Everybody’s a critic.
That includes banned MLB legend Pete Rose, who talked to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale about a variety of subjects.
One of them was the New York Yankees, and their 6-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox in the American League Wild Card Game.
“That was the worst (bleeping) lineup they could have put on the field. Their 6,7,8,9 hitters were all out-men. They had to have (Aaron) Judge and (Giancarlo) Stanton do something. If they didn’t, all of the pressure was on Joey Gallo. You saw how that worked out.’’
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The Yankees struck out 11 times in the Wild-Card loss without drawing a walk. Gallo, batting cleanup, went 0-for-4 with one strikeout. But that’s nothing new for Gallo, who led the majors with 213 strikeouts this season.
And that didn’t sit well with Rose, who never struck out more than 76 times in any of his 24 big-league seasons.
“How does someone who didn’t play every day strike out 213 times?’’ Rose says. “Ray Charles wouldn’t strike out that much. I just can’t imagine striking out 213 times without killing myself.’’
Rose is keeping busy these days with his newly-launched sports betting podcast. Rose, a 17-time All-Star, has been banned from Major League Baseball since 1989 after ... wait for it ... betting on baseball. As a result, MLB’s all-time hits leader is ineligible for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
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Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com.
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