Craig & Big Mac Slam Yankees After Playoff Disaster Against Rays

Craig Carton (0:00)

Two o'clock straight up!

It's The Carton Show with Big Mac on a gorgeous Tuesday afternoon in New York City. Phone number to join, 888-808-1019.

Got a great show for you today as the New York Yankees take one on the chin, almost like David Stearns was their general manager. Last night, no run protection, bad errors, no hitting, four hits in total. Two of them, of course, from Ben Rice going yard. And then you have the Bellinger shot that damn near changed the game and the series. But this was a sloppy, sloppy, unacceptable, career-changing type of performance. And now they're one loss away from trying to explain to Yankee fans yet again, what went wrong? Good afternoon, Big Mac, how are you?

Chris McMonigle (0:51)

I'm doing awful, how are you?

I don't know, they didn't take one on the chin. They took the raised fist by themselves and punched themselves in the face with it. You know when like your big brother would take your hand and go, why are you hitting yourself, why are you hitting yourself? That's what happened last night. Over and over again. I don't know what the hell happened last night. I can't explain what happened last night. Oh, it is beyond, it is beyond embarrassing. It's beyond embarrassing. For me, it's more embarrassing than game five of the World Series. It honestly is. It's more embarrassing than game five of the World Series. At least they were in the World Series in that game.

Craig Carton (1:25)

Sure.

Chris McMonigle (1:25)

And here's the main problem.

There was a million ways the Dodgers could beat you. They're a great team. They had a whole, they had Hall of Famers hitting one, two, and three. They can hit home runs, they can play baseball, whatever. The Rays beat you doing this. The Yankees recognized the Rays beat you doing this. The manager, the team, they all talked about how important it was to play clean baseball. It was the focus.

They knew they were a flawed defensive team in 24 They had guys out of position, they had lousy defenders, they had Soto and Wright, they had Jazz playing out of position at third. They were a bad defensive team at times, that entire season. This team's been a little bit better than that. Not a great defensive team, but a better defensive team. But they went into it knowing the most important thing about this series is to play clean. They made decisions on the lineup and roster based on it. McMahon is in this game for one reason, and one reason only, because he's a good defensive third baseman. They went all, this was, they had, we went to Yankee Stadium for the wild card series, and you and I were both told, out early this morning, working on infield, working on both the Red Sox and the Rays make you play baseball. They put the ball in play, they're grinders. The Yankees are out early working on it. They talk about it before this series, how important is to play clean. They're looking at fly balls into the dome. They're working on bunt defense, and they still come out and they make three errors within the first four batters of the game.

Craig Carton (3:02)

Could have been more now, James.

Chris McMonigle (3:02)

I cannot understand. I'm sorry, this isn't to try and defend Aaron Boone, because there's no defense of anyone. But this was not a team that didn't care about defense. This is not a team that overlooked defense. This is not a team that's indifferent to defense. This is a team that single, that pointed it out and tried to make it clear. This is our singular focus, and it was a disaster to epic proportions. The most errors in a tide for the second most errors in Yankee playoff history, and they play a lot of them, Craig. This was a debacle of the highest order, and the tone was set on the first play of the game.

Craig Carton (3:43)

Yeah, and then by the way, you give Camp credit, got out of it with only one run.

Ben Rice, of course, ties it, so you feel like, all right, this game is going to be different. Only three more hits after the first shot. Obviously, the Bellinger shot to the deep right center is only a couple feet away, but it doesn't matter, is it out?

Chris McMonigle (4:00)

No.

Craig Carton (4:00)

Right. I also wonder why he's swinging at the first pitch off the walk. That always drives me crazy when you've got a new pitcher and he's got some control problems, but you had four hits in the game, you played lousy defense, Jazz Chisholm obviously had a very, very tough night. Now I'm not going to kill him for not throwing the ball home, because I think at best it's a bang bang play, but I am going to kill him for not recognizing you've got no chance to turn the double play there. Just eat the ball, nobody scores, and I am going to kill Garcia at first base on the lumbar throw over to first, which gets them out of the inning down two, as opposed to down four one batter later. And I'm telling you what, that's a lollygag situation.