The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry has never needed much assistance generating controversy, but Boston radio broadcaster Will Flemming added another chapter Sunday after taking serious exception to Jazz Chisholm Jr. stealing two bases during New York’s 16-1 blowout at Yankee Stadium.
Flemming, the Red Sox radio play-by-play voice on WEEI, called Chisholm a “bush league player,” said the Yankees star “plays the game the wrong way” and even suggested Boston pitcher Jovani Morán should drill Austin Wells while Chisholm was running wild on the bases.
The issue started in the bottom of the eighth.
With New York leading 7-1, Chisholm drew a leadoff walk against Morán. Boston elected not to hold him at first, and Jazz stole second. With the Red Sox again essentially conceding the base, Chisholm took third without a throw.
“Chisholm’s doing it again,” Flemming said. “This is what he does.”
Former Red Sox third baseman and WEEI analyst Will Middlebrooks argued that Boston’s decision not to hold Chisholm represented the baseball equivalent of waving the white flag.
“By the way, you’re up six. It’s the eighth. The team is electing not to hold you on,” Middlebrooks said. “That’s the white flag, right? Normally in that situation, you don’t run.”
Middlebrooks called the decision “selfish” and characterized it as padding statistics.
Flemming went considerably further.
“Wouldn’t you sort of like to see Morán drill Wells right here?” he asked.
He then labeled Chisholm a “bush league player.”
Three pitches later, Wells provided his own answer by sending a two-run homer into the right-field seats. As Chisholm made his way home from third, Flemming suggested Morán should confront him.
“Morán should fight Chisholm,” Flemming said.
Later in the inning, Flemming doubled down.
“I’m gonna say it, he plays the game the wrong way,” he said, while also acknowledging that Chisholm is “awesome” and “so talented.”
Now, here’s where baseball’s never-ending argument over its unwritten rules gets interesting.
Chisholm’s two steals gave him 40 for the season, the most in the American League. So if you believe the old-school code, running with a six-run lead in the eighth while the opponent isn’t holding you can certainly be viewed as unnecessary.
But there’s another side to it.
Boston may have been waving the white flag on the bases. The Yankees clearly weren’t finished playing baseball.
Wells’ homer made it 9-1, and New York proceeded to score nine runs in the eighth inning alone. Wells actually homered twice in the frame, while Paul Goldschmidt and José Caballero also went deep. What was a six-run game when Chisholm stole the bases eventually became a 15-run final margin.
That’s the complicated part about asking professional athletes to stop competing because the other team has decided the game is essentially over.
If Boston doesn’t want Chisholm taking second or third, there’s also a pretty basic baseball solution: hold the runner or throw him out.
The comments also came after an already frustrating afternoon for Boston. In the fifth, Ceddanne Rafaela made a diving attempt on a Chisholm liner that was ruled a trap. Boston challenged the call, but replay upheld it, extending an inning in which the Yankees eventually scored five runs.
By the eighth, the game and apparently the WEEI booth had boiled over.
The victory carried considerably more importance than simply embarrassing Boston.
New York improved to 78-59 while Boston fell to 74-63, giving the Yankees a four-game advantage over the Red Sox for the American League’s top Wild Card position. New York also took three of four in the series, won the season series 7-6 and secured the head-to-head tiebreaker should the longtime rivals finish with identical records.
Chisholm, meanwhile, finished the afternoon 2-for-3 with three runs, two walks and the two controversial stolen bases.
The Red Sox don’t own WEEI; the station is owned by Audacy, making Flemming’s comments those of the radio broadcaster rather than an official statement from the organization.
Whether Jazz violated one of baseball’s unwritten rules is open for debate.
Calling for Austin Wells to wear a fastball because of something Chisholm did is another conversation entirely.
And considering Wells responded by hitting one over the fence instead, the Yankees appeared perfectly comfortable settling the argument between the lines.