(bright music) (video whooshes) - I am playing for the Red Sox in '04 in the belly of the beast facing the Yankees, and I can't feel my legs.

I'm running in the outfield.

I feel like I'm in a giant cereal bowl, and I'm in honey, I shrunk the kids.

You know.

So that's what it feels like.

(bright music continues) (video whooshes) When each individual finger has its own seam, you know, you can put more pressure on that one.

- [Ian] Welcome to "One on One".

The start of the 2026 season has been a disappointment for the Boston Red Sox.

The team has struggled to score runs and fans are frustrated by what they consider ownership's shrinking commitment to winning.

- [Lenny] Got my name and number.

- Is it too late to turn the season around?

Former Red Sox pitcher and current NESN Analyst and Rhode Islander Lenny DiNardo gives us his answer.

We spoke on a diamond in South Kingstown.

(bright music continues) Former Red Sox pitcher and current analyst for NESN, Lenny DiNardo, welcome to "One on One".

- Thanks for having me.

- Let's start with how this has been a disappointing season so far for the Red Sox.

"The Athletic" recently ranked the team 27th out of 30 Major league teams.

The Sox have really struggled offensively.

Have you been surprised by all this?

- You know, coming into this season I thought they were gonna win 90 games.

I thought they were gonna be better overall than last year, and you knew it was gonna be based on run prevention.

That's how they were gonna win ball games, and the pitching is been great.

It's only gotten better throughout the season, but the, the hitting, the offense has really been dismal so far as far as hitting with runners in scoring position the strikeouts and being able to just play the game as far as moving runners over, it's just the offense hasn't quite been there.

And, and in today's day, 2026, you have to be able to hit a home run and they haven't been able to do that consistently.

- The team has played a bit better at times under new Interim Manager Chad Tracy.

How do you see the outlook for the rest of the season?

Do you think the Sox can make a trade to strengthen the team and turn things around?

- I think they need to.

They need a right-handed bat, specifically.

If they can get a right-handed bat, some of them with a little pop, they can, they can start to see a little bit of a change in the offensive approach.

But right now they're struggling and they're, and I can see a little change in the approach as far as taking bases.

As soon as they get a runner on, you can see they're aggressive as far as trying to get a runner in a scoring position via the stolen base because, you know, doubles in home runs just aren't there.

They do need to do something in order to bolster that lineup 'cause you got a guy like Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu, who are really the only guys in the lineup currently with any sort of pop in the bat.

If I'm facing that club, I'm circling those guys.

I'm not letting them beat me.

I'm trying to get everybody else out around them, even if it's a walk or basically pitching around them.

- If you were the GM for a day, who would you like to pick up as a right-handed bat to bolster the offense?

- Oh my goodness!

That's a good question.

I feel like the time to answer that question should have been this off season.

Maybe signing a guy like Alex Bregman, getting a Pete Alonzo.

Why can't we get guys like Kyle Schwarber?

Right?

(Lenny chuckles) That's what I keep hearing 'cause we've had him in years past.

He, and he continues to go out there and amaze as far as the long ball.

So they need someone with pop, and I'm not sure at this point in the season you're gonna be able to get someone like that, you know, because you're gonna have to give up so much as far as minor league potential, and you look at a guy like Dave Dombrowski in Philadelphia, who puts together a team, puts that soup together to win now.

- Former Red Sox executive.

- Exactly.

He was there and he won in '18 and then Chaim Bloom came around after him and was basically build up the farm system at the expense of the big league level.

You know, you don't have... You have a lot of guys at the minor leagues that are basically capital that you could use to trade off to get big leaguers to help win now.

And then you have Craig Breslow, who's kind of in the same vein.

You know, you, you, you do go out and sign a few guys that Willson Contreras and you've got Masataka Yoshida, but he's just not a home run hitter, but you also have minor leaguers that he wants to hold onto 'cause that is the future of the organization.

So there's that balance, and it's difficult to be able to, to balance that win now have something in the minor leagues for the future Red Sox clubs, but I don't know if there's anybody out there offensively, a right-handed bat with that much pop that's gonna be able to, to... That they're gonna be able to get on this club at this moment 'cause they're gonna have to give up too much.

- Lenny, you mentioned Kyle Schwarber who played great for the Sox and they let him get away.

He's absolutely been killing it for the Phillies.

Alex Bregman, we need not even mention Mookie Betts, who's been playing great for the Dodgers.

What do you say to fans who point to these kind of players who management has let get away and who feel that management has really blundered into the kind of mediocrity that we're seeing right now?

- Yeah, I honestly, all I can say is I feel your pain.

You know, I'm watching these games.

You know, I work probably a hundred games via TV and radio with season and it's, it, it gets tiresome talking about the same old story day in and day out where you just, you're scoring two runs a game and Pitching is been great, but it's just kind of for nothing because the offense isn't scoring runs.

And to, to be able to say that you've had the talent of Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts and, and Schwarber and, and, and not really bringing anybody in once those players has left is difficult, you know, because winning four championships in the, this century so far has a lot to do with the guys you bring in from other organizations hitting the home run, the two, three run, home runs specifically, to have guys in the lineup to protect other guys in the lineup, you know, so you're not just be able to circle one guy and go get the other eight, you know, it, it's difficult.

Hopefully we start to see some turnaround here soon as far as getting talent back in the organization offensively.

- You mentioned the Four World Championships in 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018.

If we set the clock back to 2003 and told Sox fans, your team is gonna win four championships over the next 15 years, people would've thought, you know, you're hallucinating or something.

Nonetheless, here we are in 2026 and the view among Sox fans is that ownership has a lot less of a commitment to winning than when the John Henry group first took over the team.

How do you look at that?

- Yeah, I mean, there's a model out there that shows that teams that don't necessarily spend the most have the, the opportunity to win.

Tampa, for example, as a team, that hasn't made it all the way, but they contend every year with the lower payroll and they do it a certain way.

And I feel like that was kind of the model going in.

Rather than spending a lot of money and winning, you're going to, you know, cheaper ball players, people that, that aren't free agents that are at the elite level, but at the end of the day, does it really work?

You know?

'Cause Tampa, yes, they contend every year.

They're having a great season this year with a lower payroll, but they haven't been able to get over that hump as far as winning a World series.

So it's, you're gonna have to spend.

At the end of the day, you're gonna have to spend, you're gonna have to go out and get marquee players that can go out and hit the baseball.

And, you know the saying, pitching wins games, but if you're only scoring one or two runs a game, that's just, it's insurmountable as far as winning and for long term, - As you say, the Tampa Bay Rays managed to be competitive most years despite ranking low on their spending compared to other major league teams.

How do they do it?

And do you see any lessons there for the Red Sox?

- Well, they're pretty unique.

They play an athletic style of baseball.

Everybody in the lineup can drop a bunt down at any time.

So you have to be able to defend that.

And you're not used to defending that 'cause no other team in baseball really plays that way.

They're super athletic.

They use a ton of starting pitchers.

So if a starting pitcher goes out and throws, he's likely to get sent down, bring another guy out from AAA.

They'll use him for a few starts and then kind of go in in, in that direction.

So it's, they can hit, they can pitch.

They're very fundamentally sound.

They can drop a bun, they're aggressive on the base paths and it's just a different style of game today in 2026.

It's not necessarily the home run, but they're getting on base, they're passing the baton and they keep you on your toes.

- Let's go back to 2004.

You made your major league debut in the ninth inning of a game in April of that year against a very tough New York Yankees lineup.

Take us through what that moment was like for you.

- There's a little PTSD involved because I'm in Yankee Stadium, Old Yankee Stadium, in the belly of the beast facing the Yankees.

Derek Lowe threw a gym of a game, Mike Timlin came in through one inning and I'm in the bullpen thinking, okay, this is gonna be it.

It's a blowout.

Tito Francona wants to put me in a situation where I can't really blow it.

So I'm up there, my heart's beating, the phone rings, and he says, "Lefty, get up."

And I'm hearing all sorts of things from the crowd.

It's Yankee Stadium, so things I cannot repeat.

I'm warming up and I'm throwing strikes, I feel pretty good, and then the inning's over, I have to run on the field and I can't feel my legs.

I'm running in the outfield.

I feel like I'm at a giant cereal bowl and I'm in honey, I shrunk the kids, you know, so that's what it feels like.

So you're running out onto the field, you take the mound, you throw your warmups and then you try to remind yourself that it's 60 foot, six inches.

It's the same dimensions you've been pitching on since high school, and I go in and Gary Sheffield's about to step into the plate.

- The scary hitter.

- Scary, just the quickest hands in the league.

Matt Suhey on deck and Bernie Williams is in the hole.

So you try not to think of that, but it's almost impossible being a 24-year-old kid that never pitched in AAA prior to this.

So I go out and I get Chef Hill to ground out to third base.

Great.

Then Matsui steps in, I strike him out and then I got Bernie Williams to ground out to third base as well.

So I came out unscathed, I got it done.

And I feel bad for those guys that go in and give up a Grand Slam their first outing 'cause they're gonna be telling that story for the rest of their lives.

But this one is a positive outcome, thank goodness.

- You must have felt like you were walking on air going back to the dugout after getting those three outs.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

And I've got the scorecard and a game ball and all the memorabilia involved and shaking hands after the game was just, just a, an unbelievable feeling, 'cause you know, you work so hard your whole life to make it to the big leagues.

You get that first outing under your belt and then it's, hey, you gotta go out there and continue to do that.

You go out, rinse and repeat throughout a whole season because being a Rule 5 guy, at any point, you know, if you scuffle for a certain number of days in a row, you know in the back of your head that you can get sent down, and being sent down as a Rule 5 means you're shipped out.

You go to your former organization.

- As you say, you were a Rule 5 guy with the Red Sox.

That meant you had to stay with the Major League team or else be sent elsewhere.

So you were with the Sox throughout that magical season of 2004 when the Red Sox broke the 86-year-old drought of not winning a World Series.

What... When you look back on, on that year, what are some of the things that most stand out for you?

- It was such a learning experience because I'm in the bullpen, 22 games out of the bullpen that year, and I'm learning from guys like Mike Timlin, Alan Embree, Keith Foulke.

And like I said before, I'd never pitched in AAA prior.

I was a starter in the minor league, so I didn't know how to be a reliever.

I didn't know when to warm up, how to warm up, when I should get ready.

So, you know, there were times throughout the season where Mike Timlin would look down at me sitting at the end of the, the bench and the bullpen and say, "Hey, you should probably start getting loose.

Right?"

And, and I'm looking at him like, how does he know this?

Because my role then was kind of mop up.

Anytime the starter got knocked out early, it was my job to go in and fill innings, but if the phone rings and it's a close game, but the starter's get knocked out, he's walking, guys, I need to be ready as soon as possible.

So Mike and those guys kind of taught me to kind of think about the situation and start to figure, okay, I'm gonna get in the game.

This is gonna be my game.

So by the time the phone rings, if I'm warmed up and I'm already throwing, it's gonna give me a leg up.

And these are things that you don't really learn if unless you do it, and like I said, I, I started in the minor leagues, so there was a lot of, you know, just when I need to be ready I'll be ready.

Game doesn't start till I'm out there.

Relievers, yeah, the game, you know, is going.

You need to go out there and be ready when they say you need to be ready.

So I always appreciate those veterans, guys that felt like dad figures, father figures for me back then because they were pushing 40 at that time and I was 24.

- We've seen a number of changes to MLB in recent years.

The pitch clock, the ghost runner in extra innings, the automated ball strike challenge system that was introduced this year.

How do you think baseball is doing in changing the game in a way to reach out to younger people who have been less interested for some time?

- Yes.

It's just making it more watchable for a younger generation, a younger generation that is so in tune to social media and instant gratification.

And, you know, I find myself, when I watch a game, if I go make a sandwich and I come back, it's the next inning.

Two runners have scored, there's a lot that has happened.

But prior to the rule changes, you know, I could go make that same sandwich and you're in the same at bat.

It just seems like it's such a different pace of play.

It's more NBA basketball style pace of play versus what it was before.

And, you know, after 2012, I believe games started averaging over three hours, and it just, they seemed to drag on.

Yankee Series, especially against the Red Sox seemed to drag into four hours.

So once '23 happened and the rule changes, now you're starting to see 2:38, 2:42 average times, and it's, the pace of play's great because, you know, you get a picture that like a Steve Trachsel type.

He was super slow back in the day, and guys behind him would have play on their heels and they would get bored and-- - Guys came Matsuzaka.

- Absolutely.

He's another guy which just took forever, always in a 3-2 count.

Right?

He would get out of it, but he is just continually a slow pace of play.

So this is much more watchable, especially for the younger generation.

And it is working because the past three seasons, the viewership is up in games, viewership on TV and the demographic is getting a little bit younger too, which is the big thing.

The demographic was starting to get older and older every year and now you're starting to see a pickup from 18 to 35, which is their ultimate goal.

- Yeah, I think the average baseball fan for a while was a guy like me who is not a bit long in the tooth and there's a need to-- - You give yourself more credit, yeah.

(Ian laughs) Appreciate that.

As you say, the business side of MLB is going really well right now, but there's a concern that things could take a turn for worse and even be a lockout next year that could irritate fans and cause part of the season to be scrapped.

That's if player, the Players Union and owners fail to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement.

What do you think of the idea of creating a salary clap, cap and a a floor to, with the idea of introducing more parity among the different teams?

- Yeah, I mean it's, it's gonna be a struggle for both sides because I know they're the owners versus the players.

They both do not, they're a pretty hard line, and it's gonna be difficult to meet in the middle with these two facets because the ownership, you know, but something has to happen, right?

You know, the medium, I don't wanna say the mediocre player, but that player in the middle, that's not a rookie, the guy, the journeyman that's been around that's not making the 10-year, $300,000 contract, $300 million, sorry dollar contract is kind of getting passed by.

You know, you're getting younger players that are getting signed earlier, guys with one year in the big league or less that are getting multi-year deals.

But there's a lot of guys that, that have a lot of time in the big leagues that aren't necessarily getting, you know, what they deserve as far as pay.

But we'll see what happens.

You know, hopefully they come to the table 'cause I feel like baseball with the viewership and the ratings and just the, how it's going statistically-wise as far as watching the game can take us a few steps back and I don't think anybody wants that right now.

I remember '94 I was in high school and that happened and people were done with baseball for quite some time.

They said, I'm over this.

And then McGwire and Sosa and those guys came and started to hit the home run and kind of brought it back.

But yeah, I don't think anybody wants to do the two steps forward, three steps backwards that could happen if there's a long lockout.

- If you were a commissioner for a day, what is one thing you would change about Major League Baseball?

- Oh my goodness!

That's a job I would never want.

First of all, it's a, it's a thankless job 'cause you know, if, if you're Manfred, you know, there's a, especially on social media, there's nobody seems to (chuckles) appreciate any of the things he is doing.

That's a great question.

I feel like the rule changes have been great as far as continuing to pace play, making it faster.

But yeah, I would just say continue to make the game accessible to younger viewers any way, shape or form.

Make it fun for everybody to watch, not just the older generation, but kind of get people involved that are younger.

I would continue with camps as well.

I'd get the players involved to go into the community and help with camps, and, because, you know, I remember as a youngster, I met Wade Boggs down, I was probably 12 or 13 at the time, and just meeting a player got me more fascinated in the game.

I wanted to follow him.

So the more they do that, the more viewership is, is going to be into it as a younger generation.

- Your colleagues and you do an excellent job offering analysis on NESN.

During the commercial breaks, you cannot miss the overwhelming influence of sports betting commercials.

Wonder, for a long time, this kind of thing was forbidden in baseball.

A lot of people remember how Pete Rose was exiled from baseball for betting on a game.

Do you think this, the profusion of sports betting ads sends the wrong message to younger people?

- Yeah, it's tough because, you know, I grew up in that generation watching Pete Rose and his downfall, and now the commercials basically are showing, Hey, go bet, go bet on this.

Here's the parlay or whatever it's called.

And I'm not a better, I don't even know how to play poker or anything like that, but it's just, it, it it's kind of, I don't know if hypocritical is the word because there's, it's looked down upon so much team as far as players and betting and every year you have somebody that, that takes, makes a downward return because they bet on this or that, and, but we're promoting it so much to the younger generation.

So are we saying it's good?

Are we saying it's bad?

It's very confusing to a younger generation.

I'll say that.

- Lenny, you threw a no-hitter for the Lancaster Stormers in the Atlantic League in 2013, I believe the first in the team's history.

That was also your last year in professional baseball.

What was it like making the transition after reaching the highs of MLB to then transition out of the game and figure out what your new future is?

- Sure.

So the no hitter was great, but it was a difficult time 'cause I was playing independent ball trying to get back to affiliated baseball.

The year before, I played in Taiwan, 33 at the time.

So I figured I threw a no-hitter against the Ducks, the phone would ring, and there was Crickets.

The phone did not ring, and after a little bit I said, "Okay, it's time.

The writing's on the wall.

I need to do something else."

And I will say, that was '13.

I will say in '14, I didn't watch one pitch of baseball 'cause I had just retired, I was healthy.

A lot of guys that I was playing with and against were still getting it done.

And, you know, I'm not ashamed to say there was a little bit of a depression involved because it's something that I wanted to continue to do, but the opportunities dried up and, you know, we moved to Rhode Island in '15, the next year, and I'm thankful that the opportunity broadcasting as an analyst on NESN kind of showed up because it got me back into the game more interested and I'm able to take my kids to Fenway Park frequently and which is something I never had as a kid.

But yeah, it's, it was a learning process on TV.

My, I remember in '17, my first year broadcasting, I felt like a deer in the headlights every time they were counting down in my year were about to go on.

It was a little bit of a panic mode, but now, you know, the heartbeat is slow.

I feel confident what I'm about to talk about as far as the team's concerned, and like anything else, the more reps you get, the better at it you get.

- I've gotta ask you a question about Rhode Island.

You grew up in a small town in Florida.

What are some of the things you most love about your adopted state?

- It's a beautiful state.

First of all, it's the size of Marion County, so if you're from Florida, you know Marion County's a county in among others in Florida.

So Rhode Island is the size of that county.

It's, we're relatively close to the beach.

We have really beautiful hiking trails.

Providence is the big city up in Northern Rhode Island.

The school systems where we're at in South Kingstown are great.

My kids love the teachers, and they're, you know, very happy here, and that's what, that's what makes me happy is you come home from work and you see a bunch of smiling faces and a lot of that has to do with the community - To close on a lighter note, what's your favorite baseball movie?

- Oh, my good.

"The Natural".

"The Natural" is my favorite baseball movie.

I know that's very controversial because there's, there's the Bull Durham fans, there's "Field of Dreams".

- [Ian] "Fever Pitch".

- "Fever Pitch".

- [Ian] "Pride of the Yankees".

- Yeah.

But I grew up watching "The Natural" and Robert Redford and that whole story.

And to this day, I have a soundtrack on my phone.

You know, I listen to it in the car on the way to Fenway sometimes, I'd be lying if I don't tear up every time I hear that.

The scene at the end of the movie where Robert Redford's playing catch with his son in the corn fields or the wheat fields I should say, is just, it gets me every time.

(bright music) So there's a lot of nostalgia involved in that.

- Lenny DiNardo, thanks so much for sitting down with us.

- Thank you so much for having me.

(bright music continues) (video whooshes) - Thanks for watching "One on One" with me, Ian Donnis.

You can find all of our past interviews on the YouTube channel for Ocean State Media.

We'll see you next week.

(bright music continues)