The Yankees beat the Twins 6-1 on Saturday, with Giancarlo Stanton delivering a double off the wall that provided the final two insurance runs for the home squad.
Unfortunately for Michael Kay, though, it looked much more like a mammoth home run off the bat, which informed his call for YES Network. Here’s the play in question:
https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1647316474338455554
Listen, it’s hard to blame Kay entirely for this one. Sure, it’s a gaffe, one which has plagued Yankee broadcasters before (though John Sterling was calling the game on a monitor for one similar mistake, too.)
An all-timer from John Sterling.
Shades of the Chip Caray classic "Line drive! Base hit! Caught out there!" pic.twitter.com/Rdjvky1sm6
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 14, 2022
Honestly, look at the similarities with that play! It’s Stanton at the plate, for one. He turns on an inner-half offering and seemingly sends it to the moon via left center, with Yankee Stadium erupting. But, nope, warning track. It’s almost a year to the day, even. Maybe there’s a spring trade breeze that knocks down high flies to left during the second week of April or something.
The point is, this isn’t all on Kay. Look at how everyone in the stadium jumped up! Look at how Stanton reacted, too, taking a few steps in admiration for a ball that didn’t leave the yard.
https://twitter.com/FourSavages/status/1647317156403597313
It’s kind of hard to blame Kay for not treating that moment as a potential home run. Now, declaring it a long homer as the video is clearly showing it bouncing off the wall and back into play? That’s a tougher look, but still. This isn’t a Chip Caray situation.
[h/t New York Post]