Best of the Mets on WFAN: Steve Cohen defends David Stearns

**Boomer Esiason** (0:00)
This whole thing last night, this Pete Alonso thing, I mean, that was a foul ball.

**Jerry Recco** (0:03)
No, it wasn't.

**Boomer Esiason** (0:04)
Yes, it was.

**Jerry Recco** (0:04)
It was not.

**Boomer Esiason** (0:05)
Yes, it was.

**Jerry Recco** (0:05)
What are you watching? I was watching baseball.

**Boomer Esiason** (0:07)
That was a foul ball.

**Jerry Recco** (0:08)
Yeah, do you mind?

**Boomer Esiason** (0:09)
You know, listen, the Yankees are involved. That's a foul ball, man. Well, first of all, Major League Baseball needs the Yankees to win.

**Jerry Recco** (0:15)
Yeah, and that, and right, what you just said right there That's a foul ball. is what the pessimist would say, watching that, that things, and I don't believe that that is Major League Baseball saying, we need the Yankees to win this game. I don't.
But what I don't understand is why are we always reactive instead of proactive? If we've got technology, whether it's the strike zone, whether it's this check swing thing they're working on, whether, I mean, we know how fast pitches are instantly up on the scoreboard, which is cool technology. If you can track a ball, like what, all jokes aside, because the Yankees won, so in New York, we don't care. And that's fine. They needed to win. Great. If you're in Baltimore, you're pissed off. They're trying to get into the playoffs.

**Boomer Esiason** (0:53)
And if you're a Pete Alonso fan.

**Jerry Recco** (0:54)
So let's say we're sitting here in October. And this happens. And it happens to be Ben Rice that hits the ball. And it might have won a big playoff game for the Yankees. We would sit here and spend not four hours, but all day, all night, all morning, killing it. Like, why not figure this out before it becomes...
You can't call that a foul ball, Boomer, you can't.

**Boomer Esiason** (1:17)
It was so close. And, you know, it's...
The angle tells you that it's a fair ball. But the umpire, for some reason, is saying it's a foul ball.

**Jerry Recco** (1:28)
Right. And so Alonso...

**Boomer Esiason** (1:29)
And maybe the umpire is lined up right on the foul pole, or the fair pole, whatever you want to call it. And he sees it one way.
But it looks, video-wise, that it was a fair ball.

**Jerry Recco** (1:41)
Very much so. And I guess Alonso said afterwards, you have to have two conclusive views before you can change it. Yet you've got one that is so blatantly obvious.

**Boomer Esiason** (1:51)
Yeah. So whatever the call on the field is, is you got to start... That's where you start.

**Jerry Recco** (1:54)
I know that. Right. You have to have the irrefutable evidence. But to me, they have it. And when you have the home announcers that are surprised and the Yankee announcers, and you've got a Yankee manager that's surprised, then it tells you all you need to know.

**Boomer Esiason** (2:11)
And they need the Yankees to win.

**Jerry Recco** (2:13)
And it's one game, worse for the Orioles and it's certainly good for the Yankees. I just don't understand why we sit here and deal with things when they can be fixed prior to them becoming an Yankee.

**Boomer Esiason** (2:24)
I think that they thought that they had it fixed. And this obviously shows that it doesn't.
And I'm obviously tongue in cheek here. But my point being is that they can't even get replay right sometimes.

**Chris McMonigle** (2:36)
It's unbelievable.

**Boomer Esiason** (2:36)
It's the same thing that happens in the NFL too. It happens in all sports.

**Jerry Recco** (2:40)
I feel like the NFL has really done a good job. Now, there are still plays and instances that are not reviewable, which I don't understand.

**Chris McMonigle** (2:47)
I think we all agree.

**Boomer Esiason** (2:48)
We were wondering about this ABS system, and we all kind of like it.

**Jerry Recco** (2:53)
I love it. And I think the players like it. I think the fans like it. When you're at a stadium, so I've been to a few games this year, notably not in New York, but I've been to a couple of games, the fans get into it.

**Boomer Esiason** (3:04)
That's exactly what Andrew Jones told me the other day when I was interviewing him. And I said, what do you think about the ABS system? He goes, oh, he tells me he loves it. And he goes, the fans are into it. The fans love it. And there should be more of it.
I think they should probably extend it. But then again, who knows? Spencer Jones would probably be asking for every pitch to be checked.