Newsflash: Kay can be critical on YES

Yankee broadcaster Michael Kay is in rare form tonight. Maybe it's on marching orders from the YES Network or maybe it's because the Yankees have lost 10 out of 15 but he's been surprisingly critical during telecasts. In tonight's game, he questioned the route that second baseman Robinson Cano took to get Chone Figgins' (what seemed like a ) 27-hopper in Sunday's loss to Anaheim. "I was surprised. I mean that's the winning run," Kay says. "He's (Cano) gotta lay out for that ball. I mean it's the winning run."

Then when the Twins manufactured yet another run (compared to the Yankee approach of waiting for a three-run homer), Kay went into critique mode yet again: "It's a little thing but sometimes a flyball can win you a game."

And tonight wasn't the first time. Last week, Kay criticized A-Rod for the third baseman's paucity of key hits this season.

Good for Kay. Sometimes he comes across as Chief Pom Pom. And I say more of it. Of course, it was probably YES who ordered Kay to be more critical. After all, these are the same folks who fed Kim Jones strategy questions designed to annoy Joe Torre in 2006. Stay tuned.