The latest installment of ESPN’s KayRod Cast was on Sunday night, and The Michael Kay Show co-host Don La Greca joined Kay and Alex Rodriguez for an inning and a half toward the end of Boston’s 6-1 win over the New York Mets.
La Greca told Dan Graca, who was filling in for Kay and Peter Rosenberg on Monday, that he had a blast but wasn’t prepared to talk more x’s and o’s.
“It wasn’t what I expected,” he said. “I thought there’d be more frivolity or fun and less analysis. Especially with the game kind of getting out of hand.”
Don explained that he was the fourth guy booked. He said Kay asked him last Friday if he would make an appearance on the broadcast. At that point originally, Mets legend and broadcaster Keith Hernandez and Red Sox legends Johnny Damon and Roger Clemens had already been booked.
By Saturday, La Greca’s appearance time had shifted towards the end of the broadcast, as they booked former Met Mookie Wilson and Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee as well. When Don did appear, he said after two quick half-innings he was surprised they kept him on for a third.
“I was really only expecting a half inning to be honest because they had to squeeze in all these people,” Don said. “And then with it being after 9 o’clock, hey, the game could be over at 9:30. And then I saw that Bill Lee was coming on after me.”
“You’re not bumping Bill Lee,” he added. “You’re not bumping a former Red Sock, you’re not bumping a major league pitcher for me. But not only did they get it all in, I got a lot of time. So that was a lot of fun. That was cool. So thanks to those guys.”
Graca chimed in saying even though the Red Sox seemed to have their win over the Mets securely in hand by the time La Greca appeared, it was important for the sake of the broadcast to slot him in where he was.
“You want somebody like you on late in the game like that,” Graca said. “Which most of America probably was off to sleep if they didn’t like the Mets or the Red Sox.”
“And you kept it going that’s the good thing. That’s the beauty of it,” he added.
