"I just don't think there's many better than Cora" -Lou Merloni joins

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"I just don't think there's many better than Cora" -Lou Merloni joins! Curtis: "If you switched the managers yesterday, do you think the game is different?" Do Sox have the managerial advantage?  Could we see Chappy again tonight??  @LouMerloni   joins! "I expect him to be available tonight again" How much credit does Cora get? "I loved the move" #mlb  @WEEI   Toss up- Beckett, Lester, Crochet

Transcript

00:00but the great lou merloni from new york hi lou well good morning everybody how are we doing today

00:06what a night last night wow yeah yeah it was um i mean it was just like kind of brought back to

00:15old school just i mean listen i i i played at a time when when we had clemens versus pedro

00:21you know and and last night kind of like freed crochet different era but just sort of like you

00:29knew you knew you're going to get that kind of game like freed was awesome crochet was awesome even

00:34better like it was just there's nothing better than listening to a quiet yankee stadium leaving

00:39nothing better lou they they asked crochet about this and you probably could could give a better

00:45insight about him being able to pitch a lot more innings and wanting to do it like guys do it back

00:52in the day but he said because of his velocity he didn't think that he could do it is he throwing

00:59a lot harder now than you know guys like clemens and you know pedro and guys that we think about

01:04that that pitched a bunch of innings is he throwing a lot harder than those guys were

01:08um i still think there are guys that threw the ball real hard i mean even go back even before

01:14my era you know um maybe not as many um listen i play with pedro he's 97 98 you know so um for a

01:24little guy you know roger maybe 95 97 that type of thing i mean so verlander another guy that could

01:30crank it up to 98 99 and even back in the day those guys that throwing the ball in the high 90s just

01:35there weren't as many you know so i don't know about the whole error thing i try to stay out of

01:40the error thing but it's been impressive you know for a guy that was like last year the white socks sort

01:46of like we're just trying to be careful with him they did they did the red socks a favor with how they

01:50monitored his innings last year in the second half almost gave him like a foundation year to sort of

01:56like they were doing somebody a favor they knew they were trading him they wanted to get him ready

02:00and build them up to 142 so the following year he could go 200 innings for somebody not them so you

02:07kind of give them a lot of credit with how they reused them last year lou i i have to say uh awesome

02:13year by the way best in boston you know that but um the if you switch the managers yesterday

02:18do you think the game's different

02:21listen i i i like aaron boone i think he takes a lot of heat i just don't think there's many better

02:27than cora especially in the postseason you know and and listen i know that he's he's taking a lot of

02:32heat for freed right pulling freed and and bringing in weaver i don't know i was just walk in watching

02:39that game we were even talking about like he was starting to look different like he was completely

02:43dominant and all of a sudden he just sort of lost the off-speed pitches the location he was

02:48his misses were really really bad you could see him tiring and and it was 99 pitches

02:54he he went to his guy i think every single manager from this point on in the postseason

03:00if you bring in a reliever and they do their job you look very smart if you no matter when it is if

03:07you bring in a reliever and he doesn't do his job you're going to be questioned and you're an idiot

03:11um like tonight like brian baio the rest if it's not garrett crochet core is going to be aggressive

03:17and you know it could be four innings four and a third four and two thirds maybe it's greg weissert

03:23early in the game maybe it's slayton to get out of a jam if slayton doesn't give it up

03:26why did you pull baio so i just i feel like everybody gets this when the bottom line is luke weaver

03:32didn't do his job you know so um you got to be better how petty did the yankees look for trying

03:40to prevent an entire fan base in a state from buying tickets to a playoff game yeah yeah it's um

03:48i think i've seen it before in sports because i remember this story coming up before um i think it

03:55was yeah i think it was the colts it was peyton manning and in the uh indianapolis yeah yeah i think

04:00courtney said it too because there was a yankee red sox fans there right who still live in the

04:04area like if we if we happened to do this there would be yankee fans living in boston so couldn't

04:10keep everybody out but it was interesting because little birdie did tell me that because of it

04:14they had six or seven thousand tickets unsold and in the very last minute put out very cheap tickets

04:21to make sure that thing was sold out it kind of backfired on them lou if they can't get it done

04:26tonight and they've got to play tomorrow do you think connelly early is the guy and do you

04:30have confidence in that uh i do think it's early um the funny thing is i've just as to be honest

04:37with you after watching this kid and just kind of being around him kind of just as much confidence

04:41as him and giolito um because lucas was just wasn't himself the last couple of outings there

04:47was a lot of walks the velocity was way down and i think no matter who it is whether it's giolito or

04:52early it's going to be two times through the order and just go hitter to hitter after that the

04:56problem with giolito is that you just thinned your whole rotation out you thinned your whole

05:00pitching situation out i mean if you get by this neck this round and you go to a game like a five

05:06game series a seven game series you don't want 12 pitchers you need to have 13 you need to have 14

05:12the problem is i don't know if they have a healthy arm to even activate you know that's the problem

05:18moving forward you know like dustin may is probably the guy that will be added if they were to move

05:24forward you've really you've tested out your depth in your pitching department here um so early

05:31i feel comfortable with him i mean the guy's got five pitches he throws for strikes i think he can

05:35handle the moment it's just that you're really really thin and you could have used early maybe out

05:39of a bullpen in this series instead well one of the interesting things last night is and they talked

05:46about maybe a little strategy in the game when chapman came out in the eighth and then they the

05:51yankees kind of took some they took a little bit longer to kind of keep him on the bench because it

05:57seems like he really needs to be warmed up and it almost looked like that when he faced his first

06:02three batters which he loaded the bases but then he got to that chapman form does he really need that

06:08like you can't have any time between him and his like kind of pitching

06:13no i think that he um you know he only done four four outs a few times this year and you kind of

06:22don't do that so he can do it this time of year um i first off i love that move i know whitlock was

06:29out there but they had a very good left-handed hitter and ben rice on the bench that they would

06:34have hit for caballero um so you bring whitlock in and now you bring in a good hitter who can leave

06:39the yard and who's who will be in there tonight so that's why you go to chapman right away uh it got

06:46a little hairy you know and he's at times this year come in throwing 95 96 strike one they knew it he

06:51was throwing strike one more than he has in the past they were i think they swung it five or six of

06:56the first seven pitches he threw um in that ninth inning um but listen it's the playoffs i expect him to

07:03be available here tonight again and i expect him hopefully to be out on the mound and close this

07:07thing out lou how much credit do you give alex cora for where they are right now and how how well

07:12they've been playing yeah i think he said an outstanding year and i know you know when you

07:17live baseball day to day and you react day to day and you're watching a baseball game and you know

07:23let's face it i get it like not everybody watches every game but you're sort of watching it

07:27going okay why isn't whitlock in why isn't chapman in and you don't realize that maybe they've thrown

07:31three of the last four days and that's why you know because he has to manage 162 he can't manage a

07:37a nightly basis thing and um he said very young very inexperienced team i mean the veterans on this

07:44team are bregman story and ref schneider who's is a role player and it ends there you know duran's in

07:52his third year as a starter he's kind of getting there so i just think managing these young players

07:57i mean yesterday how much heat would he take you know for starting nate eaton nick sogard you know

08:04in a playoff game against max free he's going to do it again tonight against radon if they had lost

08:08how much heat would he have taken for for allowing nick sogard to hit if he into a double play and

08:13didn't hit a double you know but he knows his players he knows his team and in the playoffs he's

08:19now 18 and 8 so i i think um i think that kind of says it all 18 and 8 and socks 9 of 10 in their

08:27last 10 playoff games against the yankees wild uh yeah could you uh you're you're the uh socks historian

08:33as well could you rank that's buckley that's true sorry buck you're probably sleeping at the

08:40marriott but good morning i go about as far back as about three days ago right to be honest with you

08:43too many concussions curtis oh lou don't don't sell yourself short but uh beckett beckett lester

08:50and crochet where do you rank those three in terms of aces entering in the postseason

08:57um boy lester is such a workhorse and i tell you what beckett was at 07 he's almost unhittable

09:03um what we saw last night i just felt was different well yeah what's been put on crochet's

09:10shoulders all year long is just different you know like it's um man he gave it the home run

09:16to pulpy and then retired 16 straight in yankee stadium yeah his first appearance in the postseason

09:23his first time throwing 200 innings you're worried about him getting tired down the stretch you know

09:30i started hearing that in september he doesn't he doesn't look right you know it's meanwhile he was

09:35just giving up homers which is a problem but some of the numbers under the hood you know swing and

09:40miss his stuff was even better than it had been all year long he just he never looks tired to me even

09:45last night you pulled them at 117 pitches the last pitch he threw was 100.2 it tied the highest pitch

09:52the fastest pitch he'd thrown all year um i haven't seen too many like workhorses like this guy and what

09:59he did this year kind of out of nowhere and out of nowhere just meaning the innings limit and still

10:05being strong last night it was just uh that was really that was fun to watch he's he's an absolute

10:11well he is he's a pig is what he is he's filthy and i and i love him arguing with alex cora before

10:18the game about when he's gonna have to make the call to the bullpen like i love i love a guy like that

10:25yeah and i like his answer too he's like ah it's just arrogance you know i mean they they they asked

10:29him yesterday or two days ago whatever it was that media thing about like did did you ever envision

10:34yourself being here division you know starting this type of game and he's like yeah i did like

10:39this is what i do like this is what i want to do like i don't understand the question

10:46well when you look at when you look at this team and you start to look around the rest of the playoff

10:51bracket it do you think that this team has a legitimate chance of winning the whole thing

10:56i listen i i would never count this team out obviously i do i worry about the pitching depth

11:05and because i know what this run you know could look like you need to win 13 games

11:10um and right now you have two starters and you know conley early who i feel good about so i think

11:17you have three starters but if you win this series you'll be going to toronto and you'll have a bullpen

11:22game there's no way to avoid it in a five game series you have a bullpen game so in a seven game

11:28series you do you have a bullpen game do you have two so it's there's just no way to avoid that and i

11:34think the depth is really being tested now we actually saw texas i kind of feel like texas won a

11:41world series with a valdy and montgomery and and they had openers you know they had they're just two guys

11:48so now it's up to bayo who's had great success here in new york if you have two guys that are that

11:53dominant that when they take the ball you win that can go a long long way you know it's just it's just

12:00very taxing on on a rotation that that's the only concern i have is the depth of the arms they have

12:06right now in this starting rotation well and when and when they use connelly early can you know can can

12:12anybody overrule the analytics guys and and can can you count on him to eat up innings

12:20well i don't yeah it's i mean if he gets pulled two times through that's not going to be analytics

12:28that is going to be history with the kid i mean they've pulled him at 70 75 pitches and everyone's

12:35like he's looked sharp why pull him yeah last outing they let him go uh after 70 75 and he gave

12:43it up you know and he walked some guys and he didn't look right so it's still his second year in pro

12:48ball um that last time was the first time he'd ever thrown on four days rest in the minor leagues they

12:55have every monday off they always go on five or six so all of this is new the usage is new like how

13:01how many times he goes i would be shocked if he goes game three and goes more than 70 75 pitches

13:07doesn't matter how much um how good he looks because it's just it first off it's playoffs like

13:12bail bail is a guy that if he goes five i think you'll be ecstatic um just because i think especially

13:19with a crochet that he's going to be aggressive with that bullpen i saw you post yesterday on x about

13:24major league baseball and the ratings the attendance and the social media views being way up which

13:31is awesome for the game yeah yeah it is and i'm curious too like last night like what would that

13:39number be you know like nationally you know socks yanks six o'clock the game the way it was going

13:45freed crochet the way it ended i mean that's uh that's probably going to be a a big number for a wild

13:51card history um as far as where they went but oh the game's popular and hopefully everybody realizes that

13:57next year because that's one thing we're going to hear an awful lot about is this new cba you know

14:02hopefully everybody's on the same page and hopefully you know clear minds can kind of get together and

14:07and talk this thing through because that's one way to ruin a good thing is to kind of not have

14:12baseball for a bit speaking of social media i saw you eating bacon you know in honor of last night

14:18crispy yours looked a bit floppy last night blue is a flop guy i guarantee it no i'll say this um i'm not a

14:26guy that like pre-orders my bacon right i'm just a guy that sits back and just is disappointed if

14:32it's sloppy i'm not going to lie to you like like but i also sometimes i feel like when i say can you

14:37make it crispy it comes out burnt and i want to throw it out the window yeah you know what i mean

14:42soft is always better no soft is gross yes yeah i hate soft i'm not going to lie to you it's got to

14:47be that's it sweet there's a sweet spot i need some crisp but whenever i say extra crispy it comes out

14:53burnt and i'm like what is this like i don't want this so sometimes i just leave it to fate

14:59courtney i really do i just want to sit back and say you know what maybe i pick and choose when you

15:03got a double order you pick the crispy ones you leave the rest i like it uh what's on tap food wise

15:07today a little new york slice maybe or uh what are you well i think right now i'm going to start

15:13my day off with a little essa bagel um which is absolutely outstanding but you got to pre-order

15:18because there's like 460 people in line here in new york in the mornings so i'll settle in there a

15:25little bit but yeah this is a little lunch yesterday which kind of killed two hours which

15:30was a good thing i may have to try to find that spot again because if i'm just sort of like done

15:34with my morning and it's like noon and i'm leaving at 2 30 4 3 o'clock like that's there's too much dead

15:41time there for me i don't know what to do with myself i definitely can see a walk coming at some

15:47point here in the city in the early morning um so do a little walk the dog even though i have no

15:52dog i'll just grab some new yorker and just walk him just be careful where you're walking

15:58careful in the bronx and and you know looking ahead to this evening uh baio has pitched well

16:04at yankee stadium this season so that's that's something to look forward to yeah it has and um

16:11it will be interesting too because redone has not thrown well against the red sox this year and he's

16:15he's had a great year um free on the other hand has dominated the red sox he's completely thrown the

16:20ball well all year long but redone hasn't i would expect a very similar lineup um probably the same

16:26lineup we'll see if he goes back to with rod duran in left field or if he moves somebody else in there

16:32um but ref schneider then your sheet of dhs i don't know we'll see what happens there but um yeah baio's

16:39throwing the ball real well but he's throwing the ball real well because he's located you know he has put

16:44the ball where he needs to be this lineup can be pitched to if you locate if you miss you can give

16:50up three or four homers in a hurry you know that's that's the danger of the yankees but it can be

16:56pitched to um he if he locates he's good if not you know you give up a couple of home runs here you

17:03got some problems but he's throwing the ball well here so we'll see how it goes tonight could get ugly

17:07tonight if the socks win lou quickly do you believe aaron boone is back if the socks win tonight

17:14boy there's gonna be a lot of heat there's gonna be a lot of heat you know um i i don't know i i

17:21listen i i think he should be back i know yankee fans absolutely hate this guy but you know i don't

17:27know i think their roster is what it is they hit homers you know and they put a great bullpen together

17:31and some guys have not thrown the ball well you know guys with history have just not like devin

17:37williams is it his fault that devin williams has had a really bad year i don't maybe it is

17:42maybe it's the pitching coach's fault but i think the pitching coach did a good job with freed and

17:46radon so and schlittler and and some of these other guys that have been at heel that have been in this

17:51rotation so um i think sometimes you got to put some heat on on the players to be honest with you

17:56especially in this game lou we will get let you get to work and we will be listening this evening

18:02and as always thank you so much for taking the time with us you're the best all right peeps thanks a

18:07lot appreciate everything and coco congrats thank you you guys thank you very much awesome i mean

18:13i appreciate the fact that you are offering her congratulations because she literally said to

18:18you moments ago lou yours looked a little floppy i think that was about the bacon yours looked a

18:25bit floppy heads out of the gutter you got it anytime we'll see that that is the great lou merloni and

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