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Sportsnet host Jamie Campbell wasn’t going to let Michael Kay get away with his Blue Jays jab.
Following the Blue Jays’ dominant sweep of the Yankees, Campbell subtly criticized Kay on the postgame show. Without mentioning the play-by-play announcer’s name, Campbell slyly referred to him as a “specific Yankee broadcaster.” This came after Kay’s remarks suggesting that Toronto does not exhibit the qualities of a first-place team.
“I can think of a certain Yankee broadcaster, in fact, who is gonna have to go on his show [Friday] and admit that the Blue Jays are a first-place team,” Campbell said during the segment as he held a broom, “because the standings prove it.”
At one point this season, the Yankees possessed a commanding lead in the AL East standings, but that quickly unraveled and then ultimately changed this series — when Toronto tied for the lead with a win in the third game and then moved into sole possession of first place with an 8-5 victory Thursday night.
Kay, during a segment on his radio show Wednesday, cited a stark gap in run differential at the time as a reason why the Blue Jays, despite orchestrating a 21-10 tear after a 28-28 start, don’t deserve to lead the division.
“The Blue Jays are not a first-place team, I’m sorry,” Kay said. “If you look at the run differential, the Yankees’ run differential is +105. The Blue Jays, after a 12-5 win, finally got in the positive yesterday; they’re +4. Do you realize they should be a .500 team because of a +4 run differential?
“And the Yankees should have at least four or five more wins with a +105 run differential. They’re not playing great baseball. I’m sorry, they’re not.”
The Yankees have lost 14 of their last 20 games entering this weekend’s Subway Series against the Mets behind a slumping offense — struggles that even include Aaron Judge, to a degree — and inconsistent pitching that had a particularly rough series in Toronto.
They took another pitching hit Friday when Clarke Schmidt was placed on the injured list after exiting his Thursday start with forearm tightness.