Hour 1: Judge Returns

0:00This is Don Han and Rosenberg. On ESPN, New York, the MSG network and streaming live on YouTube. And we'll see you at the Harry front. Three o'clock in the big city, Don Han and Rosenberg were on the other side of Labor Day. It is a huge day. It's on. We've got football tomorrow. Judges back with the Yankees today. Jets and Giants coming up this weekend. But before we do anything else, you're listening to us possibly on 880. Maybe you're consuming us on the ESPN app. Sure you are. Possibly on YouTube. Yeah sure. So welcome to our audience on the MSG network. Oh, like you dream about what it's absolutely proud day. It is one of the original regional networks. MSG, home of the nicks, home of the Rangers, home of the Devils, home of the Islanders, some of the biggest names in the history of New York sports have been on MSG.

1:05And then us three walk through the room. Watch this morning with DPH Ron Rothenberg, tremendous job. If you're new and you only consume MSG and you're not familiar with who we are, the man to my right, Alan Han, you know him from the nicks. Oh sure you do, you're familiar. Took the man to my left is Peter Rosenberg. Oh, you know me. Made a name for himself at Hot all those years. 97 you and me. Yes. Now a major force for the WWE. I try to be what I can. And now going on year 11 here at ESPN New York. And he, of course, the voice of the New Jersey Devils. Oh, the soothing sounds. So don't sit on. When you consider the fact that all three of us in some way or another have a connection to the world's most famous arena, the various backgrounds that we have, you could say we're home. We are home. It's a great take by you. Also welcome on the other side of the glass, Jacob Perry and our producer, Anthony Pusik. Jacob show him the shirt. Thank you, sir.

2:06Show him the shirt. Yeah. And he's smarter, Jalen Brunson shirt like that. For everybody else, the show doesn't change. Just another way to be able to consume us. And we've got always a full frontal because now with being on an MSG, even though we'll lose our 880 audience when the meds start their pregame at 6 o'clock, we're going to stay on till seven unless there is a early ranger or nick game. The meds will no longer knock us off. MSG right to seven. So we are going to have or it was basically is something Peter demanded in his contract. Yeah. This leaving at 660. Yeah, I don't want to do it. I said, I want to work right till seven. No one complained more. You had to rip them out of the studio. Yeah, I was, I said, no, no, not for me, folks. No, no, no. I want to work right up till seven o'clock. They said, done deal. I also want to congratulate the nicks on their big win. Double overtime thriller over Denver. They just finished up right now. That was a, that's it. Alan did the post game interview. Yeah, that that was a bend to swing. That's how you want to get the next. That's a mix. That's a best of mix rewind. That wasn't live.

3:07So this is going to be a confusing thing. I'm going to have to deal with this. Yeah. I was, I was minding my own business. Like the kids were in bed. Nancy was doing something like the watch. And so I, it was the best of devils. And I just flipped it on. I was watching, I forget what game it was. And I was watching, and then she comes into the room. It's like, how self-absorbed are you that you're watching a game you did months ago? No, I said, no, no, no. I'm, I'm, I'm not how he meant to. I'm breaking it down. Doing the work. You know, it's funny. Doing the work. The parade coverage that we did. It's on every other day. Sure. So there was one night we're flipping around. And I stopped on the parade. First of all, I've never watched it because I was involved in the coverage. So I left it on. And it was the same thing. So definitely looked at me. She's like, really? Only waiting for your parts, huh? Yeah. I think what do we know? This can't get enough of yourself. It's, it's, it's 1030. That day, by the way, the way it was human, everything I was, I was a mess that day. But it was a dream. And it's amazing how fast the summer has gone. And I know time we'll be talking about the devils and the nicks and the islanders of Rangers.

4:08Very soon. That's why it's amazing, because we talked about it, Alan, when you were off on Friday with Peter, about how when we come back from Labor Day weekend, it's going to be on. Because we didn't know Judge was going to be back, but we knew he was going to be back at some point. He was going to be back today and he'll be on the line up against the Rockies in a limited basis. Aaron Boone had said that he'll probably play almost like a spring training game. Maybe just get a few at bats or whatever. They're going to be very protective of him. Because usually you're in a rehab state. You'd be in summer set or scrant and, yep. But he'd want to do that. So these first few games against Colorado are going to be used as if it was a rehab game. So don't expect to see a lot of him the first couple of days. But he will be on the line up tonight for the Yankees. But we've got football tomorrow. Tomorrow. See Hawke's Patriots rematch of one of the most bland. Smells like a win. The last 25 years will be Wednesday. But by the way, the funny thing is the matchup smells like Sunday 425. Oh, it does. Or my football or my net football.

5:08But instead it's a Wednesday. Why? What time tomorrow, ADC? You want to, it's 820. 820. And here's the logic. OK. And it was explained to me by our pinnets, who John Winthrop and I rolled my eyes. I rolled him that you could actually hear them rolling. That's how I like disgusted I was. The Thursday, the tradition is what I said, is the Super Bowl rematch or a team that was in the Super Bowl the year before playing the first game of the season on Thursday. Yep. But they can't play the game on Thursday. Why? 49ers and Rams are playing in Australia. And that game is going to air here in the States on Thursday. And it's going to be played in the morning out in Australia. So in order to get that game played on Thursday, in order to get the defending champions to play, they had to move that game to Wednesday because they didn't want to break up the tradition. Because as they say at the Masters, it's a tradition like no other. That's right. That the Patriots and the Seahawks, the Super Bowl matchup, have to be the first game.

6:10So that was on Wednesday. So it's happening. All this is to me is a trial balloon for when the NFL goes to 18 weeks, they're going to have a game every day. There's going to be a game at some point in our lifetime, definitely in Jacob and Anthony's lifetime footballs. And we played every day every day. Every day. There'll be a game every day, maybe not Saturday during college football, but you'll get a Monday special Tuesday on Hulu. It's starting to feel that way. Wednesday on Parama. I just, here's my own, the only thing I'll say about it is this. The tradition, I think the tradition would have still worked if you said the, it's the Thursday before the season, we have the, the Super Bowl rematch, then keep it on Thursday. And you have this little pre game on the Wednesday. I think it would have hit better than what they're doing. I agree. It doesn't make sense. It's a hit right people with that much closer to football. But the other thing I'll say before we pivot to the judge situation is that if the NHL,

7:15if the NBA, if MLB went to Australia, we'd be getting our happy asses up at three o'clock in the morning to watch the game here, of course, as the Aussies will be watching it in prime time. Not the NFL. Those guys are going to have to get up at like eight, 30 in the morning so that we air ours in prime time because the NFL said, no, no, no, if you want our little reindeer games, you're going to have to play it at the butt crack of do of a morning. We're going to get ours in prime time. Yeah. And how good football we're going to see with the guys having to be out that early doing it. So it'll be interesting, but it all starts and the Rangers technically have a regular season game in the month of September. They will start their season on September 30th. So it's happening, man. It's happening. The camps are going to open in the NBA for the mix and the nets and then it's going to be, it's going to be crazy. I've been saying the Yankees were in good shape. They did lose two out of three to San Diego and the missed an opportunity as the raise were splitting their four game series with Texas. They sit four games back.

8:15But even other schedules, easy this week guys, they got three with Colorado. They've got the three game series coming up against the mets. Two last place teams while the raise are going to be in Atlanta to start a three game series this week. And then they got to close that home against Houston. But the Yankees should be able to gain at least a game or two this week. And then you're talking about being two games out with 13 left to play, but with having to sweep them in the four game series in a couple of weeks because of the tiebreaker situation, I think it's safe to say the Yankees are probably going to be hosting the Red Sox in the wild card. And these last 19 games are just about judge getting right. So you are bringing back the best player in the American league, probably the second best player to autonomy or maybe the best player in all the major league baseball, a guy that literally is going to add a run per game to your offense. That could get you all the way up to one run. I mean, you say that, but we don't know what version you're getting because he's been

9:18out so long. Well, that's why you have to now just see how he responds. He's not getting a ramp up. This is his ramp up live action in major league baseball, as you mentioned. And so I just think you have to be careful with expectations out of the gate. And what you want is to use this while the Yankees still need to be winning. This is a look. This is precarious just because he needs the play. He's not going to play nine innings. If he plays in right field, he might play four innings and then they got to take him out. They're going to be very careful. So which is the priority? Is it to still chase the rays? Or is it to let's get judged right? Honestly, both is going to be difficult to do unless judge surprises everybody and he comes out of the gate ready to, you know, we smash in the ball. But that doesn't always happen with him when he comes back from injury. No, and it's not going to happen right away because he's not going to be playing every inning of every game. He's not going to be in right field every day.

10:18They do have two days off between now and the end of the season, but it doesn't sound like he's going to play every day anyway. I would lead him off, try to get as many a bats as possible because I think the most important thing for the Yankees right now from a realistic standpoint is just get judge right for the postseason. Use these 19 games to get him at 100% when you start the playoffs as much as you'd love to catch the rays and win this division. The idea in these final 19 games is let's just get judge back to being Aaron Judge in the postseason because I think if they get a full fledged 100% Aaron Judge, he's going to play even though they'd have to play the extra round against the Red Sox. I think they've got enough to go to the World Series. If you mess around, you push him, trying to get the rays, don't catch the rays and now you compromise Judge for the postseason, I think you're robbing yourself a legitimate chance to win a championship. I don't think they're going to do that, but you're right. But I also, like you have to look at what your strength is this year.

11:22It's almost like you don't need judge to prove that he can carry the offense the way he did. The numbers with them without him tell the whole story, right? The inability to score. You saw that post All Star break really. Out of the game, they actually had some success. I think it was my 10 and 5 in the first 15 after the injury, then they were 4 and 14 first stretch. But if you could just post All Star break, their numbers offensively plummeted. They really struggled to score. And so the good news is you don't need him to put the offense on his shoulders and get him back to 5 runs a game because they have right now something we've never really talked about in years. They have the best pitching staff in baseball. They have a bullpen that's got the best ERA and they've got starters that we know, especially 4 guys that all of All Star caliber talent that if they can all get healthy and they also replenish the bullpen, the strength of this team won't be as much offense. It will be pitching and that's how you can win in the post season because we've seen

12:26the Yankees come into the playoffs every year with one of the top offenses, home run, hitting offenses in baseball and then they can't score in the playoffs. I like this setup better when you can rely on your strength, which is pitching and just look for opportunistic offense. And with a guy like Judge in the lineup, it does change the way you approach this lineup. That will bustle only said to the guys this morning, D.P. H. Rowan-Rothenberg on the impact Judge has on the Yankee lineup. He's going to be feared. Like the fear factor will still be at a 10 out of 10. It's not like all of a sudden you're going to see opposing managers, you know, opposing pitchers, catchers saying, hey, let's pitch around the guy in front of Judge to get to Judge because he is who he is. And so I think you're 100% right. And just his mere presence is probably going to give Ben Rice or whoever hitting is in front of him more pitches to hit. And I've had players tell me through the years that if you're the guy, you know, Wantsoto certainly enjoyed this. If you're the guy who's batting in front of Aaron Judge, you're probably going to be

13:27pitched to more aggressively because people do not want to deal with Judge. It actually from the time I cover the team reminds me of Darryl Strawberry. Even in his late 30s, mid to late 30s, he was still feared. In opposing pitchers, catchers, managers, they worked around him because with one swing, they can change everything. And at some point, I mean, Judge has been in one of the pre-eminent hitters in baseball for so long. At some point, you do figure that he's going to be able to work it out and get his swing back. We just don't know how long that's going to take. And you take a look at this first week. All right. You've got the Rockies. They've got 55 wins. They're going to lose 100 games again. So don't mess around. You should be able to win these games even without Judge. Just get them back on the same page. Now I don't know what to expect with Mets and Yankees because the Mets are actually playing pretty well. It's such a wild card. There's going to be a lot of pomp and circumstance with the 25th anniversary in 9-11 and all that. So I think that's going to be a fun series. I don't think it's going to be a walk over, you know, with a playoff team versus a last place team. I think there's something there. There's going to be an energy there.

14:27But you've got three games coming up with Minnesota. Like, you're going to win your share of games. This is your time. Just that have to push Judge at all. But Puster made it right. Listen, with all the his issues, you leave a fastball up. He's going to he's going to club it. He's going to hit home run. He didn't have a tremendous batting average when he got hurt, but he's still got to hit a ton of home runs. He's still going to be feared and you saw a rice was on his way to an MVP when he was in the lineup with Judge. See, to me, that's where you really watch is what does this do for rice and bellinger specifically? You know what I mean? It's to me what I'd be watching. And then Garcia who's never played with him because I can hit adding in just, you know, the home run every other day for Judge is not enough for what's going to change this team. It's going to be the impact up and down line because on a bad night, this team is in need of a lot more than one run. Well, since he all start break without judge and see all star break, they have the third lowest batting average in baseball. Yeah.

15:28And I'm sure they're sure they're run totals around the run totals. Fourth lowest. There you go. It has been absolutely off. What does he do that affects everybody else more than what does he do? But since the deadline, they've been better because Garcia has been a great addition. And so is Jones. You know, Jones is now up and they caught up and I hate to say caught a break with him. You're not wrong. But now Jones can play because Grisham Strieky and when he's, when he's cold man, he's ice cold. Jones is starting to come around a little bit here. And I think that's their best outfield because Jones is a good defender of Judge Jones and Belinger to where they kind of catch a bit of a break there where Jones can stay in the lineup. And now you add judge and Belinger is now healthy and Garcia has been really good since the trade deadline. This can be a really fun team, even if they have to settle for the first wild card that can make a run if judge is healthy. Now, just like the New Jersey Devils bring intensity on the ice, Viking pass control brings that same level of protection to your home. And I know this because I use Viking at my own place.

16:30The season may be over, but pests are always in place. So it's time to lock in your offseason defense as the pest control provider and proud partner of the Devils, Viking delivers 45 years of trusted experience to keep ants, cockroaches, stinging insects, rodents, mosquitoes, and more out of your zone. Their local team builds a personalized game plan that actually works. And when you bundle pest control mosquito services, you score big savings. One call, one company, total peace of mind, visit VikingPest.com protecting your home inside and out. But there's another piece of the judge story though that we do have to spend some time on. I would like this. And that is the promotion around the return of air. I was like, like, slackjawed. I can believe I saw it. Three, I saw at least three different pieces of media put out by the Yankees or yes, promoting the comeback. It just felt sort of unjudged like sort of unyanky like it was very odd to me. It's not judges fault, obviously.

17:31He didn't go producing commercial. No, but the the treatment of like they're acting as if we're coming off of a year in which he was lost to God forbid an Achilles injury. He had to have the surgery and we didn't know if he was in the comeback. Like if this had been the return of, you know, Kevin Durant after the Achilles injury, you would understand it. This has been another big guy injury from Aaron Judge that has nagged him all year. I don't blame him for it, but we can't act like he was his career was saved and he's coming back to an odd hero's welcome at the moment. This felt desperate. This felt like we need to get people excited about this team again. That's what it felt like. You know, I don't know if yes, it's having trouble getting people to watch games. Maybe they are because the Yankees did get kind of boring. That's going runs. It's all games. Maybe you just go wait till October. You know, I'll tune in. And they want everybody. No, hey, we got 20 games. Aaron Judge. You need to come watch this and you need to watch it now because we're going to play

18:32a team that probably you aren't interested in us playing. Let's get your eyeballs on this screen. So it does weak of some desperation, but it's kind of what we're what we're into these days. Right? Like this. Guys, there was a time in God was 86 85 86 when Bernard King had been out for a year and a half with an injury that used to be career ending. The ACL famous ACL injury had right? Dr. Norman Scott performed that surgery and everything changed for players forward. But he had a welcome back video at the garden when he came back was like six games to go in the season. That was understandable because here's a player. Everybody thought his career was over and he came back. Exactly. And M.M. She made a big deal about it because that was a big deal. The season was over, but you want to watch this because Bernard King and MVP candidate was coming back from a major injury. And that's something you want to see. This is nowhere near that, but it definitely had that same vibe.

19:34And with the guys are talking about if you're not on social media, the S network six hours ago, captain back with highlights of of judge. And 47 minutes ago, the waiting is over. And then the returning soon, you know, just now he was 99s. Yeah, that's the next question. 99 days since he was injured. Was he always coming back on this day? Or is that just coincidated? Well, that was that was sort of what I was thinking. 99 days. When the group chat lit up at first, and I was I was not paying attention at that moment. I was with my daughter or whatever. And I look back at the group chat. It's like, he's back. We got our open. Here we go. I'm not going to lie. My first thought was, what did you guys think he was coming back? Like this was it. We've all known. I think Susan Walden actually said this series. Susan Walden predicted it. We've all known it had to be. My guess would have been earliest today, latest one week from now. It's fallen right in the window. But yeah, but the height machine is out like here we go.

20:36Honestly, I mean, I don't have any numbers in front of me. And we'll take your calls at 1-800-919-3776. You have any other theories. But I think it's just the fact that, you know, Alan, the nail in the head, it's been a boring team. You know, they've been kind of stuck as the first wild card, not enough to go catch the rays, not enough to fall out of the playoffs. And offense that just has no offense whatsoever. And you just wonder, is this a return of judge not only helping the Yankees get over the hump, but just kind of get back on the radar? But Paul begins tomorrow. Like you can get absorbed in New York. You know, it goes, once you get to the weekend and the jets and giants are playing. And even though we got met Yankees and there's going to be a lot around that, I don't think to make people are fired up to see the Rockies come to town. But you know what, judge is playing. It becomes the biggest thing going. And who else on this roster, like that was the other thing about past teams that you were in love with, had more. Obviously they had Geter, but then beyond Geter, there were still guys you, you know, you walked with this group. Who is the, who's the Yankee that is like the long term Yankee that you're like, I

21:39love that I'll come watch this guy. Even if he's out, I want you to be, but I don't know if pitchers do that because they don't pitch complete games anymore. You know, if you want to see offense, if you want to really get, you know, see guy hit and feel the way judge can. I just remember when we were on the S network and Michael was doing obviously his show, and he said when Geter left and I can know was the star and cano wasn't nobody. Yeah, but he wasn't. But in the team was good, but the ratings went down because there wasn't anybody compelling to watch. Yeah. And that's the box office thing. Yeah. And I said, you know with the devil's with Jack Hughes. Oh, yeah. Jack Hughes in the lineup brings eyeballs that don't normally watch the devil's because of what he's become after he scored the golden goal. Even the devil's out of it. There was a buzz because you got to see you. You got to see a star. That's I think the impact that these types of players have bring in. Jaylen Brunner is going to do this with the Knicks constantly now. Like this is it now for the Knicks. They they've got him. Yeah. People will watch Steph Curry with the Warriors.

22:39They could be a terrible team, but Steph Curry's everybody wants to watch. You know what I mean? So that's the value of these guys that become box office and Aaron judge obviously has become box office. He is beyond baseball. He transcends now into New York culture. So if judges playing it's something to watch. Yeah. Well, speaking of which he will get his at bat third tonight. Okay. And we'll play right field. Okay. So we we are going to get a look at the judge. Yeah. That judge tonight. By the way, don't when you were out, I agree. I agree down. I made a promise. I'm going to do the work. So during the playoffs when we get to the playoffs, I will do a proper old timey Yankee announcer lineup every day. Every play on which I'm going to do the work and actually have a proper nickname for each person. I love this. No more ad living and making up the spot. A proper old timey name for every player in the roster because back in the day and you're talking like wartime. Yeah.

23:39Sure. They're not saying judgey. No, no, no, no, no, the judge. The judge. The judge say is different. That hits a little bit different. So anyways, you are going to see him in a play in the field today. Too bad there's no. I can't talk about for the playoffs and all likely it because then we could have had both playing. Well, this was the realistic lineup. I think you want to see moving forward with Jones playing in the outfield. I'm going to tell you the other day. Beliger Jones judge. Is that our outfield here? Yeah, left field right. Who's in center field? Yeah, I got to hear Garcia's at first. Rice is the D.H. Okay, see? Well, it's catching. That's actually hitting a little bit too. That's a good lineup. The man is back at third. No, this is this is the lineup that you want to see. It's a good lineup. I think that's the way the thing that you really should be excited about. Thanks for listening to the Don Han and Rosenberg podcast. I didn't listen to anything you just said. Check this show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. The thing I like about the lineup tonight right away judges the right field because what

24:44they're telling you is we're at our best when he's out in the outfield. And that's what we're hoping to do. Yeah, we want to ramp him up offensively, but we think he's going to be okay offensively. The threat, making everybody else on the lineup better, but judge playing right field right out of the box because once we get to the postseason, that's what you want. You want the outfield of rice, Belinger Jones and you want a rice baller rice, Jones, Belinger and judge with rice is the D.H. Remember, there's no stand stands not. Now although stand is taking BP. I he is. I know, but he's not running, but I don't want to I don't need him running. I need him hitting and they do what they do in the sassel and have somebody run for him. Like just have them line up. No, it's just if he hits anything in the ground, it's he's out. But if he hits it up, he has to hit it a long way. That's all. And then then he's got to walk around the base. I don't know what to say. Well Gibson got around the bases in 88. I think I'm sure Stan could do that. But listen, that would be a bonus.

25:45Right. That would be amazing if that were to happen. Yeah, but you don't right now it's not it's not a necessity. Judges the necessity. Them playing him in right field, it unlocks the best that they can be. But it also to me gives you that's why you have a guy like Ramos, right? Because later in a game, although Ramos defensively is not great, but you can move Jones over or you can move Belinger over whatever you want to do and then Ramos out in left field. And at least Ramos got a bat, right? If you put judge at D.H., it really doesn't give you a lot of options. And it takes rice out of the line. Yeah, it just takes or Garcia, right? And you don't want to do either of those things. You want all your bats in the line. If Rice gets back to what he was MVP caliber and he was hitting before judge came back. And then you have Garcia at first base, that's your best line. Yeah. Now, the thing that thing we were talking about earlier with Grisham. Grisham's a veteran, more so than Jones.

26:46He's played in the postseason, but he's really streaky. And when he's on a tooth, though, he is a really good player. And I think they were counting on that happening. It wasn't happening. It started to feel a little bit and then he had the hamstring on Friday. And now Jones is in the line. Now he strikes out a lot. It's always everybody else, but he can hit home runs. He's good defender. I think this is the best thing. He's a good defender though. He's supposed to be. I know he was last year. This has not been a good year from defensively at all at center field. I think below expected outs, right? But I and his bats not been good. And so he's kind of played his way out as it is, even though he's like Grisham. I'm just saying Jones is a good defender. Oh, yes. Yeah, Jones has shown you at center field. He's very good. Yeah, I'm happy with this lineup. Yeah. Now, you do lose out on when Grisham gets hot. And I go in the postseason. I could be enough to just carry the interesting in this lineup too with his ability to hit the ball long way.

27:46And also when you think about, I know he's young, but he's another challenging bat to pitch to, right? And Grisham hasn't been himself all year. It has not been good. And it's gotten his head. You could see it. Guys who come here who don't play well, it's amazing how fast they go right. They circle the drain. They can't. There's guys who come here and struggle and there's no getting out of it. It's just the pressure of playing in that stadium in front of these fans wearing that jersey. It's almost unlike. Think of all. There's no comp in the rest of pro sports. It's. Think of all the level players who came to the Yankees who have a resume who just couldn't get right and never got right. It's not like people who are previously great show up to the Celtics or Lakers and just like can't the jersey too heavy. But there's something about the pinstripes that weighs a ton. Now there's some people just can't. Yeah. There's some guys who come here and they can handle it and they're fine.

28:47There's a lot of guys who come who have come here and it's just too much. And once the negative he starts is no escaping it. And I think Grisham is going through that right now. And but it's what interesting. What's interesting to me is I think that if the Yankees had their brothers, they'd rather have Grisham out there. I'm going for sure because he's a veteran. And listen, John lead off. We love Jones. But remember they had him down in the minor leagues for a long time and it took a while for him to finally get called up and I don't think they want an experience of the post. As you have no idea, you just said the pinstripes are heavy. We have no idea. Once all of a sudden is Bill Dauter used to say the bunting goes up at Yankees Stadium, whether he's going to be able to handle that. But I think this to me is their best line of moving forward to see if there's any outside chance. So rice is leading off? Yes. I'm catching the rays. Now if I was driving after the rays, Peter, I'm trying to catch the rays. And I needed a vehicle to do it. I love what you just did because I'm going to tell you something of all places.

29:47How about Kia City of the Bronx? Oh, the Bronx? Well, that's right. The South Bronx. Yankees, boy. That's right. Finally, the right vehicle starts with people who actually listen. Let me tell you about the team over at Kia City. They take the time to understand what you need. They answer your questions. And they help put you in the right Kia at a great price without making the process harder than it needs to be. We all know what a drag can be at a dealership where they make it a challenge. They don't make it fun. That's not the case at Kia City. And the commitment doesn't stop when you drive off the lot. Great service means knowing that there's always someone there to help, whether you're buying your next vehicle coming back for service or simply an answer. It all comes back to three things. Are key, transparency, efficiency and respect. Okay. It's how they do business and it's how they're working to make buying and owning a Kia, a better experience from start to finish. See their latest Kia cars and SUVs at Kia City.com. Trust me or visit them at 35.05 Conner Street in the Bronx. He batted like 500 last year in the postseason.

30:49I know historically he's not great in the postseason, but he's Aaron Judge. He's your best player. You do not want him back. I understand. Did you know that he was a Yankees fan? Yeah, I know who knows. It didn't sound like a Yankees fan. Although, although no, I will say though, there are going to be people who would describe themselves as Yankees fans, who would hear everyone starting to make their plans of what could happen and are saying, I'll believe it when I see it. And I understand that. They have the right to be that way. But wouldn't you choose, wouldn't you rather choose to let hope spring eternal? May I speak as both a Yankees fan and a Jets fan? Sure. On one side, you're allowed to have optimism. You have plenty of reason to have... You've been given enough reason to be optimistic. There's plenty of evidence to say I should be optimistic. Now, from the jet perspective, they've given you every reason to be skeptical. Therefore pessimism is accepted because you just know I have to prepare for the worst

31:49and hope for the best. But with the Yankees, you don't always feel that way. So this is one of those things that you're watching because really if you look at the pitching, you look at the bullpen, the potential of what the bullpen can be with some of the things that they're going to do to change it, by the time you get to October and now the addition of one of the best offensive players in the history of the franchise, I would think that you would expect an uptick at the very least. And that's what you should be anticipating right now. You should be... Yeah, did we think some of the social media stuff was a little bit excessive, celebrating the return of a player who just had a couple of fractured ribs, not like he's coming off something major? Fine, they wanted to hype it up great. But your excitement and anticipation of his return should be met with some excitement and anticipation. Right. And even if he ends up hitting 200 with two home runs and four RBI's in a run to the

32:50league championship series, those stats still can make the rest of the team better because we just played from Buster O'Roll and the threat of what he can do is going to make Rice better, it's going to make Belinger better. Maybe those guys spit the bet. Who knows? Like, we don't know, but you don't want them back. All right, history tells you he's not great in the postseason. He was last year, but they didn't even get to the World Series last year, right? He's a difference maker, just his presence in the lineup. If he can play right field, that means you've now freed up the DH position for Rice. Like you should want him back instead of your first instinct. Well, he doesn't have the postseason. Oh, well, then you're not seeing the forest through the driest men. But what I'm going to look at beyond his own personal numbers is what his presence in the lineup could be in basketball. They call it gravity. One player on the court creates so much gravity defensively that other players get open

33:51looks and therefore they have better performances. It's the same thing in baseball. Aaron judges a type of player that can have that kind of gravity that it could loosen things up for players who might be just gripping the battle a little too tight because the pressure's on them to carry the offense while he's been out. You've already gotten a sense that if this team doesn't make a run and judge isn't even if he's good, it'll be all it's judgesful. I told you this couple of weeks ago, right? I told you that's the that's the one danger with this whole thing is he comes back and his numbers despite, well, he got 19 games in our 17 games and they won't give him that benefit. And you got to understand what he's coming back from and what he's doing right? But you're right. Most people won't. Thanks for listening to the Don Han and Rosenberg podcast. I didn't listen to anything you just catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you can do a podcast.

35:08To fit the job that we were doing rings and has an extensive extensive inventory of built to last high end product lines that contractors like my guy Michael rely on they do it right. They don't have to do it over rings and showrooms with products you can touch and feel and try. So you know exactly what you're getting and by the way, they're not a national chain. They have regional expertise with eight full service lumber yards in Connecticut and Westchester County and 12 free standing paint centers as well rings and family on the operating since 1902 Peter that's 124 years to you and me. Absolutely. And they have deep northeast roots supporting local builders and communities. And so if you are working on a project in your house, get your contractor to reach out to rings and get exactly what you need in Windows, doors, lumber, kitchens, all those things. And by the way, if you can't make it to a store, you know, you can shop online. Just go to ringsend.com. That's ringsend.com, Donnie. Bring your response to judge returning to the lineup. He'll bat third and play right field against the Rockies tonight.

36:09Aaron Boone has already stated they're going to kind of treat this like a rehab stint, kind of spring training. He'll play a few innings. He won't play a complete game right away. Then he'll just slowly get ramped up as we get closer and closer to the postseason, which will begin in about three weeks. The last day of the regular season is September 27th. The Yankees have 19 games left. They've got two days off between now and the end of the season. The easy schedule when you take a look at the next two series, the end's last place teams, the Rockies and the Metz, although the Metz are playing better, then they didn't get any favors. A trip to Minnesota, but the Yankees just have to show up and beat the twins. And then three in Arizona, Diamondbacks need those games. They're the third wild card. So they got to go back out west after being in San Diego next weekend. They're going to be next week. They're going to be in Arizona again. And then they close it out with the four against Tampa. And they've got to win all four to get the tiebreaker. That's what makes this so much so difficult is not just to make up the four games, but most likely have to sweep the rays.

37:10And then they close it out with three against ball. Remember one of those days is a double header. Yes. It's going to be tough to do. That's a good baseball team with Tampa. Tampa starts a series in Atlanta tonight. Well, that's tough. Then they're home against Houston who needs their games now. So see if the Yankees can pick up a couple of games this week. Let's go. And then you get it down to two. And then you see where you go with the schedule the way you've laid it out this and judge coming back and maybe a little bit of a jolt in the clubhouse. This does kind of feel like a week when you look at who they're playing. This is now your this is your time to make that race series one that you can control you. So if there's ever a time to say it's time to start focusing on the Yankees on a daily basis, this would be the time if you're not already doing it. Let's go to Jonathan and LA. You're on. Oh, I see Jonathan. Hi, guys. Hi, I'm a genius. Hey, fellas, the fellas are back together. Nice. Great. Yes, finally. Get out of the back of Monday. So great, guys. That's judges back.

38:10And I think this goes out to all Yankees fans. We don't expect them. And don't expect them to hit a whole month. A day of 0-3 for three. I think he's just going to have like two back that he's in the lineup. And he can have three weeks to get better and get ready for October. I'll take it, man. I'll rather have him in right field. And Domingo is letting balls all over the place. It's great to have the captain back. We are ready. I mean, there's nothing crazy like I said. Let's not expect them to go three for three with two home rents. All right. The guy's going to have three weeks to get ready. Like I said, man, I'm happy with that. And yeah, man, we've got the guys back together. Shut up, Tim. It's G and shut up to you guys. Go, Jay. Thanks, Jonathan. I'm not complete because Grisham's heard, although I think it helps them to keep Jones in the lineup. You don't have Stan, but considering it, and all likelihood, Stan's done, they're still waiting to get. Schmidt, they got heel.

39:12You know, like you've got, but they've got an embarrassment of riches. Now, you've got a potential to really have a, I mean, weather's his own way back. They could have a serious bullpen. And they already had one look good out of the panel of the weekend. Now, they're set up. And I'm telling you, the pitching, tell me the last time you remember saying going into any playoffs by the Yankee pitching is, you know, one of the best in the league. Not really. And it's their strength. It always was about how much they could score. And then of course, as we know in the playoffs, it's a lot harder to score. So now it puts so much pressure on your defense, which of course you were very incomplete when it comes to pitching and defense. I think their pitching is as good as it's been in a long time. That's what gives me hope and what gives me belief that they are a serious world series content. It's what makes the timing of this perfect because they struggle enough offensively in the playoffs without air, with wear and judge. So imagine had they been without judge in the playoffs. I don't even think as much as we could have talked about what was possible, I don't think in the end it would have been nearly enough offensively.

40:16Maybe they could have navigated through the American league Peter with the coaching. Maybe. But could they beat the Brewers? Could they beat the Dodgers in the World Series? I'm not worried. I think, you know what's amazing too. Let's look first, you know, yeah, I get it. Especially look at the bracket. It's so stupid that they would have to play the red socks. And then the winner of that plays the raise. That is the dumbest. So the other side of the bracket is a joke. And someone gets a free pass to the American League champion series. So against a team that might have might be beaten up after getting through two very difficult series with two of the better teams in the league. Yeah, because they think about it. If the Yankees take care of business against the red socks, they got to take the raise. Yeah. And so now like you have in hockey where two best teams in the league, you know, Dallas and Colorado, Minnesota and Colorado are going to play in the second round. And that means a white sock team or an astro team is going to have an easier path to the league championship series. And they're going to get to the third round.

41:17And they're going to get a chance to go to the World Series. Maybe better than the Yankees and raise well because they one of those going to get knocked out in the second round. It doesn't make sense. Yeah. It doesn't make sense. I don't know why. But this year especially really stands out for some reason because when you look at the two teams, you'd have to get through. No matter who it is, although I guess the raise would only be one series, right? It's filled for them. They're waiting. But they still would be playing a better team than what's going on on the other side. Yeah. If you survive that side of the bracket, it almost feels like your reward is playing a weaker team in the LCS. Even though the Yankees would be sacrificing home field, they would have an easier trip if they dropped to the third wall guard. Oh, yeah. Because then they'd get out of having to play Tampa, right? Yeah. Yeah. Because then they would match up with the white socks and tank to get them to play the red socks. They would play the white. Yeah. But it's not going to happen. Don't tempt me.

42:17See, but that's what you want to try to avoid, right? Because what if the Yankees were the second wild guard? And we're like, yeah, you know, the judge don't come back. We want to drop to the third wall guard. I know you don't want to pick your poison. You definitely don't want to play that way. You're not, you can't be sure that just because judge came back, that's going to guarantee X amount of wins. We have no idea where he's going to be. No, we don't. Tonight we'll get our first let out. But it's going to be a process. All I'm saying is whoever comes out of that side, it's as if the champions coming out of that group. But if I'm on the other side, I'm thinking, I'm just hoping that they beat the hell out of each other and use up their pitching. And that by the time they get to us, they're leaking oil. Let's go to Chris and Tom's river. You're on Don Honno Roosevelt. Hi, everyone guys. First of all, congratulations on the MSG network. Thank you. And also to Alina Sharp for the people on YouTube, you know, I'm Josie Pride on YouTube. All right, for my question.

43:18Now, you know that Gerald Dredson is a king in New York, right? That's right, right now. Right now. So let's say if Aaron Judge wins the World Series and say like he is the contributing factor of the World Series, would he surpass Gillian Brunson at King New York? I think in the immediate. No, it's. No, I don't know what Chris. Thank you. Great topic. You mean, you forgive us a topic? I love this topic. It's really something we should carry over to the next hour. Because I think there's a lot of nuance to it. I agree with you. My very quick answer is no. Because no. No, not even a question, no. Not even a question, no. Not even a question. Not even a question. Not even a question. Not even a shadow of a doubt. Nothing. I'm positive. Sure. Yes. The Yankees. All right, the Yankees are. The caveat is, it is a split. Great. It is a split city on the Yankees. No, I don't know about this. Not the Nix. It's not split. It's close enough to split. It's 6040.

44:18I'm going to. 6040? What's 65 third? No, the whole town roots for the Yankees. No, I'm going to be a big player. It's not the only Yankees. No, I'm going to be a big player. Such a big role. Not necessarily. I don't know. There's another thing. I didn't even get to the other big point. Oh, no, not their first title since 2009. Oh, my God. No, eternity, though. When they made rappers delight, hip hop, hip into the hip, hip hop in. They were celebrating the fact that the Nix and one six years before that. All right, that's 50 years of hip hop happened. But we have to understand. The Nix titles. No, don't give up too much, man. We've got the four cars out. Yankees world. Years are different. Okay. I'm sure I was old timing. Yeah, it's old timing. Take a look at Jay-Z in 2009 and take a look at him today. Okay, but he looks good. But he's not the sugar hill gang. No, no, he's not literally pre-hip hop. I was thinking about the other day because I was listening to this, I found online, Funt Flex,

45:23Bismarkey, a birthday party, 1994. Wow. I don't know how there's audio of it, Tavern in the green. There's a party, Flex and Bizzar DJing and business giving shout outs. It's awesome. He's like, the Nix are in the building, the Nix are in the building, and he starts shouting out. Anthony makes it. All of you are here. And then they play rappers delight. Like they're just playing in the club. And I'm like, dude, 1979, the Nix in 1979 when that came out. And he goes, I got a color C V to watch the Nix play basketball. That's six years after they won the title. We've got to talk more about this. Thanks for listening to my Don Han and Rosenberg podcast. I don't want to know how the sausage is made. I just want to know what's good. Here more of Don, Alan and Peter, weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 880 ESPN. The ESPN New York app and your smart speakers.