It’s fair to say that Carlos Rodón’s Yankees career has gotten off to a rocky start. So much so, that only three outings into his career in pinstripes, the former All-Star can expect the boobirds out in full force for his second home start of the season.
Rodón had an extremely rough go of things in this last outing for the Yankees on Wednesday in Los Angeles. The Angels got to Rodón early and often, scoring two runs in each of the first three innings to jump out to a 6-0 lead by the end of the third inning.
As Rodon walked off the field after the final out of the third inning, Rodon appeared to notice some Yankees fans booing him. He was clearly frustrated about this, blowing a kiss to the fans as he walked down the dugout steps.
Believe it or not, Rodón’s antics have not been well received on New York sports talk radio. I know, hard to believe. And with that, WFAN’s afternoon drive program with Evan Roberts and Tiki Barber. has already gotten off to a hot start.
Barber suggested that they didn’t get to properly critique Rodón for his actions toward Yankees fans because they were broadcasting from Joe Torre’s golf event. Barber wanted to criticize Rodón on-air for blowing a kiss to the crowd last week, which is a bit rich coming from him when considering his relationship with New York sports fans when he played for the Giants. But, we digress.
“We mentioned it. We didn’t kill him. But, I wanted to kill him,” Barber said. “Because how does a New York athlete get away with thinking you’re going to be dismissive to the mass? It’s just not going to happen.”
“And he won’t on Wednesday night if we’re not spineless anymore,” producer Shaun Morash, who once pooped his pants live on air and admitted it, said. “If you’re sitting next to me, he’s getting booed every time he walks off the mound every half inning.”
What that accomplishes exactly is anyone’s guess, but hey if that’s what Morash wants to do, by all means. He may have pooped his pants, but at least he didn’t refer to Rodón as “mercenary pieces of crap” like Roberts said of Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.
“He can’t get away with what he got away with,” Morash continued. “He can’t miss that amount of time, sign that kind of contract, then come back and treat Yankee fans… like that kind of garbage and blow a kiss. We don’t forget that in New York.”
Every free agent is going to line up and want to play for the Yankees now, right?
To Roberts and Barber’s credit, they burst into laughter and told Morash that he was “in the minority.” Neither agreed with Morash’s opinion, though, he continued to spew the nonsense that if you’re a fan of the team and in attendance, you’re “spineless” if you don’t boo Rodón.
Well, that settles that.
“You don’t blow kisses at us! What are you my grandmother at a birthday party?” Morash said. “You weren’t here the first half of the year. Now, you stink, the team stinks and you’re blowing kisses at fans that are aggravated.”
Rodón acknowledged he was wrong, which got a “so what” from Morash, who said it’s now the fans’ chance to acknowledge that Rodón was wrong by booing him. I mean, what in the world are we doing here?
Morash will likely hold up his end of the bargain, considering he sounds pretty serious about booing Rodón. Barber also shouldn’t be one throwing stones considering his relationship with New York fans was contentious and he was considered a persona non grata in those parts.
Rodón wasn’t right to antagonize fans, but what exactly does booing accomplish other than venting frustration about the Yankees being nine games out of first place?
[Audacy]
