Buck Showalter’s biggest fan, ‘Michael the cowboy’ and more of the best moments from Phillies-Mets KayRod Cast

Tory Barron is a Bristol-based writer and editor for ESPN.com. After retiring from playing lacrosse at UConn, the DC native decided to try her hand at writing about people playing sports.

There is only one team in Major League Baseball who has won every series it’s played this season: the New York Mets. That’s right, Sunday’s win over the Philadelphia Phillies marked New York’s second of the series (2 out of 3) and locked up its seventh straight series win to begin 2022. Not too shabby.

The Mets got the victory behind another strong performance from Max Scherzer on the mound. The pitcher finished with nine strikeouts, bringing him to a total of 42 strikeouts through his first five starts with the franchise. According to ESPN Stats & Information data, the only pitcher with more strikeouts in his first five career starts for the Mets is Pedro Martínez (46).

Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez were there to break down all the Sunday Night Baseball action as the debut season of the KayRod Cast rolled on. In the third installment of Kay and A-Rod’s alternate broadcast, they spoke with Rachel Balkovec, Hank Azaria, Matthew Broderick, the Philly Phanatic and more:

Big Showalter guy …

Hank Azaria has a confession: He’s a huge fan of Mets manager Buck Showalter. In fact, he loves him. The actor, known for voicing many characters on “The Simpsons,” shared with A-Rod and Kay how impressed he is by Showalter’s media savviness. Specifically, his ability to answer awkward, hard questions.

Balkovec doesn’t balk at the pressure …

Rachel Balkovec, the first female manager in MiLB, understands the responsibility on her shoulders. “I think about it every day,” said the manager in the New York Yankees organization. “I want to be a visible idea for people … it drives a lot of my actions, frankly, daily.”

The Phanatic has spoken …

… Well, figuratively, that is. The Phillie Phanatic dubbed Kay “Michael the cowboy” with a tasteful Phillies cowboy hat. Then A-Rod took the mascot down memory lane featuring some interactions with the late Tommy Lasorda.

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