Dave in Red Bank had some thoughts on Detroit reliver Al Alburquerque, who's gotten knocked around in the ALDS and also happens to have a funny name. (I'm unable to not think of this every time.) But noted sports talk radio caricature Mike Francesa decides that someone's having a laugh at his expense, that there couldn't be a pitcher named Alburquerque (despite the subtle spelling difference), and that "Al-Alburquerque" is clearly the work of "children." Click.
Jimmy Traina captured the video of this quintessential Francesa moment: haughty, ignorant and completely convinced that he's in the right. But of course Alburquerque is a real person, with a family and a Baseball Reference page and everything, and he's appeared in two games in this series, so he's been pretty hard to miss. Especially for a New York radio host who should probably be watching the only professional sports in New York this week.
Our heart goes out to the poor intern who had to inform Francesa during the next commercial break that he was wrong. So Francesa launched into a bizarre apology/explanation that requires our willingness to believe that he simply didn't realize that Alberto José Alburquerque and Al Alburquerque are the same person.
This excuse ignores the fact that teammates and announcers have never referred to Alburquerque as anything other than "Al" since the start of his career. It also highlights the fact that WFAN callers want to talk about a playoff game with someone who stopped watching around the seventh inning.