you say?
Peter Rosenberg
Five days off and then they're going to be fine.
Allen
But then you get to when it matters.
Peter Rosenberg
If he threw 10 more pitches to finish that inning, he'd be dead. That's it.
Allen
Dead.
Peter Rosenberg
Are we carrying him off the field?
Don Hahn
Because what are you saving?
Peter Rosenberg
Center field? We'll all come by. Walk by the casket.
Don Hahn
Dude, you can't. What are you saving him for? This could be the last time he pitches all year there he's going to be over tomorrow or Thursday. Jim Cott always said you'll get plenty of rest in November.
Peter Rosenberg
No, Apollo said, there is no tomorrow.
Allen
Thank you, Apollo.
Don Hahn
But Apollo's was scripted. Jim Cotton really said it really doesn't make his batting pitch.
Peter Rosenberg
The way Apollo said it though, kind of resonated.
Don Hahn
And take a look at Jim Cott, the back of his baseball card like the Prince. So fine. Because he played like 100. You can't even read the stats in all.
Allen
Of every situation where your point that you just made, Don, is the most valid. The three game series. It's one moment and you're. You're back. Do you know how I said this yesterday? I'll say it again. Do you guys know how tight that place is going to be today? You're now already feeling the season's over. You had to risk it yesterday. Yesterday was the day.
Peter Rosenberg
How many Jim caught seasons, can you guess how many season.
Don Hahn
I think he was probably what? Give me 22, 59.
Peter Rosenberg
Let's see how you got 22.
Don Hahn
Rookie year. 59.
Peter Rosenberg
Rookie year was 59.
Don Hahn
59 to 82. So how many years you're going?
Allen
23.
Don Hahn
Yeah. So that's 23.
Peter Rosenberg
This is 25 here. 25, 25 years. How many games did he play?
Allen
One hundred and fifty thousand.
Peter Rosenberg
About here appearance. I'm gonna tell you, it's less than a thousand.
Don Hahn
Oh, my God. Well, the 20. Because he had to have like, so whatever. 35 times. 23 is something like that. Yeah.
Allen
So like 800 games.
Peter Rosenberg
898.
Allen
That's a hell of a career.
Don Hahn
I just remember having Jim Cott's baseball card and probably was still, you know, he was still playing. And I would ask my dad like this, I would look at it like, I can't even read this. That's why I remember like I was right. 59 to 82. Right. Because I like.
Peter Rosenberg
Who do you start with? Who do you end with? Come on.
Don Hahn
Well, he was a senator.
Peter Rosenberg
He was a senator to begin his career. Yeah.
Don Hahn
Then he was a twin. He was a Philly Charger, Cardinal, Ram, White Sox.
Peter Rosenberg
Philly. A Yankee for two minutes, cup of coffee. Right. And then a Cardinal to finish it out. But that's crazy, man.
Don Hahn
Yeah.
Peter Rosenberg
So.
Don Hahn
And he said, you get plenty of rest in November now. You don't want to get these guys killed. I get it. But believe me, Freed was not taken out because of any other reason but your effectiveness after 100 pitches. And I would want him on paper, but I wouldn't be challenged. I mean, but I don't like that.
Peter Rosenberg
I'd want you to tell me no, but isn't sports. I'm winning this game.
Don Hahn
Isn't sports supposed to be about going beyond the human limits, going beyond what we can do? The reason we watch professional athletes is because they can do what we can't do, and they can do better than anybody else that's played it at that level, that they can go farther, that they can go longer than anybody else because of. Of their mentality. And that's why we love it, because these guys are sweating, they're limping to the, to the. Their position. And we love it because of how much they're putting into it. That's something that, that, that's championships. Not going to guys on the bench to kind of relieve the other guys. Yes. Sometimes it makes sense to have Weaver come in for a starting pitcher, even though you know, Weaver isn't as good as the starting pitcher. But you're telling me after 102 pitches that Luke Weaver is a better option against 8, 9 in the seventh inning than Max Freed.
Peter Rosenberg
That's true.
Don Hahn
Come on, man.
Peter Rosenberg
Is the bottom of the order.
Don Hahn
It's the 8, 9 hitter.
Peter Rosenberg
Do you question Freed at all here? Do you at least say, you know, like, because then in the clubhouse, you can't be thrown.
Don Hahn
Let me ask you the bus.
Peter Rosenberg
Did you fight for your cause? Did you want to stay?
Don Hahn
I don't know all the information. For all I know, he's pinned Boone up against the wall and it still doesn't matter. Like, is it just like you're going to do whatever you want anyway, Coach, but I just think all I'm letting the world know is I did not want to come out of that game. How many times we see a pitcher, you know, fire the ball into the hand of the manager? Just. You could see he's disgusted that he was taken. I didn't see that, no. I saw a guy resigned to the fact that this is just the way baseball is.
Peter Rosenberg
He knew this was his last batter. He knew Boone would be coming out, and he took his ovation now while the other pitcher stayed in and bulldogged for another two innings. That's what he did.
Don Hahn
And there can't be anything in athletics and you played at a pretty high level, is nothing can make you more sick, I would think, than knowing you had more to give and didn't like. He looks across the field and he says every day, Crochet gave everything he had through 15 more pitches than I did. And his team won and I had more to give and I didn't give it. That would make me sick that I couldn't. Now, if I went out there and I failed, well, then I failed. I gave it my best shot. But to know that I had bullets in the gun and I didn't fire him and we lost, that would make me sick.
Peter Rosenberg
It has to. But why would you, in the clubhouse after the game when asked, you know, could you have gone more, you know.
Don Hahn
And you got to make it known to the world and God, you got. I'm not on board with this. And that, to me, galvanizes a team more than separately. Is it there after you lose now, you don't want to show up your manager. I get that. But you know what? Maybe it shows up your manager, maybe shows up the organization, but you don't think the rest of his teammates rally around the fact that he wasn't going to come out of that game like jazz right now, you could say he's a jerk for not turning around to the media, but I'm sure everybody in that locker room felt his pain. I'm a 30 for 30 guy and I was treated like a busher that couldn't come into the game until they needed defense in the can't hit lefties.
Peter Rosenberg
Look at his splits, by the way. But he can't hit lefties. But you know what? Conversely, you know what they're saying about crochet in Boston, Pedro, like performance. He's a God. Inspiring performance. That's what you do when you're serious about winning. The Yankees felt like they weren't really serious about winning. They were serious about winning their way.
Don Hahn
And I hate that.
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Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
Don Hahn
I didn't listen to anything you just said.
Podcast Announcer
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Don Hahn
Game Time is brought to you by Telemore Irish Whiskey. Because when it's game time, boys.
Peter Rosenberg
I like when he holds it.
Don Hahn
Yankees try to avoid elimination in game two of their series, with the Red Sox coverage immediately following us on 880 at 6 o'. Clock. All of the other wild card games can be heard on 1050, including the Guardians and the Tigers. They're in the seventh, tied at one Padres. Cubs top two. Padres are up one nothing. And the Reds lost 10 five to the Dodgers last night.
Peter Rosenberg
So the Dodgers should have been the Mets. Well, Reds don't belong there. By the Dodgers.
Don Hahn
The Reds don't.
Peter Rosenberg
They don't belong there.
Don Hahn
But that's what I'm saying. The Mets track them down the other way. That's baseball, Susan. Not a lot of runs being scored. Not a lot of runs outside of what happened.
Peter Rosenberg
Starting pitching is important.
Don Hahn
Yeah. I've ever seen anything like this.
Allen
Yeah. So you're saying runs come in a premium in the playoffs.
Don Hahn
They do. Unless. Unless it's Chavez Ravine. But again, the Reds are.
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah, playoff A Jace.
Don Hahn
And I would say the same if the Mets were there too, although I wish they were. But that third wildcard in the National League. Not good. Bob, let's get to the phone calls. A lot of people red hot. Some even want to defend Boone, including Matt Nashville, you're on ESPN New York. What's up, Matt?
Caller
Hey, guys. I will start off.
I'm not the biggest Boone supporter during his tenure in New York, but I just. Last night I think a lot had a lot more to do with how the players played rather than Boone's managerial decisions. Would like to see Jazz in the game. But I mean, Rosario has been awesome against lefty. So I understand that you could say put him at third, but he's not quite a defender. Bad. McMahon and Caballero are so like with the free getting so many brown balls a third like I. I understood that. I would have rather seen McMahon over caballerother just for his defense, but for bad purposes. I don't think it makes one difference or the other as far as taking Freed out. I mean, I don't think it has as much to do with the pitch count as it has to do with his results. I mean, you watch crochet. He was at 100, 110, 117. He was mulling guys down. I mean, basically the first four innings, Freed was awesome. Then after that, it kind of seemed like out of nowhere. Just started to lose a little bit of command. He battled, he was opening up in his delivery. He was leaving everything outside in the right hander batter's box. I just, I didn't hate the decision because I just didn't feel confident with his ability to control the ball as much anymore at that point. And we were didn't get the job done.
Don Hahn
I go batter to batter and he got the big out from Duran and then you're facing eight, nine and let him face the eighth batter and if he walks him, then maybe you pull the plug. But Matt, you're right. If Weaver goes out there and does his job, this isn't a conversation. And Boone looks like he's got the pulse of the team and he made the right Decision Weaver didn't execute. He. He walks a guy. It was.02. Whose batting average, when he's.02, like, or on base percentage is like less than.200 when he's got two strikes. And you walked him.
Peter Rosenberg
Wasn't that at bat? That was a long at bat.
Don Hahn
That was the. That was the long at bat from Robert.
Peter Rosenberg
Eleven pitches, right?
Don Hahn
That was the long one. Yeah, but it's always about the execution of the players. For sure. But you've got to convince me that a taxed Freed still isn't better than Weaver, who had not had a great season. And also, you know, you're coming in in the middle of an inning. I thought you didn't like to do that. There was nobody on, but, you know, he didn't start the inning.
Peter Rosenberg
You have Max Freed, right? Just play that. What he. When he was asked about how he.
Don Hahn
Felt, did you feel tired?
Max Freed
I definitely exerted a lot of energy trying to get out of that, but I definitely, you know, had enough in the tank for whatever. Whatever the team needed. But he was confident to be able to give the ball to leave in that situation.
Don Hahn
All right, so he's not fresh.
Peter Rosenberg
He's like. The other thing he said was, you know, I'm going to stay until they take the ball from me.
Don Hahn
Well, he took the ball.
Allen
I'll say this. His tone that he gave me, it didn't. I'm trying to. I'm trying to think of, like, the movie comparison, like the old grizzled vet of, like, out of my cold, dead hands. It didn't give that. I can't say he gave me that sort of confidence, but, you know, he would have done what they needed him.
Don Hahn
To do on being pulled.
Max Freed
Yeah, I mean, I definitely felt. Felt good at the end. Yeah. You know, coming out. Coming out, feeling good.
Don Hahn
Would you have liked to have stayed in longer?
Max Freed
I mean, I'm. I'm gonna stay in until. Get the ball taken from me. You know, I want to pitch as long as I possibly can, and, you know, when the ball gets taken out of my hands is. You know, that's what it is.
Don Hahn
Max, did you feel like you had more left?
Max Freed
Yeah, I mean, I definitely felt. I felt good. Felt like I, you know, whatever. Whatever the team needed.
Peter Rosenberg
See, that's why I don't like it. I don't. I don't like that.
Allen
Because he would have. That was the moment where he could have said, truthfully, I was. It was the right time. But instead he said, no, I felt good.
Peter Rosenberg
I'll go as long as I need me. Yeah, I felt fine and okay. Did you see the, my next question would be, did you have, did you voice that opinion to Boone? Did you make that clear to him when he came out to you and say, no, I'm good.
Don Hahn
I hate to do this, the play, the pop psychologist kind of feel, but he's saying all the right things. Right. Because you don't want to throw your manager under the bus. He did, but, well, just be like, hey, he came and took the ball for me. I had a little left, but I was a little tired. He didn't sound angry. He didn't sound like a guy that was ticked off. Like, you could still say all the things that he said, but in a tone that makes you feel like you're just, you're just really disgusting. Yeah, like I felt I had a little. Yeah, yeah, I, I, I do what the manager tells me to do. I, I took.
Peter Rosenberg
Now you got to know his personality. His personality also isn't like that. Right? His personality is not a guy that's going to be demonstrating.
Don Hahn
I don't know him that well here, but he doesn't do that.
Peter Rosenberg
It was a shock the one inning when he got out of it on a strikeout and he like came off the mound and he gave you a little bit of a roar, like a, that's, I mean, you don't see a.
Don Hahn
Professional athlete that's not allowed to finish what he started. A professional athlete's are taken out of a game and he's telling people, I had something left.
Peter Rosenberg
I don't like that.
Don Hahn
And the person that replaced you failed. That would anger me. Even if I'm not angry at anybody in particular. I'm just still angry. I still have something left. My season could be over. This isn't some game in April against the White Sox. It's game one of the playoffs. You're facing elimination tonight or tomorrow. That might be the last pitch he throws until next March in anger. And to know that there were still throws that he had and he couldn't use them. And the next time he's going to throw a meaningful game, it's going to be in late March next year against the San Francisco Giants. Maybe you will get another opportunity. And if you're a Yankee fan, you hope that that opportunity is going to come in the next round and he'll have a few more opportunities. Kaiser has a question, but you don't know that.
Allen
Can I ask you something about last night's ball game, Don?
Don Hahn
Sure.
Allen
I was sort of watching it from multiple locations across my apartment. Dealing with baby stuff at the same time.
Don Hahn
Sure.
Allen
Is it me or was it. Was there like a pretty audible pop every time the Red Sox did something at Yankee Stadium? Was that.
Peter Rosenberg
Oh, no, they had a crowd.
Allen
It was loud.
Peter Rosenberg
They had a crowd. No, no, no question.
Allen
Okay. Because I multiple times thought something. I'm bathing the B. And then I'm like, oh. And I run out expecting to see the Yankees. And I'm like, wait, that was a two run single for the.
Don Hahn
Well, they got in the building. Despite the fact that apparently the Yankees tried to shut down ticket sales from the Massachusetts area code and zip code, not so much. Listen, the Red Sox travel, man.
Peter Rosenberg
Well.
Allen
And they're here.
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah, they're in town.
Allen
They just live here.
Don Hahn
Yeah.
Allen
I mean this same with Yankee fans in Boston, obviously.
Don Hahn
This is. These are two. This is why Major League Baseball salivates for this matchup. Because I am sure. And I didn't look at the ratings. I. This is going to crush every other series.
Allen
Oh, yeah.
Don Hahn
And then there's going to be. It'll. It'll grow because the next next round will be.
Allen
Oh, speaking of. I didn't see the late game, but it certainly did crush in length the first two games of the day. When did this finish? 9:30.
Peter Rosenberg
This was a 304. 304. Three hours, which was for Yankees.
Allen
It was only 304 in the end.
Peter Rosenberg
Just slightly over three hours. Yeah. Yeah.
Allen
Because I looked at. It was 9 o', clock, but I guess it didn't start to what, six, ten? Yeah.
Peter Rosenberg
So you're not getting it. But still the first two were two and a half.
Allen
Yeah, it still crushed those.
Don Hahn
So you still scored. No. Pitchers are really coming out of the game. Let's go to Robbie in Lenox, Massachusetts. You're on ESPN New York.
Caller
Hey guys. Thanks for taking the call.
Don Hahn
Peter. Happy New Year.
Caller
I just try to make crazy guys. I gotta definitely vent here. All right. You there?
Don Hahn
Yo, I'm here.
Allen
Go for it.
Caller
Okay, guys. Okay. Okay. Let's start by talking about this as an organizational problem that's been going on under Brian Kashner. Okay. I could start with the sitting of Jazz Chisholm and Ben Rice, who've been the hottest hitters on the team. What are you gonna do? Sit. Paul o' Neal and go. Oh yeah. Paul o' Neal and Chuck Knobloch are sitting today because there's a left handed guy in the mountain. You go with your guys who are there. It's. You haven't done all year. Don, I know you're the King of the rants on this station, okay? And by the way, congratulations on the Devil's broadcast, and we'll miss you on the other side of msg. But, Don, you can't do that. You play out the guys you live with, okay? And here's what drives me crazy. The decision to take out Freed. Why are you not walking Blackman with first base open, you dummy? Okay, how does that move? Okay, how about not. Not using what you were going at the beginning roll in a pinch running situation in the ninth inning because you wasted him in the starting lineup when you could have put Tim and Dominguez at third base. You could have put Dominguez, okay, in the pitch. One for Goldsmith. Maybe Dominguez is on third base with the next hit. And maybe he's home on a single by Bellinger. It's asinine baseball, and it's been going on too long. Aaron Boone is always one step behind everybody. He's always humming Lester Cortez. Last year, it should have ended on that. This is an organizational problem, guys.
Don Hahn
Because this is all the way the organization does it. And should Boone push back as he's got the final say? Listen, the Red Sox are analytically driven, too, but you get a sense that Corey gets a feel for the game. I wouldn't be surprised if the Red Sox said, hey, we probably shouldn't let him go 117. We probably got to take him out of the game. But Cora feels, hey, listen, this is our stud. We went out and acquired him for a reason. I am going to be the final say. And he got it right. And he's obviously got a pedigree and he's got the backing of his organization out. Maybe Boone either completely, 100% agrees with everything or doesn't feel he's got the backing. And why should he? They let Joe Girardi go after losing Game seven of the League Championship Series because they wanted a guy that was going to be of like mind. And obviously Girardi wasn't. And a lot of people felt why that was the end of Torrey, too, because he was not of like mind. So there's enough evidence that Boone says, if I. If I'm defiant and I fail, I might be out of a job. And he doesn't want to be out of a job. The one thing I'll push back about, Rice. Same conversation happened in 09. Remember when. When Jorge had to sit because he didn't catch A.J. burnett. Right. Like so.
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah. That decision wasn't about that.
Don Hahn
That there's a Lot that goes into.
Peter Rosenberg
It because of who's pitching.
Don Hahn
Yeah, but Jazz, we said it Yesterday, he's a 30 for 30 guy. How do you sit a regular? And by the way, the biggest game of the year.
Allen
And another piece, we said this two weeks ago. Allen, he may be the only, you know, judge, the spark, the. He has more swag than anyone on that team. He's a guy you want around and motivated. Not, let's be honest, he was probably pouting all day. You want that guy up and into it and motivated, not down.
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah. So he gets again, gets to play in the playoffs again. And I gotta sit. Yeah, no thanks.
Allen
I'll come in at the end of the game with aralta Chapman throwing 101 miles an hour.
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah. Now you could see it. And he. It's. That's why I said the clubhouse was where I was more concerned. It was almost as if what Jazz is telling you and what you're seeing is a team that's like, yeah, they don't trust us. They trust the numbers. They don't trust us.
Don Hahn
And that takes the human element out of it and the emotion out of it. Frustrating.
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Don Hahn
I didn't listen to anything you just said.
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Don Hahn
1-800-919-3776. Dive back into these phone calls. Let's go to Vinnie on Staten Island. You're on ESPN New York. What's up, Ben?
Caller
What's up, guys? By this whole Aaron Judge era, Boone is going to cost the Yankees two or three World Series. I mean, I coach 13 year old baseball and my pitches go longer than these guys. Six innings, 100 pitches, nobody's getting hurt.
Allen
But you really think that's Boone? You really think Boone's making the call there?
Caller
Absolutely.
Peter Rosenberg
He's part of it. I think he's part of it, but I don't think he's the be all end.
Caller
Nobody's getting hurt if they throw 135 pitches.
Don Hahn
100 not hurt. They're not, they're not worried about injury. What they're worried about is effectiveness. They believe after 100 pitches, you're not the same pitcher. I disagree with that. I think it's ridiculous. But that's how they.
Caller
I mean, it's just this guy is caught, he doesn't move runners over. I mean, it just, he's going to cost him two or three World Series. So before all said and done, I.
Don Hahn
Don'T want to be that guy, Vinnie.
Max Freed
But.
Don Hahn
But baseball has now taken the joy out of criticizing managers because all these things are all. They have meetings. The analytic guys all spit out numbers. Here's how this has got to get handled now. Boone agrees with all of that. Why do you think Joe Girardi's gone? Joe Girardi took a team that nobody believed was a playoff team and got them the game seven of the league championship series, had won a ring and was let go. Why? Because he didn't buy into these reindeer games. They didn't renew Joe Torre's contract had nothing to do with blowing the three nothing series lead against the Red Sox. Didn't matter. That wasn't the midges in Cleveland. It was because they decided they were going to play the analytic game and Joe Torre wasn't going to have it. Boone would. And if for some reason they decided to throw chum to you and make you feel good that Boone was fired, they'd bring in the exact same guy. He'd look a little different, talk a little different, but it'd be the same thing.
Peter Rosenberg
And you know who it won't be? Alex Cora T Jones on Twitter said that Boone would have taken the mic from Don before he got to the teletime part of the read. Come on.
Don Hahn
That's right. It would take me out of the best part of the rant. We would have never gotten. You know, we know you never gotten. We know you would never got crane pool. Oh, no, I would never got the crane ball. Never gotten to the point somebody else.
Peter Rosenberg
Rest your voice.
Don Hahn
You got to say screaming. And then all of a sudden there'd be another voice that would said Ed Crane pool. Well, you know why? Because we've done the analytics and if it was more than three minutes, he sometimes.
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah, he loses focus.
Don Hahn
So we wanted to bring somebody else in. So I would have got a tap on the shoulder. Peter would have went ed Green bull.
Allen
By the way, you could start applying this people's sex lives too. We know that. Tuesday through Friday. We know. Not your best. We're gonna have to call it the bullpen.
Peter Rosenberg
Don't say how many spouses would go for that.
Don Hahn
I kind of went there. You know what?
Allen
There'd be a lot of upside here.
Don Hahn
I kind of went there on my text threat.
Peter Rosenberg
What?
Don Hahn
You did?
Peter Rosenberg
You did.
Allen
You know. No, no. You more than kind of went on.
Peter Rosenberg
I missed that.
Allen
You went there. You went all the way there.
Peter Rosenberg
You're asking if you missed it. The answer is yes, I did.
Don Hahn
Clearly.
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah. No, Allen, I was not in A good place last night.
Don Hahn
Because you're the one that's easily offended out of all of us.
Allen
It's not offended. It's just. It's aggressive. That one, though, is. That one was more up your alley.
Don Hahn
But it was right in the wheelhouse of what was going on. And I was trying to think of a blue analogy. Oh, it's very blue. Is it?
Peter Rosenberg
Is it?
Don Hahn
Is it?
Peter Rosenberg
How did I miss that?
Don Hahn
Is it a good one?
Peter Rosenberg
It's very good. Can I.
Allen
No, you can't, Anthony.
Peter Rosenberg
Can I?
Allen
You can find a way to do it, but not the way he said.
Don Hahn
If you can do it in under.
Peter Rosenberg
20 seconds, bidding, I guess it would be as if.
Allen
Let me put it this way. It would be as if Peter north is wrapping up a scene, and he goes, you know what? I gotta sit.
Don Hahn
I can't do the end.
Allen
And they go, that's what you're here for.
Peter Rosenberg
But he. Well, he said it's about boom, though.
Allen
What are you attempting to do?
Peter Rosenberg
If.
Don Hahn
I could say it, if anybody. It's one of my favorite movies.
Allen
No one should try any more than I just tried.
Don Hahn
Right.
Allen
Don't you agree, Anthony?
Peter Rosenberg
We could say it.
Don Hahn
It's one of my favorite movies.
Peter Rosenberg
I usually get overruled.
Don Hahn
And so maybe other people will disagree. But if you've seen this movie, you'll know what I'm talking about. Boogie Night.
Allen
We know you're. Who listening? Didn't know you were about to say.
Don Hahn
Boogie Nights because it also matches what we were talking about, right? And it's like, well, can we use stock footage? It won't match.
Allen
Right?
Don Hahn
It's kind of like that.
Allen
It's like that. You know what? That's safer than I expected.
Peter Rosenberg
That was a lot safer.
Don Hahn
And now you can wrap your mind around where I was going or something else, if you like.
Allen
Oh, my God.
Don Hahn
Let's see. You said we got. We got sound there. What do we got?
Peter Rosenberg
What about Aaron Boone? Asked if he saw Jazz's post game come.
Don Hahn
Oh, because of course, Jazz not looking at the cameras, fiddling with his hangers in the locker room, clearly not happy with the decision of not starting and certainly not happy flying out in the ninth inning. Boone, did you see Chisholm's postgame comments?
Aaron Boone
I did see it. Look, every player is not going to agree with every decision that I have to make, and that's okay. I try and help make them understand my thought process and what I'm thinking. And I did that with Jazz. He is a guy that wears his emotions on his sleeve. So wasn't necessarily how I handled it, but then again, I don't need him to put a happy face on it. I need him to go out and play his butt off for us tonight. And that's what I expect to happen.
Don Hahn
I. I give Boone credit. He could have said we and no one would have blanked.
Peter Rosenberg
Right.
Don Hahn
He said I made it.
Allen
Yeah.
Peter Rosenberg
Decisions I.
Don Hahn
So you could understand the fans, like, hey, you're owning these things. But we know the inner workings of this organization, and it's collaborative, believe me. Let's go to Peter in Brooklyn. You're on ESPN New York. Hi, Peter.
Caller
Hey, boys.
Going long time. First off, Peter, if I'm saying this correctly, Gamar, Katima Tova to you.
Allen
Oh, thanks.
Don Hahn
That was that.
Allen
I mean, Tova at the end is good, but I don't know what the whole first part was, but I take it as related to Happy Holiday, Happy New Year. Good fast. Something like that.
Caller
Well, basically. Well, basically. May your fate be sealed in good luck for the next year.
Allen
Oh, thank you very much. Can you say it to say one more time?
Caller
Gamar, Katima. Tova.
Allen
Kamar. Katima Tova. Okay, thank you. I appreciate this very much. I'm gonna run this by Natalie later and see what she says.
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Caller
I'm forget my Yankee point, Alan. May your son forgive me for ratting him out months ago when I pointed out he didn't pick you up from the airport that time.
Allen
He's over it.
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah, he doesn't care.
Caller
Okay, good.
Anyway, with the Yankees last night, it's like, look, you got to hit more than just a single here and there, you know, I'm not putting it on Judge, but it's like we need more than that. And. And I just thought the end, like, oh, great. How fitting are all this? Chapman could put us out and did.
Don Hahn
Almost everything he could to not get it done. I mean, that's as rattled as I've seen him. And he got. He got through it crazy. Three straight singles on three straight pitches and then got out of it.
Allen
Imagine the Red Sox fans must have been sweating bullets for about five seconds. And then once the Stanton at bat.
Don Hahn
Started, then you can kind of see.
Allen
Honestly, it was only a couple pitches in. I went. He doesn't look confident here.
Don Hahn
It almost like on those three, he almost felt like Judge and Bellinger were. Knew exactly what he was going to throw. Like, when you see a first pitch hit like his. His party is like, you know, that might be a little selective here. We got a runner on. I'm representing the Tying run, it was like, bang, first pitch, get on it. Like so. But Stanton just didn't have it. And then he. Once he faced the lefties, the Yankees were pretty much cooked.
Peter Rosenberg
Can I just. I just checked it.
Don Hahn
Yeah.
Peter Rosenberg
Jazz career against Crochet was 0 for 4 and 5. 5 plate appearances with 3 strikeouts. Very small sample size.
Don Hahn
Very small sample size.
Peter Rosenberg
Caballero, going into the game, he was over three last night with a strikeout. Going into the game, he was over seven and eight plate appearances with five strikeouts.
Don Hahn
Well, you know what? You know what the point.
Peter Rosenberg
Like, again, just the math didn't matter.
Don Hahn
What was Grisham's numbers? I'm sure they were awful, too.
Peter Rosenberg
That's a good point.
Don Hahn
But they didn't have a center fielder to put in because they didn't want to put in Dominguez.
Peter Rosenberg
And so Caballero had to play third because they didn't want to play McMahon. Right.
Don Hahn
Is crochet not one of the best pitchers in baseball? Everybody's numbers probably stay right. What are you going to do? You got to put somebody in.
Peter Rosenberg
Yeah, it's a good point.
Don Hahn
And how about. How about. How about putting the guy then? It's been my second or short or third baseman all year long. He's a 30 for 30 guy.
Peter Rosenberg
I don't trust him. Yeah, Grisham was over three, right.
Don Hahn
And he. And he continued that because every lefty against Crochet is going to have bad numbers for sure. For the. For the most part.
Peter Rosenberg
And he was over four. Wait, Grisham? Yeah. Oh, for four with four strikeouts.
Don Hahn
Yeah. No, it was not. Not good. But they didn't have. Would Dominguez have done any worse?
Podcast Announcer
Thanks for listening to the Don Han and Rosenberg podcast.
Peter Rosenberg
I don't want to know how the sausage is made, but I just want to know. It's good.
Podcast Announcer
Hear more of Don Allen and Peter weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app, and your smart speakers.
Date: October 1, 2025
Main Theme:
A raw, passionate postmortem of the Yankees’ Game 1 playoff loss to the Red Sox, with the team on the cusp of elimination. The hosts debate whether modern analytics and organizational decision-making—rather than the manager or players—are to blame for the team’s struggles, while unpacking the psychology and culture of today’s baseball. They zero in on Max Fried’s early exit, clubhouse morale, the Yankees’ season-long offensive ineptitude, and the larger implications for how teams approach high-pressure moments.
Don Hahn opens by rejecting calls to scapegoat Aaron Boone:
“Aaron Boone is the face of these decisions. But I’ve been around the Yankees long enough…he is doing the bidding of the organization. The decisions blew up in their face.” (01:00)
Collaborative Decision-Making:
The group agrees lineup and pitching management are determined by Yankees brass and analytics teams, not solely Boone—he’s the public face, not the mastermind.
Analytics vs. Instinct:
The team bristles at the “robotic” reliance on analytics at the expense of managers’ gut and players’ desire to compete.
“It’s played in the computer, on paper, how it’s all going to go down. But once that pitcher gets beyond 100, you’re not allowed to get it out.” — Don Hahn (08:21)
Fried’s Removal:
The main focus of outrage is pulling Yankees ace Max Fried after 6.1 innings and 102 pitches, only for replacement Luke Weaver to falter.
Peter Rosenberg:
“If you wanted to stay in, you could have told Boone, ‘No, I got this.’ But he didn’t. That stuff bothers me. But then you go and say it to the media…There’s problems in that clubhouse over this.” (05:33-06:16)
Allen:
“As a pitcher, you want to finish what you start…You don’t want somebody to put the shingles on the roof. You want to finish the house. You built it.” (06:53)
Contrast with Red Sox & Crochet:
Red Sox pitcher Crochet “bulldogged” through 117 pitches, the most in his career, and the Yankees took note.
“You saw the story with Crochet, what he told Cora, right? ‘I’m not coming out and don’t come get me.’” — Peter Rosenberg (04:33)
Philosophy & Analogies:
The hosts lampoon how no sport would conventionally remove their top performer (QB, goalie, star NBA player) mid-game due to arbitrary thresholds:
“What other sport does this make sense? You have great players. You pull your goaltender, you tell your quarterback… ‘Time to get Mario in there.’” — Allen (17:15)
Morale After Game 1:
The clubhouse appeared “disillusioned,” players trusting “the numbers more than you trust us.” Jazz Chisholm’s silent protest—refusing to face cameras—was highlighted.
“It’s as if you guys are trusting the numbers more than you trust us. Like Jazz, turn his back on the camera.” — Peter Rosenberg (02:43)
Boone’s Defensiveness:
When asked about Chisholm’s postgame attitude:
“I try and help make them understand my thought process and what I’m thinking…I need him to go out and play his butt off for us tonight.” — (Aaron Boone, 42:52)
Loss of Human Element:
The over-emphasis on analytics is seen as a culture-killer, depriving competitive athletes an opportunity to impact games at key moments.
“That takes the human element out of it and the emotion out of it. Frustrating.” — Don Hahn (37:36)
Yankees’ Offensive Drought:
On top of pitching controversies, the offense repeated familiar failings:
“They don’t hit…Bases loaded, nobody out, middle part of their lineup. Twice opportunities, nothing happened.” — Allen & Rosenberg (09:45)
Reliance on Home Runs:
If Judge (who had a good game) doesn’t go deep, “they don’t win.”
“If nobody hits home runs, they don’t score.” — Don Hahn (10:28) “It is feast or famine a lot of times with the Yankees. It is maddening.” — Peter Rosenberg (09:53)
Stanton's Critical At-Bat:
The team and fans expected heroics; instead, a disastrous strikeout.
“I was walk off Grand Slam. I got up off the couch and stood up for that at-bat…He listened to our show yesterday, heard the praise, and said, I’m going to look completely lost in the most critical playoff at bat.” — Allen & Rosenberg (11:05-11:16)
Alex Cora vs. Aaron Boone:
Praise for Cora’s feel and willingness to defy analytics when appropriate:
“Once again [Cora] showed you that he plays chess…If you have an opportunity to test Judge’s arm, do it. They were prepared for that moment.” — Peter Rosenberg (14:10)
In contrast:
“Should Boone push back as he’s got the final say? Red Sox are analytically driven too, but you get a sense that Cora gets a feel for the game.” — Don Hahn (35:29)
Yankees’ Top-Down Approach:
Boone’s job security is seen as dependent on compliance with organizational philosophy rather than winning instinct:
“If I’m defiant and I fail, I might be out of a job…They wanted a guy that was going to be of like mind.” — Don Hahn (35:29)
Matt from Nashville (26:55):
Defends Boone, says execution—particularly Weaver’s lengthy at-bat and lack of control—mattered more than pitch count.
“If Weaver goes out there and does his job, this isn’t a conversation.”
Robbie from Lenox, MA (33:58):
Rants that sitting Jazz Chisholm and Ben Rice (“the hottest hitters”) is an organizational failure and singles out a history of Yankees’ questionable playoff decisions.
Vinnie from Staten Island (38:03):
Critiques the removal of Fried, arguing even his Little League pitchers go longer than Yankees’ multi-millionaire arms, and asserts Boone will “cost them two or three World Series.”
Peter from Brooklyn (43:41):
Notes how Chapman almost gave it away in the 9th (“almost everything he could to not get it done”) and how the Yankees’ late opportunities fizzled.
Allen, on player mentality:
“You want to finish what you start. You don’t want to be taken out of a game because you built that. You built that house…You take pride in it.” (06:53)
Don Hahn mocks analytics across sports:
“The analytics show that Henry throws the ball more than 35 times—every throw after 30, there’s a 16% chance it’ll go incomplete…But stats exist in all these sports—no one’s psycho enough to listen to them.” (17:30-18:04)
Rosenberg, on why we watch sports:
“Isn’t sports supposed to be about going beyond the human limits?...That’s why we love it…That’s championships. Not going to guys on the bench.” (21:53)
Don Hahn, on Fried’s exit:
“You’re telling me after 102 pitches that Luke Weaver is a better option against 8-9 in the seventh inning than Max Fried?” (22:43)
Colorful banter & blue analogies (41:00–42:28):
The team jokes about applying bullpen management analogies to other walks of life, with references to “Boogie Nights” for safe radio.
Lively, passionate, and combative, the hour is a plea for a return to “feel” and faith in players and managers, as opposed to surrendering season-defining moments to spreadsheets and faceless decision-makers. The hosts, supported by like-minded callers, insist that the Yankees’ problem is institutionalized caution and lack of belief in their own stars.
Summary Statement:
If the Yankees are eliminated, it’ll be less about Aaron Boone or individual moments of execution, and more about an organizational philosophy that puts analytics and risk-aversion above gut, heart, and the will to win—leading, in the hosts’ words, to a clubhouse that feels distrusted and defeated before the series is even over.