← Don, Hahn & Rosenberg
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- [00:00]
A
Ian Fitzsimmons here and I'm going to be brutally honest with you. I was skeptical about ordering plants online. Like this is actually going to show up alive at my house. But after my wife and I ordered from Fast Growing trees, convinced they had this thing down to a science, they've built a whole system to protect your plants until they arrive. They even have a lab where they test against cold, heat, humidity, you name it. Any condition, they've got it and they thrive. We couldn't believe how good our plants looked when they arrived at our doorstep and everything showed up up exactly how he expected. A perfectly healthy plant that was easy to unbox and ready to go. Every order is backed by their Alive and thrive garon tea and you'll get ongoing support from real knowledgeable experts. They have unbelievable deals on spring planting essentials and right now you can get an additional 20% off your first order with the code sports at checkout. That's 20% off at fast growing trees.com with the code sports terms and conditions apply. Again, that's fast growingtrees.com code sports this
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is the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
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C
That sounds like heaven to me.
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B
Listen live weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app and your smart speakers.
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C
Game time is brought to you by Tullimore Dew Irish Whiskey because when it is game time, boys, It's tolly time. The Mets start a series with the Nationals. You can hear that game right here on 880 with coverage beginning after us at 6:05 and go over to 1050 at 8 because game one of Spurs Thunder will be there. And then the Yankees host the Blue Jays at 7:05. Tullamore due the original triple distilled, triple blended and triple cast matured Irish whiskey. Be sure to grab a Tullamore do or try the new Tullamore Do. Honey, during today's action, glasses up to enjoying Tullamore do responsibly. Aaron Boone spoke moments ago before the Yankees game against the Blue Jays. As you know, Garrett Cole is not pitched so far this year. He did have a couple of rehab stints and now the question is, will he make his next start here or elsewhere? Here's Aaron Boone.
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D
Just kind of everyone that's involved from the training staff, from Garrett, just wanting to do the right thing. What's the right timing again, whatever we do like, it's with the long game in mind. So, you know, a need doesn't necessarily mean we're bringing him back. It's like if we feel like he's absolutely ready to go and checked all the boxes. Then we'll make that call. I'd say it's on the table. Yeah.
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C
All right. So it's on the table. Alan. His next time pitching might be with the New York Yankees.
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B
Yeah. And again with the Freed situation, you know, you really. Right now, although I still am leaning towards maybe the Freed situation isn't as dire as it originally might have been believed to be, which is a good thing because I'd love to see these two in a rotation. That'd be nice.
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C
Yeah.
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B
But getting Cole back would be great. This is pretty much on the timeline. Right. We were told at some point in May, so that's a good thing. And from what it seems like in his rehab starts, the more. The more pitches that he threw, the stronger he got. And I'll tell you what, it sounds like the velocity's there, too, so I'm excited to see him back. That's going to be a big part of it. But once again, starting pitching was a strength of this team. It's. It's the back end that you're. You're more concerned about.
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C
But the headline is when he pitches here, it won't be out of need. It'll be he's ready. So they're not going to rush him, of course, by any stretch.
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B
Don't ever say that.
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C
We mentioned to you that Wells has been struggling not in the lineup tonight. And Aaron Boone talked about sitting Wells,
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D
you know, obviously been scuffling the last, really this trip where I felt like early on was, you know, putting together some at bats early in the season, not getting some results. And then yesterday's game, the way it turned out with him getting in there for half the game, I just felt like today with the lefty, another good day to have him down.
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C
Do you expect him back in there tomorrow?
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D
We'll see. Yeah, we'll see.
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C
Well, because really depends on what happens in the game. Right. So. But it sounds to me like you don't play well. You don't play very.
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B
Yeah.
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C
So why should he just. Oh, he'll be back tomorrow. Maybe. Let's see, Star goes out there and goes four for four. You know, forget the analytics now, this is what I like about it. He's not performing. He's going to have to sit. And he went deeper into Wells struggles, I think.
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D
Well, like, because he's catching really well, which is, you know, the number one job. Right. I mean, there's so much we put on the plate for the, for the catchers. And he's certainly, I think, established himself as an outstanding defensive catcher and a leader of our staff. So he's been able to separate the two, which is very important. But I expect more out of him offensively and we got to keep working to try and get him on track.
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C
Now, the reason this is an issue is because he's not the only one not hitting right. You're not getting any production at a catcher from either guys. I think you've got a total of what, like 11 RBIs out of the two of them so far this year. All right. You're not getting anything out of third. So you, you've got certain areas where you expect production, especially those two positions. You're not getting it.
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B
Yeah, but again, I think third, Don, you knew coming in because you were taught you were looking at third base as the value of the defense and hoping to just get the occasional. But you knew you weren't going to get much offensively out of that. It's, I think to me it's Wells's drop off is the one that I think really is shocking. You know, it's not like he was trash two years ago. He had a good year. Right?
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C
Right. No. And that's why they thought they were okay.
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B
I don't know. It's. It's gone from bad to, to start this season to worse. And if I'm not mistaken, he wasn't bad in the, in wbc, right?
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C
I don't think so. I don't remember. No. Honestly, no.
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B
He had moments, if you remember, for the Dominican team. So I think that's the part that really is surprising how much it's fallen off. The glassy eyed look in his face, the fact that, as you know, it always seems to come around to the guy that's struggling when there's a moment to have a big hit and you're waiting for him to deliver and he's not, he, you know, he's got some pop in his bat when he's right. And I think Boone, knowing how he is, I'm telling you from, from the little bit that I've seen this weekend with him and with the way Boone has talked about it, Boone is not ready to give up on him because he's not like that. You know how he is with his players. And it's like, we got to get him right. We got to get him right. That seems to be the prevailing thought right now versus this guy's a bum. Get rid of him. We got to find someone else. But they do know they need to find a righty bat anyway because you can't have two lefty catchers. So they're going to try to let him just take the pressure off a little bit, but with a scary. You're not getting any offense either. So now it's just more out of the bottom of your order.
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C
Let's go to Chris in Bayshore. You're on espn, New York. What's up, Chris?
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E
Yeah, hey, guys, listen, I got a couple of things on the Yankees. First of all, I think Matt Hyde is. Matt Hyde is the northeast scouting guy. He's got to get so much credit for the, for the Schleidler and the Rice thing. But as far as Wells goes, I mean, you know, I know it's not, it's not going to happen. You know, trade a catcher in the middle of the season, especially a guy like that. But, you know, you got a guy in, in la, you got the local kid who's struggling. Oh, Hoppy. And he's an Eastern guy. And Wells, the Western guy, call him up and say, hey, let's maybe have a chain of scenery.
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C
Well, I guess I think it's too early for that conversation. You know how Brian Cashman likes to be patient. We saw how long he waited. Gary Sanchez, how many conversations do we have? Oh, you know, the framing. And he's, he's, he's the best at framing the ball, trying to find anything positive until finally he had to cut bait. I think we're way, way premature to start to getting out of the Wells business, but we do know the history. You just said he's going to be patient with McMahon because he had 20 home runs last year, although we forget 16 of those 20 were in Colorado or as a Rocky. So he's going to be patient. But at some point, when you start to see a guy that would be in the lineup, not in the lineup, that they're keeping an eye on it.
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B
And don't you think they're also still there? They are trying to buy time for Lombard Jr. Yeah, it's the easiest thing to do then. Then go out and find somebody that now it's going to cost you money and all that stuff, and you don't want to get caught up in a contract that goes beyond even next year because you, you know, you're hoping the kid at some point is going to be ready and you'll be able to call him up and then all bets are off. Right. He is already ready for the league defensively. You just don't want to bring him up Too soon. Because what can happen to him at the plate is, you know, what can happen to anybody if they're not ready.
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C
It's being ready. But I also don't want it to appear that he's coming up to be a savior. Right. Oh, we've got problems here hitting the fans. Let's bring him up. Let's have them play third. And what are the fans going to say? Like what happened with the. With the Mets with their call up right. With. With Ewing. And now it's looked upon, oh, look, save us, save our situation. We're not getting any hit. We're struggling. I don't want that either. Ideally, have him come up. You're winning. He comes up in September. And then he could start the season in the beginning of the year. And again, it's just important to remember how different everything feels every two weeks. So don't make a decision about the start of somebody's career based on a feeling of urgency that you feel on May 18th that you weren't feeling, let's say, on May 1st and you won't be feeling on June 1st. That's every week we just keep changing what the needs are because, oh my, this week it's this and this week you have to give time, you have to really give this a window before you know what the true needs are of a team. And we went through with McMahon. He wasn't hitting. Then he started hitting again. Now he's not over his last 20
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B
something wasn't buying that. Every year we do this because every year, because, look, we go into the season, the Yankee roster was a run it back. That means it wasn't a. It wasn't a. They're not a complete roster. They knew that you don't run back something that. That can't get out of the. Can't get through the final four.
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C
Right.
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B
Can't get back to the World Series. You're not, you don't run that back and say, well, we think we're better. No, you run it back because you like what you've got. You know, you got to add more, but you don't want to make too many changes because it only creates more holes. And they also had some young players that they thought would be pushing their way up. Right. There's that, too. So I don't, I don't think they think this is it. And every year Cashman is in the business, come late June or now, all of a sudden, we're going to start seeing what we can find. And as Don pointed out, the majority of this league is playing under.500 baseball, which means there'll be some sellers and you got to wait it out and just try to get through this right now.
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C
Right.
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B
To see if you can fix a couple of the holes that you might have there. But I really do think deep down they are trying to hold out as long as they can and buy time for George Lombard Jr. Who's going to be in their minds. That's who they have in mind for the next five to 10 years, playing third base where they thought it would be him and Volpe. But at least you think he's going to be your third baseman if Caballero ends up being your answer at shortstop. Because remember, Lombard was he's a shortstop.
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C
Yeah, you don't want to mess everything up, playing it out of position and all that. So you want to try to make it as perfect as possible for them.
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F
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C
Let's go to Kevin in Queens. You're on. Don Hanna, Rosenberg.
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E
Hey, what's going on, guys? Another show, man, as always, making a call. What's up, guys? Michael K. Was talking. Not specifically about this, but talking about, like, you know, the fans on social media, mess fans and Yankee fans after the. At the subway series. And as a Mets fan. So, Don, I want to. I want to hear your take. Ollie, obviously you too, Alan. Sor. God. Because you're the mess fan. But this kind of, like, just drives me crazy, right? When Mets fans are like, oh, like, we run the town, right? We'll. We'll beat the series. We'll win the subway series. We run the town. And then this whole big brother, little brother conversation, like, I know that didn't come from Mets fans, right? But, like, it just drives me crazy. We won a Subway series. Cool. How about we continue to win, we turn the season around, and let's make the playoffs consistently. So just want to hear your take on it. Like, it just drives me crazy when I hear that from Mets.
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C
Well, there's two things at play.
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E
What are we doing? We can't.
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C
You got to at least be able to celebrate taking two out of three. Otherwise, what are we doing this for? You know, we obviously do this every year. All right, the Mets won the series. Does it mean they're the better team? Does it mean they own the town? No, but you know what? They took two out of three. And then come September, we'll go to Yankee Stadium and we'll see where it all ends up being. Most likely, the Yankees will take two out of three and it's all even, right? But, you know, don't take the fun out of it by saying, well, we're still the Yankees. Well, then why do we do it? Because the Mets are always going to be the Mets. Yankees are going to be the Yankees until something significant changes. But what Met fans can't celebrate taking two out of three. If they got to shut their mouths because they're the Met, then what do we bother? Why not? Why do it? You know, then it. Then you've taken all the fun out of it. But as far as Owning the town. Stop it. I heard that from Met fans when Soto came here. That's not the objective. The objective is to start to win, be a relevant team, be consistent, and win a championship. Why do you care who owns the town? What does that mean? What does that mean?
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B
Is this a more recent thing, Don? Like, do you remember this being a thing? Because you were on the other side of it, I was on the other side of it. We both grew up in the same generation. We all know what that stuff was like, you know, game in and game out. Now, they didn't play each other back then. When you and I were kids, that stuff didn't start till you and I both were far adults and not into that kind of stuff. Like, we didn't care as much to give and take.
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C
Right?
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B
But there was still the comparison. And I had to endure through a late night, late 80s of, you know, a household of all Met fans. And I'm sitting there, like, just trying to at least argue that Danny Tarnable is just as good. Like, I didn't know what I was going to say at that point. Right? Because they were just bad. They weren't as good. But, but, but I never. The run this town stuff and who's.
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C
I don't know what.
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B
Because they play each other now that this was supposed to kind of immediate to, like, who's better.
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C
It's something because I guess Yankee fans, because they're the number one team, can always fall back on, like, this weekend. Well, listen, we're still. We're still a playoff team, and you're in last place.
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B
Well, but that's.
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C
We've won 27 champions.
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B
Isn't that the ultimate, Mike?
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C
Well, then, Then, then there's no reason
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B
you're not even at.500. So congratulations. You want to playoff series, but how about get to our level first before you want to really start, you know, talking?
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C
And I bring this up all the time. So the Olives win four Stanley Cup. Stanley Cups, Right. The Rangers still own the town. I don't think that. I don't think the Islanders would trade those four Stanley Cups. Like, so what is owning the town? Do you get a trophy for that? Like, at the end of the year when they have the awards ceremony, they give you a championship trophy for being the most popular team in your area? No, it's just something to kind of make you feel good. Like, oh, the Giants are awful and the Giants can't win. But, you know, at least we got more fans than the Jets. What does that mean?
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B
Here's what I had to hear in 94, after being happy for my parents who waited all that time to see the Rangers win the cup. What I had to hear after that, which set me off even more, is being told that that one cup had way more value than the Islanders four in a row. And I'm like, what? Like, what are you like? Because you can't fathom that no one's ever going to win four straight championships again in the four major sports in this country. It's going to happen. But you're telling me that one was greater than 4.
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C
It's creating a false narrative to make up a gap, right?
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B
Yeah.
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C
It would almost be like saying, like, I don't know, was there a stat that the Pistons won last night? Let's say the Pistons had more rebounds. Be like, oh, well, yeah, you beat us by 30, but we had more rebounds than you. And no. So it's trying. You lost. So now it's trying to create something to make you feel better that doesn't really exist.
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B
But that's the fun part of this, which is why the back and forth. I don't tell people when, if Met fans wanted to walk out of that stadium and sit in that damn God awful traffic because you can't take. You couldn't. Because you take the suburbs, you couldn't take the train home. And you wanted to crow about how the Yankees were like, oh, man, we've got you guys rattled. You're devastated. Your closer can't close, your catcher can't hit. Look what happened. You blew a lead. Like we took two out of three against. You know what? I got to take all of it. I can't. What am I going to say? You're right, you're right.
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That's all. That's the matters.
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B
Go ahead, run this down.
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C
Final score. Who's the better team? Not the most popular team. Who sells the most jerseys? Who sells out all their games? I had to hear it as a Devil fan. Well, you know, you can't even sell out the medal. All right, good. You went eight straight years of missing the playoffs. Devils are winning three Stanley Cups. You want to trade? You know, same thing. And I've been on both sides.
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B
Tell people they can't do this. Don't tell people you can't talk like you run that town. But yes, you can.
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C
But no, I did see that.
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F
I disagree.
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E
Don't.
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C
Running the town. Hey, for three days we were better than you.
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B
Yeah, all right. That's the town.
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C
Doesn't matter how many of us all just, hey, we Played games. That's what it's about. The final score. That's it. And you keep it moving. That's all. And then you move because what are
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E
you going to do?
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C
You jump up and down and pound your chest.
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B
Yes. Yeah.
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C
For how long?
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B
It's too long of a season. I enjoy the little victories like this. If you're a Met fan, you love this. I, oh my God, we've got you guys in shambles right now. Look at you. You, bottom of your order sucks. You're.
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C
Yeah, but, but look at people like Anthony, who's the average fan of his age. He didn't care that they lost to the Mets, he just cared that they lost the series.
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B
I, I, I didn't carry. I told you how I felt. This, this week means more to me than this weekend did. But if as a Mets fan though, like it like you're thinking about the way started. Look at this. I saw some of the guy, Dave Lennon, wrote this in Newsday about how this could be the turning point. Maybe this, maybe it is, maybe it isn't.
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C
But you know what? For a couple of days you felt. No, it's a good moment. It feels good and then you move on. Good.
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B
So don't tell people they can't pound their chest.
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C
I enjoy the steak and then I feel bloated after and I regret it. That's right. That's how it is, what this is, you know? And then if the Mets lose three out of four to the Nationals, that's a little B. Yeah.
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B
Then it's gone and I won't let you forget it.
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C
Robert in Manhattan, you're on espn.
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B
Yes. Good afternoon, gentlemen.
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E
I hope you're having a good day and have a Memorial Day weekend holiday.
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B
To all of you, my questions are for Donnie Pucks.
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C
Yes.
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B
I'm gonna ask you three questions, Donnie
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E
Pucks, because you're our guru and I'm gonna hang up and listen. Number one, who do you like in game seven and why? Number two, who's gonna give Carolina a tougher tuffle? A tougher tussle. Sorry about that. And number three, who do you like out west?
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C
Well, how do you not like Colorado? I'll go with the last one first here. Colorado is just, I think, way better than Vegas. Vegas is a really good, well run team. But Colorado just got way too much firepower and Nathan McKinnon isn't even having that great of a playoffs. He's going to go nuts. And I think they, I think they're going to, they won't sweep because they haven't, you know, where they had just the one loss, but I think they'll take care of business in the West. I think they're going to win the whole thing. I like the Canadiens tonight just because it seems like the road team has been better in this series. I think I touched on it earlier. I think Montreal was overwhelmed by the moment. They're a young team, one of the youngest in the league. They had the whole pomp and circumstance. Larry Robinson comes out, lights, the ice on fire, place is going nuts. And the only reason they had a 3:1 lead is because Lyon was awful, got pulled in the game. Otherwise, Buffalo was the better team from start to finish in that game. But I do think being home could actually be a detriment to Buffalo. But I do believe Buffalo would give Carolina the tougher tussle. I do think Carolina wins the series either way, but I just think Buffalo was the more complete team and I think they would win a couple of games against Carolina, but I think it's Carolina, Colorado. I'd love to see Montreal advance, guys. I just think they're too young. We forget Dovish is a rookie, too. Their time will come. Montreals, but. And I think they could win, you know, this game and move on to the conference final. But I think it's Carolina, Colorado.
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F
Do you guys want to take a look at our bracket challenge that we haven't mentioned since we asked people to?
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C
Yeah, we haven't mentioned it. What are we looking at?
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F
We've got three teams tied with four. Three brackets, I should say. Tied with 480 points, which is good for 98.7%. And there's 98.7 percentile. Keedies, toupee, Thorold puckers and S99 Gretzky. I am tied for fourth with a litany of people, one being my college roommate at 95% with 440 points. And I have to give a shout out to Zach and Callie. They're tied for ninth with 400 points. They have the Hurricanes winning it all, so they're still alive. One of the people that have 440 points has lightning winning, so they are probably done. But something to keep an eye on here. Plenty of people still in the hunt and we'll see who wins at the end.
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C
Well, my name was a mention, so I guess I'm not having it. Not great.
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B
That means not good.
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C
I had Colorado, but I had Montreal.
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F
You have 320 points on your 59.5
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C
and I have a Montreal Colorado final.
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F
No, I think Montreal would probably help you?
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C
Yeah, I think it would help me. And also Molly, not Molly. Emily Kaplan is reporting that the Sabers cave. They're just going to go with their traditional uniforms.
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B
Too soft.
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C
There was debate that maybe they would pay the fine and do it, but I do think it adds more pressure. Right. And if you lose, you look bad. So the fact that it got out and you already clearly have like some. There's a built in mojo this year, right? Like don't you already have. You have something going here. Yeah, but they haven't played well at home. So I can understand what they were trying to do. They're trying to create a vibe.
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F
They stood in a hotel that's a good to simulate being an away game, you know.
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C
And Legler, I think I was going to ask him about it, but he kind of backed it up with what he said about how the noise was overwhelming for Detroit and the pressure of a Game seven. All the more reason why I think the Knicks could have gotten out of Dodge. Just so you don't have to hear all of it. But you know, they stayed here and we'll see if it affects them. We'll have game one tomorrow.
- [24:24]
G
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- [26:08]
B
I like things my way. My coffee, my schedule and my treatment. So I talked to my doctor about self injecting with the Vivgard Hytrulo pre filled syringe which contains fgartegamide alpha and hyaluronidase qvfc. It's injected under your skin subcutaneous. It means I can inject in my space on my time. It's my treatment, my way. Visit vivgardmyway.com that's V-Y-V-G-A-R-T my way.com and talk to your doctor about Vivgard Hyrulo. Brought to you by Argenics thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
- [26:43]
C
I didn't listen to anything you just said.
- [26:45]
B
Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
- [26:53]
C
So the last call crude 1-800-919-3776 let's go to Ahmed in the car. You're on ESPN New York. Hello.
- [27:02]
E
Hey, how you guys doing?
- [27:04]
D
Good.
- [27:04]
C
How are you man?
- [27:07]
E
I'm good. I just wanted to discuss something I just saw a couple minutes ago.
- [27:11]
C
Okay.
- [27:11]
E
Three hours ago, BenMGM and NBA posted an updated power rankings and they had, they had it ranked okc, San Antonio, Knicks, Cavs. But I'm just shocked to see how we're ranked lower than the spurs when we're two and one against them in the season and we beat them for the.
- [27:31]
B
Let me. Yeah, I saw this too. So you're just. I want to make sure I get it right from what you're saying is to win a championship odds
- [27:41]
E
it just seems like update latest a playoff power rankings.
- [27:46]
B
Okay, well like I think, I think you have 260 win teams there. Right? So you have that on top of the fact that whoever wins that series, the belief is that team is going to be the favorite to win the championship. That's, that's, that's pretty much how a lot of the bet, a lot of the betting companies are looking at it.
- [28:08]
E
I do see that. But then again I just feel like if the spurs end up pulling up an upset, I still think like I don't know how you guys would favor that series, but I feel like it should be dead even or we would be slight favorites.
- [28:22]
C
Well, see, what you're buying into is the regular season. You just said that the Knicks beat the spurs two out of three times. Well, the spurs beat the Thunder four out of five times. So does that mean you just said the spurs were going to upset the Thunder? Well, if you go by regular season meetings, that would not even upset. But it is an upset considering the Thunder are the defending champions and they were had the better overall record in the regular season. And that's what you're looking at. Now, if you wanted to go by the odds, what I heard this morning, I don't know if it was FanDuel or Betmg. I'm not sure what the sponsor was, but they had the Thunder to win the championship of plus 285.
- [29:07]
B
Right.
- [29:08]
C
And the Knicks at plus 280.
- [29:10]
B
I think it was 265. 260. But you're right on it.
- [29:12]
C
But it was.
- [29:13]
B
But you're right on it.
- [29:14]
C
But that the odds were better for the Knicks. Why? Because they've got an easier path to the final than the Thunder do. The Thunder Spurs. That's a much tighter series, at least from a Vegas standpoint, than Knicks Cav. So how can you put the Thunder ahead of the Knicks if there's more of a chance of the Knicks getting to the final than the Thunder? Now once we get to a final of Knicks Thunder, if we get there, the Thunder would be the favorite in my eyes. I believe they would probably be the favorite to win at all. But because their path is tougher to get there, that's why the Knicks odds are a little bit better.
- [29:46]
B
Right.
- [29:47]
C
But from a power ranking standpoint, wouldn't you have the spurs over the Knicks?
- [29:50]
B
Yes.
- [29:50]
C
You can't look at the regular season matchups now. They did play the one meaningful game in the. In the cup. Yeah, but still, if we've learned anything over these last few weeks is the regular season is pretty meaningless. Let's not get too caught. I. Hey, it's. It's something. Right? I'm not, I'm not saying you throw it away completely. It's in the hopper of reasons to like a team, not like a team. But it's not as a bigger reason as you think. It's not.
- [30:16]
B
No, no. And it's also what you're seeing out of the teams, what you saw to the spurs, the answer they had after that bad Wemby game. And you know, I don't care how young they are. They'll be the outlier of a team. You know, you always talk about. Other people do, too. Wilbaum was saying this as well, is the. You need the playoff calluses. You need those playoff losses to kind of burn you and, you know, kind of just galvanize you to be ready for when it's your time and your run. And the spurs don't have any of that. But for some reason, they could be an outlier team that just. They're ready already.
- [30:56]
C
Could be. Could be the beginning of something big. It could be, you know, literally. Now, obviously we had the Halliburton injury, but you know what's going to happen to the Pacers now. Guys like, they look like they were going to be the next team we threw away this year because they lost Halliburton. But do we know they're going to be back? Do we know? Obviously can't. They went to the. Within the game of winning a championship, and maybe that's as close as they'll ever get. We don't know.
- [31:17]
B
Very confident they'll be back.
- [31:19]
C
All right, well, they'll be back.
- [31:20]
B
All depends, though. It does all depend on Halliburton's condition when he does come back. Because, man, he dealt with. He didn't just deal with the Achilles. He had shingles. He gained weight. It's been a weird turn the weight off.
- [31:32]
C
Been a weird and tough offseason.
- [31:33]
B
His whole body might be completely just whacked for a year until he gets his. Gets himself back to what he was. Not easy.
- [31:41]
C
You know, we talk about the scar tissue, and sometimes you've got to learn to lose before you win, but that doesn't necessarily mean that just because you're on the path that you'll get there. Like maybe does Detroit take a step forward or they take a couple of steps back?
- [31:58]
B
Yeah.
- [31:59]
C
Is this the best we can expect from them, or is this the sign of things to come?
- [32:03]
B
Well, Minnesota is a great example.
- [32:04]
C
They've been there three times, banging on the door.
- [32:07]
B
Yeah.
- [32:08]
C
You know, and you go through all the teams that we thought they were going to be the next big thing. I'm really high on the Bears taking the next step in the NFL. Doesn't mean they will. You know, it's different than it was when we were younger where you took those steps because teams stayed together. Free agency wasn't as big a deal. There was no cap. Right. So you can literally keep the same starters in there if you wanted to for a decade. So you knew the team was going to come back pretty much the same. Everybody else was going to be the same. So it was, it was, it was easier to take steps forward and it was also harder to fall back because you're able to keep your core together. It was also difficult when you didn't have a core to get one now because, hey, listen, Boston, go out there and get, go out and get Giannis and completely change the landscape of the east this year or for next year, right? Who knows?
- [32:58]
E
Exactly.
- [32:58]
C
And then all of a sudden we're having another completely different conversation. God forbid who's going to get hurt in the final that will say, okay, they're done. God forbid something happens to Wemby, all of a sudden the spurs are going to take a year off.
- [33:09]
E
Right.
- [33:10]
B
Never know.
- [33:10]
C
But all you can play with is what's in front of you. And right now this is a very. Even with what's out there in the west, which is pretty scary. I think, I think we all believe at this point the kind of basketball the Knicks have played in the playoffs, they would be able to play with either of those teams.
- [33:25]
B
I think there's a, there's a good belief in it. And I love what Leg said to us when he joined us an hour ago, which is about how defensively, like, we know Oklahoma City is elite offensively and defensively, we know the Knicks, what they've shown you with this offense is they are elite offensively. But what he said is that we really haven't seen them be elite defensively and they haven't been tested enough to do that.
- [33:54]
C
Right.
- [33:54]
B
So maybe this is a series where because that's, this Cavs offense is legit. But I thought the Sixer offense was legit after what they did to Boston. So we will see if they'll, if their defense can get to that level. And then you'll say, okay, this will be a really good matchup between. If the Knicks and the, and the Thunder end up meeting up, everything looks great. Yeah.
- [34:16]
C
But it's really basing it off of two teams, how they played against Atlanta and Philadelphia. Well, think about it too.
- [34:22]
B
Atlanta, red hot team coming into the playoffs, who everybody's talking about, and a Sixer team that when they got, finally all their guys on the court, took the Celtics and just kicked them right out of the playoffs.
- [34:34]
C
All I'll say, and I have this conversation with my buddy E.J. radek all the time in hockey, the great E.J. raddick. We get caught up in who's hot, who's not, who did this in the regular season. Who did that? It really just comes down to how you match up with your opponent in that moment. And how do they match up with the Cleveland. Like, we knew there was a lack of size with Atlanta. We knew that, you know, the Embiid situation with his injuries and all that. How do they match up against the Cavs? We'll do a lot of this tomorrow. We'll be outside the Garden right there getting ready for Game 1. But that's what it really comes down to, right? We get caught up in all the ancillary stuff. How do these teams match up against each other and how do they play in that given moment? Because we know it's. It's lame, but it's true. You know, if the Cavs are hitting every one of their shots from three, it changes everything, right? And if one of the teams isn't hitting their shots, changes everything the other way. So we need to see it. It's. And each level becomes harder and harder. Conference finally get to the file. It's going to get harder, guys. I believe in this Knicks team, but you're not going to be on cruise control to a championship that. Rarely does that happen. Rarely does that happen.
- [35:44]
B
The Thunder have won eight straight to start the playoffs. They haven't blinked. And I don't even think they've played their best. So they have been in that role, too. This is their first test. San Antonio's got their number, so that's, you know, that's something to watch too, tonight. Very interesting game to watch. Think about this. Shake yogis. Alexander is going to be awarded the MVP tonight. That's right before the game. He's going to get his trophy. My Manyama is going to be standing there watching it. Remember, he's the one who made the case for himself as mvp because he said an mvp, true best player is on both ends of the floor. And so you think he's going to have a little something in the back. He's. He's a very spiteful guy. He finds every reason to create enemies and to create. So I'm curious to see how he looks tonight in this game to set a tone after seeing a trophy that someone else won that he feels he rightly deserves.
- [36:38]
C
And I understand that could irritate Wemby and affect the Thunder in a positive way. Why does the NBA do that?
- [36:44]
B
Like give the trophy before the game?
- [36:45]
C
Why would I even want that? I mean, I'm battling for a championship for game one of the third round, and you're giving me an individual trophy that I won in the regular season. Like, how do you not even want. Why would you even want to lift
- [36:57]
B
it up in front of the other team who's like, oh, okay, like a little something extra?
- [37:02]
C
I know the Calder got leaked out with. With Schaefer and all that stuff. And that was nice. That was a nice moment. But I like the NHL go to Vegas, they give out the awards after. And even that's kind of funny, right? Too right. That one year when Tampa won all the awards and they got swept in the first round. They're probably looking at the trophy. What is this the real trophy I want. I didn't come close to, you know, but think about it. He's going to go out there, game one, Western Conference, finally going to present him a regular season trophy. I mean, talk about anticlimactic, right? And if Wemby's thinking about that should be mine. Well, what are you doing? There's one trophy that everybody should be going after, and there's four teams that got a shot at it. Let the let. Let the regular season awards go to all the Philistines who didn't come close to making it right.
- [37:49]
B
Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
- [37:52]
C
I don't want to know how the
- [37:53]
B
sausage is made, man. I just want to know. It's good. Hear more of Don Allen and Peter weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN News York app, and your smart speakers.
- [38:06]
F
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