Michael Kay and John Flaherty were surprised at the comments about their awkward exchange on the YES Network broadcast Friday, but they addressed the back-and-forth during the first inning of the Yankees’ 2-0 win against the Cubs on Saturday.
When the pair of teams opened their weekend series the previous night, Flaherty appeared to take a jab at Kay for being quiet on the team bus — the former catcher had “a lot of time to think” — to Wrigley Field, and the exchange spiraled from there to Kay saying that Flaherty preferred to work with Ryan Ruocco on YES broadcasts and Flaherty replying to Kay that “you don’t want to work the games on the road.”
Around 14 seconds of silence followed a Gleyber Torres groundout, Kay promised that he’d be “very chatty” Saturday and Flaherty said that he just wanted to make sure his broadcast parter was OK.
“Love each other,” Flaherty said during a first-inning conversation Saturday with Kay and clubhouse reporter Meredith Marakovits. “Love each other.”
Kay brought up the exchange from Friday first, joking that the plan was for Marakovits to sit between them because “from what we read, we really hate each other.”
“I just want to make sure we’re OK, because I felt like yesterday we got along just like we always get along,” Flaherty said. “But after the game, I heard we don’t like each other, so are we alright?”
Later in the exchange, Marakovits said that there was plenty of chatter in the Yankees’ clubhouse and that people wanted to know if the awkward back-and-forth was real — which surprised Kay and Flaherty, who said that happens “all the time.”
“I love you,” Kay said. “We’re great.”
“Well I don’t know if I’m gonna go love, but I really like you a lot,” Flaherty jokingly replied, which then prompted Kay to say that this was going to get “written about again” after that line.
Kay and Flaherty called a game Saturday that featured a combined four-hitter from Clarke Schmidt — making his return from an injured list — and Nestor Cortes, helping the Yankees prevent the Cubs from manufacturing a run for the second consecutive game.
The Yankees and Cubs will close their three-game series Sunday at Wrigley Field, with ace Gerrit Cole scheduled to start against former Yankees pitcher Jameson Taillon.
