Red Sox announcer seemingly mocks Farhan Zaidi's name on air

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Sean McDonough, a Boston Red Sox radio announcer for WEEI-FM, appeared to mock Farhan Zaidi’s name Tuesday night during the AL Wild Card Game between the Red Sox and the New York Yankees.

Zaidi is the president of baseball operations for the 107-win Giants and also is the first Muslim and first Asian American general manager of any American pro sports franchise. Zaidi was born in Canada and grew up in the Philippines as a Muslim Pakistani.

During the fifth inning of a game the Red Sox went on to win 6-2, McDonough started discussing the Giants’ incredible season with his broadcast partner, play-by-play man Will Flemming. Flemming also happens to be the brother of longtime Giants broadcaster Dave Flemming.

"Your brother must be very excited, what a year the San Francisco Giants have had," McDonough said to Flemming (h/t SFGATE’s Grant Marek). "For those who are listening to us who don’t know, Will’s brother, Dave, is a tremendous broadcaster, longtime member of the San Francisco Giants broadcasting team. A lot of people are surprised by the Red Sox's 92 wins. Tell me, who saw San Francisco’s 107 wins coming?"

"Maybe nobody outside of Farhan Zaidi and [Gabe] Kapler, they’ve just done an unbelievable job and who knows, maybe we can have a World Series reunion," Flemming said.

“Their GM’s name is ‘High Anxiety?’ ” McDonough responded.

Flemming’s pronunciation of Zaidi was very clear in his first remark, but in between some play-by-play, he said the Giants exec’s name again: “Farhan Zaidi.”

“Oh,” McDonough replied with some laughs.

You can listen to the full audio below:

Zaidi took over as the Giants’ president of baseball operations before the 2019 season and turned the team into a juggernaut in less than three years.

Zaidi’s career as a front-office executive began in 2011 with the Oakland Athletics, where he eventually was promoted to assistant GM. He then left to become the Dodgers' GM before the 2015 season, working there for four seasons before returning to the Bay Area to take over the Giants.

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