And now, the show that's all about baseball.

That's when the game to me is at its best.

This is The Baseball Hour with Tony Mass.

Rod to you by Bigelote.

I promise official I vitamin of the Boston Red Sox,

gravely zero-turned lawnmowers and windowwork.

On Boston's home for sports.

985, the Sports Hub.

All right. Welcome into the baseball hour.

Tony Mazz, Matt McCarthy, alongside on the Friday here. Mapp's in studio as he is every Friday. I said Chris Mad Dog Rousseau will be joining us right off the top of the show, assuming as it goes off as scheduled. A bad dog was kind enough to say yes. I felt guilty even asking him to join because it's Friday at 6 o'clock. I think he's on his way out the door, literally, and once he gets into his weekend, we're expecting him. There is always the chance that Magda says, I'm not going to do this. This is stupid. I never should have said yes, so I'm not going to, I'm not going to do it. Anything for Maz, though, right? Anything for Mass. Well, I don't know if I would go that far either, but nonetheless, 617-779-0-98-5.

Red Sox and Game! for Maz, though, right? Anything for Mass. Well, I don't know if I would go that far either, but nonetheless, 617-779-0-98-5.

Red Sox and Yankees this weekend in New York.

And I would say that in this particular case, what you have is one of the more over-achieving

teams in baseball, playing one of the more underachieving teams in baseball, and they

are in the same division, and they are going to be fighting for a playoff spot, whether it is

actually the division we're talking about, whether it is a wild card spot that we're talking

about, these two teams are going to have to deal with one another and fight for a playoff

spot. Tampa Bay's opened up a little cushion here, a small one, over the Red Sox in the American League East. Tampa's up by two, one in the lost column over Boston. They're up by four and a half, four in the lost column over New York. Red Sox and the Yankees are only two and a half games apart. And so one of the things I wanted to ask Mad Dog tonight on the show, and again, hopefully he'll join us here in the next little bit. But I'll ask you, Matt McCarthy. Why do the Yankees suck? They can't hit. That's ultimately what it comes down to. They can't hit. And I think, you know, most importantly, if I had to pick one factor here, Maz, the guy who drives that lineup,

LaMayhew, who led the American League in hitting an OPS last year, again, not that anybody was paying attention. He's been really subpared this year. They cannot hit. They are

underachieving essentially everywhere across the lineup, really outside of Aaron Judge.

And that's the big problem with this Yankees team, is they can't hit, which is so strange to say about the New York Yankees, because you automatically assume that they always hit because they've hit since the 1920s.

They're not hitting this year.

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