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Locked On Red Sox - Daily Podcast On The Boston Red Sox

Reliving the Historic 2004 Boston Red Sox Comeback in the ALCS

Duration:
38m
Broadcast on:
27 Jun 2024
Audio Format:
mp3

The 2004 Boston Red Sox were nothing short of incredibly special. Making a comeback to win the ALCS in a form nobody had ever done in the sport before, they were incredibly resilient. On today's show, Gabby breaks down games five, six, and seven of the ALCS, including the "Bloody Sock Game" and all of the small game-changing and momentum-changing moments.

 

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The Boston Red Sox had so much momentum on their side after grabbing a win in game four of the 2004 ALCS. But how exactly did the rest of the comeback unfold? We're about to relive the experience on today's locked on Red Sox. [MUSIC PLAYING] You are locked on Red Sox, your daily Boston Red Sox podcast. Part of the locked on podcast network, your team, every day. Hello, and welcome to locked on Red Sox. Your daily Boston Red Sox podcast, part of the locked on podcast network, your team, every day. I'm your host Gabby Hurlbot, former ESPN social media associate, and current host of the Boston Balling podcast as well. And I am here to bring you the latest in all things Boston Red Sox and Monday through Friday, straight to your favorite podcast feed. And the best part is it's all free. So if you want to tune into some daily Red Sox talk, locked on Red Sox is here for you every day. This episode of locked on Red Sox is brought to you by booking.com. Booking.com, yeah. The right stay can make you a fan of any city, even your rivals. Check out booking.com for your stay today. Welcome to another special edition of locked on Red Sox. If you are an every day or on this show, shout out to you if you have been here since the beginning. And if you are one of those every dayers, you know that for the past several Thursdays, I have been reliving the 2004 historic season for the Boston Red Sox in honor of this being the 20th anniversary of that year. So my 20th anniversary edition of the show. So I am bringing you the 8th edition of that special. This is a 10 week series. So two more weeks after this left. And you'll definitely not want to miss those because there will be some fun things happening on those couple episodes. I can assure you and speaking of championship teams, if you are watching this on YouTube right now, you can see that I am wearing a Boston Celtics Championship shirt, had to rep our basketball team over in Boston as well. Just a lot of championship teams in the 2004 Boston. So what better way than to celebrate a championship team with another championship teams attire on? So last Thursday, I walked through and relived the first four games of the ALCS in 2004 and how those games unfolded. So now on today's show, I'm going to be going over games five through seven and how those panned out and how exactly the Red Sox won each of those games. So heading into game five, the Red Sox did have some momentum going for them because they had won a game. They weren't going to get swept by the Yankees in four games in the ALCS and get embarrassed. And game five was another grind that went 14 innings and the Red Sox were not backing down. They just had fresh energy and just a new outlook on the series. And their mindset was just one more day, one game at a time. And they had Pedro Martinez ready to start. Many of the Red Sox players had bought into Kevin Miller's mantra before game four, which was the famous don't let us win today line that goes down in history. That's just one of the most legendary lines ever. Bill Miller did say coming right back for game five was an advantage for us. There was no stoppage. The games were running late and then you turn right back around and do it again. I think that was a plus. You step out for two days and then come back in. Some of that momentum could be squandered. Instead, it stayed at the ballpark. It kept going in our direction. Pedro going into the game certainly wasn't a lock against the Yankees. He had had his struggles. He had 31 starts against them in his career. And the team was 11 and 20 in those starts. In the 2004 season, he was one in three with a 529 ERA, combining the regular and postseason. So he stepped on the mound. And obviously, Red Sox fans had some reason to be nervous. But he did strike out leadoff at our Derek Deuter on three pitches. And then he walked Alex Rodriguez and then struck out Gary Sheffield and got Hideki Matsui to fly out to center. So good first inning for him. Red Sox fans were probably holding their breaths through every single pitch. Myself included. There's something about the playoff baseball atmosphere that just is so stressful, especially in this type of situation when every game moving forward was an elimination game for the Red Sox. Mike Wasina started the game for the Yankees. And the Red Sox got to him for two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Three singles in succession with the third one being an RBI single by David Ortiz, produced the first run. And then a bases loaded walk to Jason Veritek, who was batting right-handed against a right-handed pitcher for only the second time in his major league career. He had been four for 49 with a 0.082 batting average against Wasina. So that was a pretty scary number, but he produced the second run with that walk. And then in the top of the second inning, Bernie Williams homered to right field on the first pitch that Pedro threw him, which was his 21st postseason home run. It was then two to one through the first five innings with both pitchers having settled down after that. So a rough start for both, but they were able to clean things up and keep it a low scoring game, each of which were giving their teams a chance as to win. Then in the top of the sixth inning, Pedro gave up two singles and hit Miguel Cairo. The bases were loaded with two outs, and then Jeter doubled down the right field line on Pedro's 100th pitch, clearing the bases and giving the Yankees a four to two lead. And then Pedro hit the next batter, too, which was A-Rod. And at this point, broadcaster Tim McArver actually suggested that it looked intentional, which, whether it was or wasn't, we don't really know, but wouldn't be surprised either way, because again, it was the Red Sox Yankees rivalry. Then he walked Gary Sheffield, but Matsui lined out to end the inning. Pedro was done, though, and Mike Timlin took over in the seventh with the Yankees still having a four to two lead. Then in the bottom of the seventh inning, Mark Bellhorn led off with a double to right field and manager Joe Tory beckoned Tanyan Storzay into relief. He induced a pop-up, but then walked Orlando Cabrera. So Tory called on Tom Gordon to pitch to Manny Ramirez. He got Manny to ground into a 5, 4, 3, double play, so it ended up being the right move there by Tory. Then Big Poppy let off the bottom of the eighth inning with the Red Sox down to their last six outs. And on the second pitch, he homered off of Gordon. Then Malar walked, and then in kind of an eerie replay of Game 4's ninth inning, Dave Roberts came in to run for Malar with the Red Sox needing just one run to tie the game. There was no stolen base, but Trot Nixon lined a single to center, and Roberts made it to third on that. So then the Yankees Hall of Fame closure. Mariano Rivera was summoned. He got Jason Baratak to fly out just right away center field, but Roberts easily tagged up and scored the tying run, making it a sack fly. For the second game in a row, Mariano had blown a save. The score was tied four to four. So that was definitely tough for him, but not tough for the Red Sox because they tied the game and stayed alive. Then Keith Vokey held the Yankees scoreless in the top of the ninth inning. Three Red Sox starters, Kurt Schilling, Derek Lowe, and Tim Wakefield walked out to the Red Sox bullpen in a show of all hands on deck solidarity, letting everybody know that if they lost this game, it was all over. And then Mariano held the Red Sox scoreless in the bottom of the ninth. So as was the case the night before, the game was getting into the late hours and the temperature had dropped into the 40s, so it was pretty cold. And then Bronson Arroyo took over after Fokey and the Yankees didn't get the ball out of the infield in the top of the tenth inning. Felix Heredia took over from Mariano and struck out David Ortiz. But after Doug Minkewick's hit a ground rule double, Crantrell replaced Heredia, and he retired the next two batters. Mike Myers and Alan Embry struck out three batters in the Yankees' 11th inning, but there was a single in the mix too, but got the job done for sure. And then in the bottom of the 11th, back-to-back singles by Bill Miller and Mark Belhorn showed some promise for the Red Sox in the inning, but Johnny Damon's attempt at a punt ended up in the catcher Jorge Posada's glove in fair territory. So he recorded the out and then Esteban Loiza took the ball and Orlando Cabrera hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the momentum and the game kept going. Tim Wakefield then became the seventh pitcher of the night for the Red Sox. Loiza was New York's seventh pitcher as well, and then each team got one runner on base in the 12th, but neither team scored. I mean, back when they didn't have this ghost runner rule, these innings and games could have lasted forever. Neither team scored in the 13th either, but Wakefield's Knuckleball proved very challenging for his catcher. Doug Mirabelli had caught Wakefield for all but two innings during the regular season. So as a result, Jason Veratak, who wasn't as comfortable with it, was charged with three past balls in the one inning. The first on a batter, Wakefield had struck out. The Yankees then got runners on second and third with two outs, but Wakefield struck out Ruben Sierra swinging, and Veratak was able to hold on to the pitch to finish the inning, which ended up being huge, 'cause then Loiza put down the Red Sox one, two, three in the bottom of the 13th, and Wakefield put down the Yankees one, two, three in the top of the 14th. So then it comes to the bottom of the 14th inning, fans are probably freezing at this point that are out the game, and people are like, "This just needs to end." So then Loiza struck out Bellhorn in the 14th inning, but walked Johnny Damon. He then struck out Cabrera, but walked Manny. So two on with two out for the Red Sox, and then Curtis Lascannock was up in the Red Sox bullpen, throwing and ready to go in if the game went to the 15th. Luckily though, that didn't have to be the case because who would step up in that situation, but the Red Sox face to the franchise at the time and Big Poppy himself. This game had already become the longest buy innings in Major League Baseball postseason history. So then Big Poppy stepped into the box, probably knowing that and said, "We need to end this game." He was the hero of Game 4, and he was also the hero of Game 5. He battled very hard in his at bat. The pitch sequence ended up being pitch one, a fastball low and outside. He took a big cut, but swung and missed for an 0-1 count. Pitch two was wide outside, but he took the pitch one in one count. Pitch three was a foul ball right on the fat part of the plate for a 1-2 count. Pitch four, another foul for 1-2. Pitch five was a long deep foul to right field. Still with a 1-2 count. Pitch six was a ball to make it 2-2. And pitch seven, eight, and nine were all foul balls. So the count remained 2-2 for four pitches. All three of these were pitches. David Ortiz was fighting off. All three fouls going into the grandstands or seats on the third base side. And then on the 10th pitch of the at bat, Loiza's 59th pitch and relief. Big Poppy seemed to fight it off, maybe even breaking his bat, but the ball dropped in and ended up being a little blooper to center field to score Johnny Damon. And the Red Sox walked it off. Bernie Williams didn't even attempt a throw. That was the third playoff win in a row that David Ortiz had won with his bat. And he had driven in three of Boston's five runs. In the game, the Yankees have been 1-4-13. The player in scoring position, leaving 18 men on base. And the Red Sox have been 1-4-12 before that Ortiz hit with 10 players left on base. So it was a really huge game for the Red Sox in that one. And then it led to a very eventful game six after the Red Sox walked off game five and 1-5-4. Coming up, I'm going to be going over everything that happened in that famous game six. So you certainly won't want to miss it. Here on locked on Red Sox, we pride ourselves on getting you the latest news for your team. 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Eligible items only, exclusions apply. eBay guaranteed fit only available to US customers. I don't know much at all about cars, so eBay Motors has absolutely been super helpful for me, and it can help you too. You should also check out Lockdown Sports today, the first ever National Sports 24/7 streaming channel on YouTube, and it's also available on Amazon Fire TV, in the free Fire TV channels app. All of our experts here at Lockdown will keep you updated on all things going on in sports, so make sure you check that out today. Heading into game six of the 2004 ALCS, the Red Sox were starting to gain more and more momentum after coming off of two straight wins in games four and five. They just needed to win this game to force and anything can happen in game seven, and that game ended up becoming known famously as the bloody sock game. Momentum just seemed to be on the Red Sox side, and they were ready to go. The Yankee Stadium faithful were amped up for this game. Before the game, Fox TV broadcaster Joe Buck admitted that while he had done a lot of games at Yankee Stadium over the years, he couldn't ever remember it being more alive than it was for that game. Game six featured a matchup between right-handed John Lieber for the Yankees and Kurt Schilling for the Red Sox. Lieber had been 14 and eight in the regular season and was the winner in game two, a three-to-one win in which he gave up only three hits in the seven innings he worked. Schilling had famously declared he'd come to Boston in the previous winter to win a world championship for the Red Sox. He had been co-MBP for the Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series against the Yankees, and that year he had a 21 and six season for the Red Sox. The 21 wins leading both leagues, but Schilling had injured his right ankle in game one of the division series and was ineffective in game one of the ALCS, giving up six runs and three innings. So he certainly wanted to be able to redeem himself there. Schilling and Red Sox, Dr. Bill Morgan, had agreed on a radical surgical procedure that would temporarily bind his ankle tendons into place and possibly allow him to pitch again. Years later, he said there was no precedent for what I was about to do. I was excited, but I was also terrified. I was getting ready to pitch in Yankee Stadium against the Yankees in front of Yankee fans. Before game one, I made a comment about shutting up 50,000 people in New York. I always enjoyed saying and doing those things because I felt to put extra pressure on myself, which I liked, but before game six, I didn't do any of that. Theo Epstein, who was the Red Sox GM at the time, admitted that the team had no idea what would happen with his ankle. They weren't sure if he was gonna go out there and throw one warmup pitch and fall down, have to be taken off the field. Was he gonna throw 82 miles an hour? Was he gonna be able to throw strikes? They really weren't sure. So everybody was holding their breath for every pitch. Before he threw his first pitch in the bottom of the first inning, the television cameras picked up blood soaking through his white sock, seepage from the incision as he warmed up in the bullpen before the game. And the ankle appeared to hold up under the strain of his delivery. One pitch went out because Derek Jeter flied out to right and then he pitched a lengthy eight pitch at bat to Alex Rodriguez that resulted in a liner to shortstop. Gary Sheffield popped up to first base. So no doubt he picked up considerable confidence in setting down the side and order in that inning. He ended up retiring the first eight batters he faced. Neither team scored for the first three innings and then three consecutive Red Sox singles. One of them, a bunch by Jason Veratek, posed a bases loading threat in the second inning but Mark Bellhorn grounded into an inning-ending double play so the Red Sox could not capitalize on the opportunity. In the top of the fourth inning, the Red Sox banged out four runs. With two outs, Kevin Millard doubled into the left field corner. He then took third base on a wild pitch and scored on Jason Veratek's single to straight away center, which got the Red Sox some momentum. Orlando Cabrera dropped a single and left and the Red Sox had runners on first and second. And then Bellhorn hit a ball over the left field wall that bounced off a fan's chest and landed back on the field. At first, the hit was ruled a double because the umpette thought the ball hit the wall. But after the six umpires got together and figured it out, it was correctly changed to a home run to give the Red Sox that four-nothing lead. The two runs were Bellhorn's first RBIs of the postseason. So definitely a great way for the Red Sox to continue this game with themselves on the winning side. That was all the lead that they needed in the game. Schilling then gave up back-to-back singles to A-Rod and Sheffield in the bottom of the fourth, but got Hideki Matsui to pop up foul near first base. Schilling was forced to run off the mound when Bernie Williams grounded to first. He limped over to cover first base for the out and then Jorge Posada grounded out unassisted also to first base. Schilling was still pitching and then in the bottom of the seventh, Bernie Williams had a home run off of him into the upper deck and right field, a few feet inside the foul pole to give the Yankees a run. And then the Red Sox did not score in the top of the eighth. Schilling ended up departing after seven innings, which considering the fact that he was literally bleeding before the game, it's impressive he got that deep in. So then Bronson Arroyo came in and struck out Tony Clark, but Miguel Cairo doubled right down the right field line into the corner. Then Jeter laced a first pitch single to left, giving the Yankees another run four to two. And then A-Rod was up, which was the tying run. Yankees fans were screaming for him to tie the game. He hit the ball, but it was an infield dribbler along the first baseline that Arroyo gloved. When he went to tag A-Rod, A-Rod swatted at Arroyo's gloved hand, knocking the ball loose. And then it rolled foul out toward right field. Jeter ran all the way around the bases and crossed the plate. And everybody thought that it was a one run game at the point. But Terry Francona ran out to protest. And then the umpires congregated for another meeting. And then plate umpire Joe West had seen everything clearly and ended up calling A-Rod out for interference. And Jeter was sent back to first base. He would have been on second if A-Rod hadn't slapped the ball and just been tagged out. But he ended up costing the Yankees the opportunity to have a runner in scoring position. Trot Nixon later said the last time I saw something like that was probably in a wiffle ball game in the backyard. Yankees fans were very angry at the call and began throwing bottles and other debris onto the field. The Red Sox left their positions to take shelter in the dugout. And then when they resumed play after about 10 minutes, a large number of NYC police officers in riot gear were lined up along each foul line to make sure that didn't happen again. Then Matsui popped up foul to Veritec behind home plate to end the inning. And then in the top of the 9th, the Red Sox did get a single off Paul Quantrell and a walk off Tanya and Storzay. But Storzay then induced back-to-back pop-ups to shortstop. So the Red Sox were not able to increase their 4-2 lead. Keith Vokey came in and walked lead-off batter Matsui in the bottom of the 9th and struck out Bernie Williams as the clock struck midnight. With so many long games in this series, he then induced Jorge Pazada to pop up foul to Bill Miller at third base. He walked Ruben Sierra, bringing Tony Clark to the plate as the potential opponent went and run. But there was a sense of foreboding among Red Sox executives. And John Henry said he had never, ever felt such stress in his life. And the hearts of Red Sox fans everywhere were pounding because one swing of the bat, the Red Sox easing, could have been over. Epstein said it was the most anxious moment of the series. He said Vokey had been superhuman through the whole series and had thrown so many pitches. His arms should have been falling out. And in fact, it probably did negatively impact the rest of his career, which went downhill after that postseason. But Clark comes up to bat against Vokey. And I was thinking that one swing of the bat could end this thing. When we're so close to getting to game seven, I could barely watch. I think I watched that hole at bat through the cracks of my fingers covering my eyes. I felt like a year after the Aaron Boone experience, which was the 2003 ALCS loss, we were potentially going to see it again. And that might have been more than I could have handled. But all the nerves ended up being for nothing as Vokey closed out the game. But there certainly was drama with runners on first and second. The Red Sox outfielders played deep to try to prevent a double. The count ran to three and two on Tony Clark. But then Vokey got him swinging through a high fastball. So then the Red Sox just jumped with relief. And Vokey said to a teammate, got to make it interesting. No team in Major League history had ever come back from O3 to play a game seven until that moment. And then the pressure was truly on the Yankees, not to blow it at that point. And coming up next, we are going to be talking about that legendary record-breaking game that we will never, ever forget as Red Sox fans. 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And the pressure became all on the Yankees because the Red Sox really were playing with nothing to lose at that point. So to begin game seven, Yankees manager Joe Torrey started righty Kevin Brown. In 2004, he had been 10 and three through August, but he lost all three of his starts in September. And he had been very inconsistent in the postseason. There were 56,129 fans packing Yankee Stadium. Most of them were Yankees fans desperate to finally finish off the Red Sox and get back to the World Series. The Red Sox, who had been the wild card team in 2004, were looking like pushovers in the first three games. But the self-proclaimed idiots showed resilience and a winning spirit in games four through six. And they certainly carried that over into game seven. Brown was a Boston game seven. Johnny Damon led off for the Red Sox and singled to left on the sixth pitch, then stole second base. Brown then struck out Bellhorn and when Manny Ramirez singled to left, Damon was cut down at the plate at a relay, setting off a roar from the Yankees faithful. But then Big Poppy swung at the first pitch he saw and homered a couple of rows deep into the short porch in right field. It was two to nothing after the first inning. And then Red Sox starter Derek Lowe set down the Yankees in order. Brown got trot Nixon to ground out in the top of the second, but that was the only out he got. Kevin Millar singled and then Brown walked Bill Miller and shortstop Orlando Cabrera. Tory then made a move and beckoned in Javier Vasquez from the bullpen. Johnny Damon crushed the first pitch Vasquez through for a grand slam to right field to give the Red Sox a six to nothing lead. So any air of optimism Yankees fans were harboring evaporated at that point. The crowd was just completely shook. New York still had a chance to win because it's not over till it's over, but they would bat for eight more innings and the feeling was palpable even knowing that that the resurgent Red Sox had fully risen from the dead and momentum was on their side. Derek Lowe walked Jorge Passada on the bottom of the second inning, but he was the only one to reach base. In the third, he hit Miguel Cairo who then stole second base and scored on a single by Derek Jeter. The Yankees got on the board, but they still trailed six to one. Then after Cabrera walked to lead off the top of the fourth, Damon came up again and swung at the first pitch. He homered again this time into the upper deck in a right field, making it eight to one. Damon had six RBIs and whatever small hope Yankees fans had taken from Jeter's RBI was likely extinguished at that point. Vasquez walked two out of the next three batters and was replaced by Esteban Loiza. He gave up a single to load the bases, but then secured the final two outs. The Yankees went down one, two, three in the fourth inning with only a Bernie Williams fly ball to left leaving the infields. They went down an order in the fifth and in the sixth on a combination of ground outs and strikeouts, not one ball left the infield. The stadium was starting to empty after the sixth inning because Yankees fans were just starting to lose hope. Considering the perhaps higher intensity of the Red Sox Yankees rivalry in 2003 and 2004, Alan Wood has said that the idea that Yankees fans would abandon their team in the last three innings of an ALCS game seven against the Red Sox was truly mind blowing. So it was definitely a surprise that people were clearing out of the stadium at as quickly of a rate as they were. The Red Sox still held a comfortable lead for Encona surprised everyone by bringing in Pedro Martinez to relieve Derek Lo in the bottom of the seventh. He apparently had been asked to be used in the game. So then he came in and on a 2-0 count, Hideki Matsui doubled to the right field corner. And then on an 0-2 count, Bernie Williams doubled off the wall and center to score Matsui. Posada grounded out to first base Doug Mankoix, who took over for Kevin Mallar, tossed to Pedro covering the bag. Williams ran to third base and Kenny Lofton singled up the middle into center to score him. The score was now eight to three at that point and the New York crowd began to buzz as Lofton stole second. But Pedro was able to strike out pinch hitter John Olarud and get Cairo to fly out to right. So the Yankees were down to their last six outs at that point. Leading off in the top of the eighth inning, Mark Bellhorn homered off Tom Gordon off the right field foul pole, basically sending a statement like we want to win this series. The Red Sox fans in the stadium were so happy at that point. And then Mike Timlin followed it up by setting down the Yankees in order in the bottom of the eighth. Once again, not a ball left the infield. In the top of the ninth, trot Nixon single to left. Mankoix dropped a single into left and after Miller hit a deep ball enough to center that Nixon could tag up and take third. Cabrera also flight out to center. This time with Nixon tagging up and scoring to make it 10 to three. Joe Buck then observed that it was the Red Sox fans making all the noise at Yankee Stadium. Hideki Matsui led off the bottom of the ninth with a single and was forced out on a birdie Williams grounder to short. After Pissata popped up to short, Williams took second on defensive interference. One run would hardly matter at that point and then Lofton walked. Francona brought in Alan Embry to take over for Timlin. He closed it out, inducing Ruben Sierra to ground out to Pokey Reese at second base. The Red Sox then had to soak in the moment. It hadn't really digested to them that they had done what just about everyone had believed was impossible, coming back to win the final four games of the best of seven ALCS. It was the greatest comeback in baseball history and still it remains that to this day. Yankee Stadium became the scene of a huge Red Sox celebration. The Boston Globe actually observed thousands of Boston fans gathered in the stands behind the dugout and players tossed equipment and sprayed champagne into the stands while the throng chanted, "Let's go Red Sox." It was just an unbelievable moment and really indescribable of a feeling for this Red Sox team. Huge credit for Derek Lowe who pitched on only two days of rest and had worked six full innings and allowed just one base hit. He obviously got the win and he had gotten in the win in the deciding game of the division series as well. And it also turned out that he was the winning pitcher in the clinching game of the World Series. The Red Sox just continued to ride the momentum they had generated, sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in four games in the World Series. Nobody was stopping or beating them at that point after what they had just done. It was the first of four championships, the Red Sox won between 2004 and 2018. So the Red Sox have seen so much success since then but my oh my was that an adventurous series, just lots of emotions going through everybody. And what a special moment to be part of and for the Red Sox to then finally go on and break the curse in what was a storybook ending, just an amazing series to relive. And I'm so happy we were able to look back on the key moments from that series. And maybe the 2024 Red Sox will get to celebrate some special things this year too. But in order for them to do that, you have to keep the faith. As always go Red Sox, I will catch you on the flip side. (mellow music) - A prime member. You can listen to this lock-down podcast ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. - Here that. That's what cooked when you ordered juicy beef sounds like. The steaming hug of two slices of melted cheese, a crunch of tangy pickles and sliced onions, all topped with a toasted sesame seed bun. That's the sound of a McDonald's quarter pounder with cheese. - Fresh beef had participating in US McDonald's. Excludes Alaska Hawaiian US territories. - With T-Mobile, you can get tons of benefits and still save because nobody likes having to choose. It's like getting romance and sci-fi. - I love you. Also, I'm a robot. - At T-Mobile, you can get the benefits you want and still save on every plan versus AT&T in Verizon. See how with our savings calculator at T-Mobile.com/switch. Plus, switch and keep your phone. We'll pay it off up to $800. (upbeat music) - The infertual prepaid card in 15 days qualifying unlocked device credits, service and timely redemption required. Card has no cash access and expires in six months. C-T-Mobile.com. 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