The Best in Sports News and Analysis, from Danielle McCartan · Danielle McCartan

WFAN June 28, 2024

·2 hr 3 min·10 clips

Daniel McCartney is live from Lower Manhattan in the Mike Francesco studio. He welcomes New York sports fans into a late-night call-in show and sets the stage for a long Yankees conversation. Boone’s quote about imperfection becomes the frame for the night: it’s not going to be perfect, and this group is supposed to ride out the rough stretches. McCartney treats that as a fair test for a team that has to survive bad innings instead of pretending they will not happen. Marcus Stroman is the first major subject. He walks through Stroman’s line, notes the four and a third innings, five hits, three earned runs, three walks, and three strikeouts, and says the outing was not good. He does not soften the reaction. Stroman’s visible frustration, including screaming into the dugout and into the ether, becomes part of the criticism. The offense then flips the mood. McCartney points out that the Yankees put up 18 hits and 16 runs, which was enough to cover the pitching mess. He keeps returning to the same basic point: you cannot shout at a teammate from the mound in plain sight and expect that to pass as nothing. The show then drills into the specific play. He lays out the bottom of the fifth, the bases-loaded, no-out situation, the grounder to Volpe, the awkward sequence on the feed, and the camera catching the reaction that followed. Callers are part of the format, not decoration. McCartney keeps giving out 888-808-1019 and uses the live line to pace the show, sometimes pausing the baseball talk for another New York sports angle, including a bit of Bronny James chatter. The episode closes like a radio shift should, with thanks to the callers and crew and a handoff to Pete Hopkins up next.

As heard by us

A live Yankees argument that turns one bad inning into a bigger question about accountability.

The show turns a late-night WFAN segment into a live Yankees argument, using Aaron Boone's line that the season is never perfect as the frame.

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Why you'd press play

If you want Yankees heat and caller-driven pushback, press play.

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