Hour 2: Lou Merloni

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This is The Michael Kay Show podcast.

**Michael Kay** (0:34)
I got to get more Kay.

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Listen live weekdays at 1 on the ESPN New York app and your smart speaker.

**Michael Kay** (0:44)
One of the favorite things for me when the Yankees play the Red Sox is I get an opportunity before a game to chop it up with Lou Merloni. He's a truth teller, love him on the air on NESN with Dave O'Brien, and I wanted to share that chopping it up with all of you people, our listeners and viewers, and Lou was nice enough to agree to come on the show today. Lou, how are you doing?

**Lou Merloni** (1:06)
I'm good, Michael. How are you?

**Michael Kay** (1:07)
I'm doing great. The last time we saw each other, the Yankees got swept by the Red Sox at Fenway, and right before that series, it looked like a completely lost season, an embarrassing season for the Red Sox.
Manager got fired, the whole deal. What happened to turn it around?

**Lou Merloni** (1:25)
Well, the offense, I think, is the simple answer.
Picked up a team that was dead last in home runs, started to play to their identity a little bit with some role players and say, okay, let's start putting some bunch down, let's start moving some runners. Let's start playing with a lead and see how that works. We have really good bullpen, start playing to our strength. And the strangest thing happened by playing small ball, you actually started scoring some runs. And then the home runs came. I think they're leading the American League in home runs with the All-Star break and it's gone back even maybe a little bit before that. So, offensively, they have improved. There's no question about it. I think a lot of that has to do with just in general, the effects got tougher.
There wasn't easy swing and miss in this lineup. Guys grind you out, role players. I just think toughness was a big part of this turnaround.

**Michael Kay** (2:14)
It's fascinating to me that they would have the intestinal fortitude to do it, Lou, because before that Yankee series, I'm reading all the stories, listening to Boston Radio, where they wanted the owner to sell the team, they wanted Craig Breslow deported. I mean, they were really unhappy about everything. How did the players find it within themselves to keep battling through it and not just give up on the season?

**Lou Merloni** (2:37)
Well, it's funny because that series did turn a lot.
I do think the toughness I was talking about, a guy like Caleb Durbin really is the post child for this. He hit that big two-run home run, if you remember, against Littler in that big game. The day before in Colorado, his pinky was bent the wrong way, he dislocated it, and it looked like the down part of the season for this team. Well, he popped it back in. He wanted to finish the game. They said, no, we flew to Boston. Do you remember? We got in around 6, 6.15 in the morning, and he demanded to play that night. And when he gets to deciding to run home, I think a lot of people in that team were like, wait a minute, I'm a little sore, I'm a little achy, I just saw what he did. And that's where that toughness came from. And whether that's just built into this win one game, win two games, win three games belief. But they gained a lot of confidence, they got tougher, and that series really sweep, really turned everything around to buy into who they are now.
And that's changed it.

**Michael Kay** (3:39)
How much credit, Lou, goes to Chad Tracy?

**Lou Merloni** (3:43)
Yeah, a ton.
Listen, I still think Alex Flores is a very good manager in this league. But this was, when you look back at it now, it's a very young team still. It's a young roster. And Tracy's had a lot of these guys, they're very comfortable with him. And when you look at some of these role players that have come up from AAA, whether it is Mickey Gasper or Sougard or Siegler or Jake Bennett or Tyron Guerrero, they come to the big leagues, they walk into the manager's office, and they see a manager they just get through playing for. And there's a comfort, there's a confidence. Like Tracy's looking at him and say, listen, I've already seen what you can do in AAA. You're up here for a reason. And those guys on this roster have really contributed. As opposed to say walking into an office and, you know, whether it's Alex Kaur who's got some aura to him or Joe Torre, you know, he's sort of like, whoa. No, they walk into a guy they're really comfortable with. And some of these guys that have gone from AAA have performed at very, very high levels, especially here recently.