Now that Kay is a TV announcer, he must toil on the periphery of the Series, hosting his 1050 ESPN radio show and appearing on YES before and after games.

That is the bargain play-by-play men make when they go from radio to TV, because Fox's Joe Buck and Tim McCarver are the Series' sole television voices.

"It really affected me in 2003, because I was in the studio,'' Kay said before Game 5 last night. "That was tough. That was really, really tough. Since then, I'm fine with it. You'd like to be doing it, but it's not going to happen.''

Tom McCarthy, the Phillies' TV play-by-play man, has done radio work during the Series, and SNY's Gary Cohen sat in for parts of WFAN's Mets playoff coverage in 2006. Kay, who joined the then-new YES Network in 2002, said he would feel "awkward'' doing that.

Anyway, he has been there and done that. As much as Kay appreciates the 2009 Yankees, he always will feel a particular bond with the earlier championship teams.

"John and I were talking about that the other day,'' he said. "None of this has the feel of the first couple of times. When Charlie Hayes caught the ball [to end the Series in 1996], that was probably the most fun.''

Kay also fondly recalled Game 5 of the 2001 Series, when Scott Brosius hit a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to tie the Diamondbacks - one night after Tino Martinez did the same thing.

"If you listen to John's call, I'm punching him,'' Kay said. "I just couldn't believe it was happening. I'm just hitting him, and you hear his voice quaking.''