Mike'd Up: The Mike Francesa Show

Rusty Gate

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I miss Mike and the Mad Dog. Mike would have given us the MFY fan point of view that we love to hate, but Dog would keep him from droning on and on, and he wouldn't be able to cut off Dog's anti-MFY responses.

One added frustration of this September is that the Red Sox had the September collapse that I have been waiting for the MFYs to endure with increasing impatience every year since Torre took over in the mid 90's. Year after year, the Red Sox would stay close enough to challenge the MFYs for the division while looking in the rear view mirror to protect the wild card. And year after year, Mike would pontificate about the Red Sox chances to hold on while smugly assuming the MFYs into the playoffs. Just once, I hoped the MFYs would have a September collapse that would knock them out of the playoffs, in large part so Mike would be forced to eat crow, with Dog doing the serving.

When '11 started, I thought this could be the role reversal year with the Red Sox cruising to the AL East title, and MFYs fighting to hold off TB and the other contender of the year for the wild card. By mid-summer, it looked like it might play out that way. Even in late August, I thought the MFY collapse I've been waiting for was far more likely than a Red Sox collapse. The baseball gods decreed otherwise. Maybe they're holding off the role reversal year until Mike and the Dog reunite so the MFY collapse can be fully chronicled and enjoyed. Anyway, something to brood about as we wait for Yankee Elimination Day.
 

vtred

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Francesa on his weekly "NFL" show killing the idea that the Yankees should have done anything different in the last game against the Rays...

"I was surprised they started the game with such a good lineup"
"Girardi had already announced he wasn't using his good bullpen pitchers"
"Red Sox just had to do what they needed to do, Yankees did their part the week before beating Tampa"
 

Scott Cooper

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Francesa on his weekly "NFL" show killing the idea that the Yankees should have done anything different in the last game against the Rays...

"I was surprised they started the game with such a good lineup"
"Girardi had already announced he was using his good bullpen pitchers"
"Red Sox just had to do what they needed to do, Yankees did their part the week before beating Tampa"

He is 100% right. Girardi did what he should have done. He owes nothing to the Red Sox who should have handled their own business but didn't.
 

vtred

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Voice rising: "Maybe the Red Sox should have called the Yankees and leased Mariano for the ninth inning...clam up!!"
 

Stu Nahan

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Does anyone know who he is talking about though? He keeps bringing this up like there has been a widespread outcry against the Yankees. I haven't seen any.
 

Stu Nahan

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callers are bringing it up...
How many? Are they Sox fans? I'm just asking because I haven't heard it. He's right but, to listen to him droning on and on about it, you would think the Yankees have been widely criticized. Nothing could be further from the truth.
 

InsideTheParker

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How many? Are they Sox fans? I'm just asking because I haven't heard it. He's right but, to listen to him droning on and on about it, you would think the Yankees have been widely criticized. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Stuck in the car one day, I heard Skip Bayless on ESPN radio giving it to the Yankees for not playing the game the right way, unlike Charley Manuel, who went "balls to the wall" against the Braves in the final game. They have a lot of time to fill.

On the other hand, what annoys the hell out of me is commentators like Gammons dubbing that night the "Most Exciting in the History of Baseball," which a friend of mine is buying. How can it be anything but a night of shamefully bad play? The Red Sox stank, and the Yankees chose not to compete. How is this exciting?
 

Humphrey

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Stuck in the car one day, I heard Skip Bayless on ESPN radio giving it to the Yankees for not playing the game the right way, unlike Charley Manuel, who went "balls to the wall" against the Braves in the final game. They have a lot of time to fill.

On the other hand, what annoys the hell out of me is commentators like Gammons dubbing that night the "Most Exciting in the History of Baseball," which a friend of mine is buying. How can it be anything but a night of shamefully bad play? The Red Sox stank, and the Yankees chose not to compete. How is this exciting?
Most of the damage done by Tampa Bay was done against Yankee pitchers that had decent years. The tying homer had to be hit exactly where it was hit or it's at best a double, probably an out. As a Sox fan, blaming Giardi is the furthest thing from my mind. Plus, if TB somehow knocked the Yanks out, it would be fun to bust Yankee fans' balls about it.
 

drbretto

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Stuck in the car one day, I heard Skip Bayless on ESPN radio giving it to the Yankees for not playing the game the right way, unlike Charley Manuel, who went "balls to the wall" against the Braves in the final game. They have a lot of time to fill.

On the other hand, what annoys the hell out of me is commentators like Gammons dubbing that night the "Most Exciting in the History of Baseball," which a friend of mine is buying. How can it be anything but a night of shamefully bad play? The Red Sox stank, and the Yankees chose not to compete. How is this exciting?
Pull yourself away from the Red Sox point of view and that had to have been the greatest day in regular season baseball history. Rays down 7-0 in the 8th, tie it with 2 outs and 2 strikes on a .108 hitter, mega-superstar in the making hits the walkoff just minutes after the Red Sox final collapse of the season. Meanwhile, the Braves season ends in the 13th (iirc) inning while the wild card leaders for the whole month of September were eliminated on the same day. I mean come on now, it's not that hard to see where non-Red Sox fans might call some of that entertaining.
 

ronlt40

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His explanation is even better. First he suggests he was confused because the caller didn't call him by his full name: Alberto Jose Albuquerque. Then he says he's never seen him pitch before, so I guess he didn't see Cano's Game 1 Grand Slam.

http://www.twitvid.com/GDRFJ
Classic Mike. He never admits he's wrong and then blames the caller in the end. Kinda like arguing w/ my ex-wife.
 

Worst Trade Evah

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Credit where credit's due: Some guy calls up yesterday complaining about the Yankee batting order, that Teixiera was above Cano or whatever, and of course started dribbling on about their respective batting averages. Mike stopped him, said that batting averages were irrelevant, asked him what their OBPs were, and pointed out that Cano doesn't walk. He did end up agreeing that Cano was the Yankees best hitter, but Mike has definitely moved in some directions a lot of old timey guys just haven't.

The best thing I like about Mike is that there isn't any of this man-talk schtick. Craig Carton is funny, but I can't take too much of his schtick-stuff. Francesca is pretty straightforwardly about sports, most of the time. He has his own personality and can be grating, but the overall package is pretty good, considering what there is out there.
 

Mike in CT

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Jul 16, 2005
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Girardi's pitching moves worked out very well. I see no reason to get on him. It's on the bats this series.

We'll see what he says.

Edit: Oh, unless you mean the series wide pitching moves. Thought you were referring to Game 5 only.
 

TheGazelle

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Dec 17, 2009
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Getting a little warmed up now.

"Bottom line is this group of Yankee players, while very good players, cannot get big hits."


Brings up 2004.
 

TheGazelle

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Calls it he "most stunning single game defeat at Yankee Stadium in last 15 years. Will shake them to their core."


More quiet and sad than angry.
 

Stu Nahan

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[quote name='Bob Montgomery's Helmet Hat' timestamp='1318009960' post='3796049']
Jeter really can do no wrong.
[/quote]

It's amazing. He had a terrible series and he will never get any criticism.
 

rembrat

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May 26, 2006
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Caller brings up a good point. Too many stars hamstring Girardi's ability to fill out a lineup.

Well, that's what happens when you have a $200M ballclub. Perhaps he could go root for the Rays?
 

rembrat

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"Yankee fans need to pass a baseball IQ test before being allowed in."

Yankee fan questioning the kind of fan that now watches a game at YS3. Suck it.
 

rembrat

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That guy is one of Francesa's better regular callers and he is absolutely right. The atmosphere at the new YS sucks.
I haven't been yet but it sounds awful. I'm sure its beautiful but awful because of douche fans.

Also, a caller just finished calling Benoit (Benwah) Ben noyt. You can't make this up.
 

rembrat

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HA HA

So basically he is expecting the 96-01 dynasty to happen every decade? Hoooooooo baby.
 

Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat

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Um, he had fire. Did you not see the fire? That's on you, not Jetes yo.

Seriously, wtf? That felt like a run-of-the-mill "wasn't our year" loss. Hey, if he wants to kvetch...
His "point" was that it was so stunning because everyone--literally everyone he talked to before the game--felt that there was no way that the Yankees would lose last night. So basically they were a bunch of overconfident, entitled pricks.
Games 6 & 7 of 2004 weren't completely shocking because the Sox had already won the last 2 and MFY fans were getting at least a little concerned.
 

NYCSox

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Francessa: "In a 10 year span, the Yankees should be in the World Series 5 times and win it 3 times."

OK Mike, entitled much?
Wait, did he actually say that? And I'll bet 95% of MFY fans agree with that statement. Such a contemptible lot.

They literally can not lose enough times to satisfy me.
 

Toe Nash

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That guy is one of Francesa's better regular callers and he is absolutely right. The atmosphere at the new YS sucks.
It was dead quiet on TV in the whole 9th inning last night. Once Benoit got out of the bases-loaded situation with the lead it seemed like the fans gave up. Don't think it was the broadcast or a mic issue because there was a ton of crowd noise in the 7th.
 

mrsbeasley

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That same caller also said that the Yankees have no home-field advantage because they "play in the world's largest mall/restaurant".
Mini hijack: I was in the new Yankee Stadium the night Jeter tied Gehrig's hit record. Was given the seats for nothing and used the Rays game as an excuse just to see the new place. It was the second week in September of the first year it was open and the place seemed only about half-full. We left our seats in the third inning and went to the Tommy Bahama's in the park to drink and watch the rest of the game on the tvs there. The place was packed, wall to wall fans in Yankees gear, who were with us when he tied the record because, for all the money they probably paid to get in, they decided to watch history being made on a television than walk to their seats and watch it in person.

I guess I was naive, but I was surprised. Thought they'd be more focused on what was going on with Jeter but they, like us, were more excited about the Mai Tais.