NLDS Mets-Dodgers Game 3 wrapup: The Grandy Man Can

Amazin' Amazin' Amazin'! Ya Gotta Believe! Utley Sucks! Some inspirational slogans are more family-friendly than others, but the dirty Dodger unwittingly inspired the Mets and their fans in a pivotal Game 3 win over L.A. Not to mention Ruben Tejada doing his version of a Willis Reed entrance by hobbling onto the field with his leg cast and Met-themed cane.

The pitching-centered Mets scored 13 runs, a franchise record for a postseason game. Yoenis Cespedes and Travis d'Arnaud, both slumping at the end of the regular season, both homered.  Both players also had three hits, three RBI and three runs scored, which had never been done by any Met in postseason play.

Curtis Granderson tied a Mets postseason record with 5 RBI, all off lefthanded pitchers. Granderson turned the game around with a three-run double off Brett Anderson in the second to put the Mets ahead, 4-3. In the seventh, he hit a two-run double off J.P. Howell for the Mets' final two runs.

Matt Harvey pitched well enough to win, but was not at his best. Still, it's hard to complain about anything after such a great game.

In Game 4, Clayton Kershaw vs. Steven Matz looks like a mismatch, but Kershaw is on three days rest and may not go more than six innings, so if the Mets can keep it close, their awakened bats can finish off the Dodgers once they have to go their bullpen. If not, Zack Greinke vs. Jacob deGrom in a deciding Game 5 now looks like a more even matchup than it did before the series.

But if the Mets do have to go back to L.A., we won't get to see fan signs such as "Utley ♥ ISIS." So let's put it in the books tonight!

Met-Yankee comparisons at the All-Star break

Met shortstop Ruben Tejada has an OPS of .647. The Mets are looking to upgrade at the position.

Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter has an OPS of .647. Jeter is starting in the All-Star Game and batting leadoff.

The Mets have one All-Star - Daniel Murphy.

Excluding sentimental pick Jeter and injured Masahiro Tanaka, the Yankees have one All-Star - Dellin Betances - a middle reliever.

Curtis Granderson  is hitting .237 with 14 homers, 43 RBI, 46 runs, 7 steals and a .768 OPS. Granderson makes $15M per season.

Carlos Beltran is hitting .216 with 9 homers, 28 RBI, 22 runs, 1 steal and a .671 OPS.
Beltran makes $15M per season.

Bartolo Colon has eight wins and an ERA of 3.99.

In 2011 with the Yankees, Colon had eight wins with an ERA of 4.00.

Playing without Matt Harvey this season, the Mets are 45-50 with a winning percentage of .474.

In games not started by Tanaka, the Yankees are 34-42 with a winning percentage of .447.

Subway Series Game 1: Enough with the Met fans crowing and celebrating

Squawker Jon, I hope you haven't gotten carpal tunnel syndrome from writing two blog posts in a row. Funny how you have so much to say when it comes to the Subway Series, especially when your Mets won. Good thing you managed to roust yourself and write once in a while, or I would have to start calling you Subway Snoozer!

Anyhow, your brethren sounded very loud at Yankee Stadium last night, especially from the section that the 7 Line Army occupies. (And what's up with that, anyway -- how does Yankee Stadium allow literally an entire section to be sold to the opposition's fans? Can you imagine Fenway Park selling a section just to Yankee fans for them to make noise in? Are the Yankees that desperate to get fannies in the seats?)

On the other hand, my Yankee brethren sounded positively quiet when Curtis Granderson came up to the plate. Using their (dopey) logic that was exhibited with their shameful booing of Robinson Cano, the same people should have booed Granderson for not just going to the Mets and getting more money there, but for referring to Mets fans as "true New Yorkers." It just goes to show that the booing of Cano is really because Yankee fans wish he were still with the team. Speaking of Robbie Cano, don't you know, are you aware that the Mariners now have a better record than the Yankees?

An aside: I thought about signing your team's dumb petition on true New Yorkerdom so that if I won, I could show that I was a Yankee fan and mock you all. But I didn't want to take a chance of anybody thinking I was a Mets fan -- it would be like having cooties.

It struck me as strange, too, that I heard more cheers than boos in Yankee Stadium when Granderson hit a homer. (It did not strike me as strange, though, that John Sterling reportedly exclaimed "the Grandy Man can" when he hit the homer; Sterling loves his catchphrases!)

As for the flashbacks to the Castillo game, the Yankee radio pre-game featured both Sterling's "Oh Wow" call for that, as well as the call when Mariano Rivera got his 500th save (which was against the Mets, of course, at Citi Field.) And we were at both games! Two of my very favorite Yankee-watching moments. Are you still fuming, Jon?

How about that Kerosene Kyle? This is what happens when your team loses a gazillion dollars in a Ponzi scheme -- they have him as the closer. Even the Yankees never did that! Unfortunately for me, Farnsworth got out of the jam and got the save. But don't reward him by putting Farnsworth back on your fantasy team, Jon!

And yes, the Yankees have a lot of injuries, but 1) that is not an excuse, and 2) that is what happens when you sign old, injury-prone players -- they get injured! 

I will give your Mets credit for one thing -- their contrasting brims (the orange with the blue hat) look a heck of a lot better than the white brims on the Yankees caps! Good grief.

Subway Series: Old Timers' Day

Last year, the Mets swept the Yankees in the Subway Series. But this season, the Mets don't have Matt Harvey while the Yankees have Masahiro Tanaka. And the Mets figure to embarrass themselves before the games with the presentation of the ridiculous "true New Yorkers" letter and whatever fawning retirement gift they have for Derek Jeter.

Jeter turns 40 next month, and perhaps the Mets are already honoring him by collecting elderly ex-Yankees. Bobby Abreu and Bartolo Colon are 40 and Kyle Farnsworth is 38. The fourth ex-Yankee on the Mets' roster, Curtis Granderson, is a comparative youngster at 33. (The Yankees have one ex-Met - Carlos Beltran.)

By the way, Squawker Lisa, while Beltran got off to a great start in the Bronx and Granderson was awful in the early going, over the last two weeks Granderson is hitting .308 with two homers, seven RBI and five runs, while Beltran is hitting .147 with no homers, two RBI and three runs. 

Lisa has justifiably ripped me for having Kerosene Kyle on my fantasy team, but I remedied that by dropping him for Jeurys Familia after Terry Collins said Familia was moving closer to being the closer. I hope that's true, but after trying Jose Valverde and Farnsworth, I hope the Mets don't turn
next to just-released 36-year-old Heath Bell.

The day before the 2013 Subway Series, the Met rallied for three runs in the eighth inning and broke a five-game losing streak. Yesterday, the Mets rallied for three runs in the ninth and went on to break a five-game losing streak.  So here's hoping the Mets can pull off another sweep of the Yankees.

Of course, the Mets followed the four-game Subway Series sweep by losing ten of their next twelve. 

At 17-19, the Mets now have to go 73-53 the rest of the way to win 90 games.

Opening Day and already waiting for next year

I've been looking forward to the Mets' Opening Day for some time. Opening Day 2015, that is.

While the Mets have written off 2014 with their small-market payroll and inability to solve their problems at shortstop and first base, at least we can look forward to the first full season of Zack Wheeler and the eventual debut of Noah Syndergaard. But I can't get too excited about trying to reach .500.

Maybe there will be an unexpected pleasant surprise, which the Mets have had each of the last three seasons. In 2011, Jose Reyes won the batting title. In 2012, R.A. Dickey won the Cy Young Award. In 2013, Matt Harvey had a breakout season and started the All-Star Game.

Naturally, all three stars were not on the team the following year. At least Harvey will be back next season. And while I hated to see Dickey go, the trade for Travis D'Arnaud and Syndergaard looks very promising as of now. But considering that the Mets are in dire need of a shortstop and leadoff hitter, it's hard not to wonder what this team would be like if it still had Reyes.

One of my main hopes for 2014 is for Curtis Granderson to succeed, or at least not be Jason Bay 2.0. It would be good for the Mets and a tweak to the Yankees, who let him go while giving Brett Gardner a four-year deal that was almost as much. But perhaps most importantly, it would show the Mets that spending money can help a team. The Mets have conveniently forgotten that the 2006-08 contenders were built largely on high-priced acquisitions.

It would also be great to get a full season out of David Wright after he missed 50 games two of the last three seasons.

Though the notion that Bartolo Colon can replace Harvey at the top of the rotation kind of sums up what it is to be a Met fan, at least the front office made a reasonable effort to patch up the rotation. While I want the Mets to spend money, I don't envy a team like the Twins throwing multiyear deals at the likes of Phil Hughes and Mike Pelfrey.

I'm looking for a 79-83 season. Not quite .500, but a step in the right direction while we wait for next year.

Will Citi Field Hurt Curtis Granderson’s Fantasy Numbers?

The following is a guest column from FanDuel.com:

The New York Mets have already made a decent amount of moves this offseason, with the biggest one being the signing of Curtis Granderson. The outfielder will be moving across the city to play, but the move could hurt his fantasy baseball 2014 numbers.

After another disastrous season, the New York Mets have been fairly aggressive on the open market. They locked up Granderson with a four-year, $60 million deal so that they could have some stability in the outfield. However, his splits these last few years show that he is a much different hitter when he is outside of Yankee Stadium.

Every left-handed hitter salivates when they see that short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium. When Granderson arrived in the Bronx, he made a conscious effort to pull the ball more to take advantage. His home run totals went up, but his average went down. Some of those home runs will be outs in Citi Field though, which would hurt his power and average numbers.

Another thing working against Granderson is that he will be switching leagues. This is not as big of a deal as it was in the past thanks to interleague play, but it is still something that could make a little bit of a difference. The American League East has better pitching than the National League East, but these are mostly different arms he will be seeing.

As he ages, Granderson is definitely going to notice the 15-25 foot difference in right field between Yankee and Citi. The 33-year old will also be running less and racking up extra base hits as well. Expect his fantasy baseball 2014 value to take a hit, especially if he doesn’t make any changes to his approach at the plate.

When the light at the end of the tunnel is Bartolo Colon

How is it that the Mets' free-agent signings indicate they are spending again? The payroll currently projects to $83 million, which would be lower than last season. And the Mets' next offseason goals appear to be dumping Ike Davis and perhaps Daniel Murphy because they are arbitration-eligible.

The Mets need bullpen depth, especially with Bobby Parnell still recovering from herniated disk surgery, but they let LaTroy Hawkins go because they didn't want to pay a 41-year-old $2.5 million. And yet they are willing to give Bartolo Colon, who turns 41 in May, $20 million.

The signings of Curtis Granderson, Chris Young and Colon would be a lot more exciting if the Mets were actually adding pieces, but they still appear to be treading water. If trading Davis and/or Murphy can improve the club, great, but Davis has much more upside than Lucas Duda and Murphy is a career .290 hitter. The Mets hit .237 as a team in 2013 and new additions Granderson and Young both hit below that last season.  Even if they both manage to hit homers in Citi Field, it will be nice to have someone on base.

On the plus side, the signing of Colon shows that the Mets are not simply writing off 2014, but are willing to make a short-term investment to strengthen the rotation in Matt Harvey's absence. Signing Granderson does offer hope that the team will have hitting for the next two or there years, and if they are lucky, four years.

Young is a gamble. Billy Beane's front office is as smart as any in MLB, and they elected to let both Young and Colon go.

When Granderson joined the Mets, he said that people tell him that true New Yorkers are Met fans. I'm not even sure what a "true New Yorker" is. I'm a native, and I've always been a Met fan, but one could argue that the hordes of people who come to New York because that is where they want to be are equally true New Yorkers as those of us who never left.

What is less debatable is that a true New York team is willing to spend money, since New York is the biggest of the big markets. As New York fans, including Met fans, know all too well, spending money does not always translate into victories or even good teams.  But Met fans also know that the last time the team ramped up its spending, they won 97 games and made it to Game 7 of the NLCS in 2006.

If the remainder of the offseason does not result in an increased payroll, let's hope it at least does not consist mostly of salary dumps.   

The smearing of Curtis Granderson

The New York Yankees may not actually have any true accountability anymore -- after all, Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi still have jobs after the most embarrassing postseason since the 2004 ALCS -- but boy, do they know how to stick it to people. Fresh off their humiliation of Alex Rodriguez, they have now moved on to smearing Curtis Granderson, the player who led the team in home runs and RBIs for the last two seasons, and led the AL in RBIs in 2011.

First, Kevin Long, the hitting coach who was once credited with helping Granderson improve his approach at the plate, told this to the New York Post:

“We all know Curtis is a swing and miss guy,” Long said of Granderson, who went 3-for-30 (100) and whiffed 16 times in the postseason. “He started to struggle in situations where those swings and misses become more glaring than usual.
“I think Curtis can take something out of this: Where was my head at, was I confident enough? There might have been a little bit of self doubt that I saw. He’s got to go through that and see where he’s at and make adjustments.”

True, I don't know what's in Granderson's head. What I do know is that it's pretty unseemly for Long to publicly accuse Granderson of having a confidence issue, and to single him out this way. Especially when the powers that be in Yankeeland did everything they could to sap this team of their swagger by all the crazy lineup changes and public humiliations of their players.

Gee, I can't imagine why Granderson might have had self-doubt, if he actually did, when Joe Girardi panicked and showed that he had zero confidence in the hitters that, as the Yankees like to continually remind us, won 95 games in the regular season. Girardi's bizarre moves did nothing but make the team look like a laughingstock.

Sure, Granderson probably needs a better approach at the plate -- his strikeouts are rising, his batting average is falling, and he was horrible in the postseason. You know, something a batting coach is supposed to help him with. I guess Long did "help" him, though, by telling the New York Times about how Granderson went 0 for 11 in "chases" -- those are swings at pitchers outside the strike zone -- during the ALCS. Classy!

Now I see in this morning that a "Yankee source" reveals to the New York Daily News that the team "plans to send Granderson to an eye specialist to see if his eyesight has been the source of his problems at the plate." Gee, it's too bad that the Yanks had to wait so long to get a referral from their HMO for Grandy.[/sarcasm]

I have several thoughts on this. The first is that it is not beyond the realm of possibility that somebody who struck out 16 times in 30 postseason at-bats, and 195 times during the regular season, might have an issue with his eyes. The second is that if this is indeed the case, then why the heck didn't the Yankees do something about it when it could have actually mattered? There are a gazillion eye specialists (many of whom are even Yankee fans) in New York City who could have examined Granderson earlier, and at a moment's notice. It's not like he would have had to wait for an appointment!

But the third, and most cynical, reaction to this story is that I remember what George Steinbrenner did to Reggie Jackson at the end of his time with the Yankees, when Steinbrenner didn't want to re-sign him. Jax was struggling, and The Boss made things worse by publicly ordering him to get an eye exam, treating it like a punishment. It was not one of Steinbrenner's finest moments.  Regarding Granderson, there are rumors that the Yanks will pick up the 2013 option on his contract, but don't want to sign him to another deal. Is this their way of explaining why?

I was as frustrated as anybody by Curtis Granderson's postseason numbers this year. But his poor playoff outings don't justify the Yankees treating him like a human pinata, especially given that Granderson not only has helped the Yankees as a player, but as a person. He's a good man, and he doesn't deserve this type of treatment.

You have to wonder if this smearing is being done to somehow redeem Brian Cashman's reputation for trading for him, given that Austin Jackson, Phil Coke, and Max Scherzer -- all players the Tigers got in the trade for Granderson -- helped beat the Yankees, while Granderson didn't even start the final game of the ALCS. Yes, that makes me extremely cynical. But we just finished watching the Yankees scapegoat Alex Rodriguez to run him out of town, and then have to start doing damage control when they finally realized that he, for now at least, is going to exercise that no-trade clause. I have good reason to be cynical!

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Curtis Granderson's Birthday -- And Brackets Challenge

Happy birthday to New York Yankees centerfielder Curtis Granderson, who turns 30 today. He got a Yankee Stadium replica birthday cake -- check out his Twitter page to see it.

Anyhow, Granderson is running a brackets contest for his foundation on his website. For a $10 donation to his Grand Kids Foundation, you can pick your college basketball brackets, and have the chance to win cool prizes, like autographed balls and bats and such.

I don't really do the whole bracket thing myself, but this deal makes me tempted! But sign up by tonight's deadline, if you want to compete.

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TV Note: Curtis Granderson on Martha Stewart today!

The Grandy Man can...appear on Martha, that is! Curtis Granderson is on today's Martha Stewart Show, which airs on the Hallmark Channel. The episode he's on will air at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesday. As a Martha fan, I was looking on my on-screen TV guide to see who were going to be her guests today,and I was very excited to see that she was having Granderson on the show!

Granderson was supposed to be on her show in person back in May, but due to a cold and an injury, he was  unable to appear in person. He did speak to Martha on the phone, then. Here's my recap of that episode.

Anyhow, according to Martha's website, Curtis and Martha will be making some sort of grandish. Well, actually, they'll be making comfort food -- macaroni and cheese and custard-filled cornbread! I'm a bit under the weather with a cold right now, so comfort food sounds really good right now!

I'll write a recap of the appearance after I watch it. Sounds like fun!

My thoughts on Yankees-Twins, Game 1

I was pretty grumpy for the first half of last night's game, between CC Sabathia looking shaky, and Jorge Posada's passed ball contributing to a run. (I wondered on Twitter whether Jorge would blame CC for it!) And the fact that the Yanks looked flummoxed against Francisco Liriano for the first five innings ticked  me off.

But then the sixth inning came, Jorge Posada redeemed himself, and Curtis Granderson proved to be something sort of Grandish (I wonder how John Sterling called his big hit -- I hope it was better than the TBS announcers, who muffed it!)

I really thought that after the Yankees scored  four runs in the sixth inning, that Joe Girardi should have had a reliever ready to go, especially since CC may be needed to pitch on short rest in the series. Sabathia looked D-O-E-N  DONE, as Jerome from Manhattan would spell it! As great as Sabathia has been for the team this season (they wouldn't be in the playoffs without him), he labored yesterday, throwing 27 pitches in the sixth, 111 overall. He walked three batters his last inning, including the tying run. Yet he ended up with the win, thanks to Mark Teixeira's homer (another call the TBS broadcasters messed up on.)

I thought CC should have been pulled earlier -- getting the Yankees the win, not CC the win, should have been the priority. Others disagreed with me on Facebook.  Fortunately it all worked out, though.

But how about the messed-up call on Greg Golson's catch last night? The Yanks had to get 28 outs, thanks to that. Joel Sherman wrote this in support of instant replay in his blog today:


... "this is strictly about the blown call. There is a way to get a high percentage of them corrected, so why would we not want to do that. One argument I hear is that it would eliminate the human element. Stop. The human element is that Jorge Posada has trouble catching the ball, not umpires messing up.

After years of cheerleading for Jorge, Sherman's really down on him, isn't he?

Anyhow, had a late night watching  the game, so I'm way off schedule. Coming later today -- more thoughts on Carl (Iron Man) Pavano!

Split Decision: Yanks, Red Sox win two each in series

Is it just me, or did this Yankees-Red Sox series seem just not as buzzworthy as previous matchups? I was happy that Dustin Moseley pitched so well Sunday (even if cynics think that, as one reader put it, A.J.Burnett was really suffering from Soxitis and not a bad back!) I was glad to see Derek Jeter pass Babe Ruth on the all-time hits list, and to get to Josh Beckett.

But I was disappointed that Curtis Granderson continues to struggle. And that the Bombers couldn't knock down Jonathan Papelbon in yesterday's game.

There's a lot of talk in the media today about how the Yanks should have re-signed  Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui. Damon I agree with, but was Matsui staying a Yankee ever an option? After all, he signed with Anaheim right after becoming a  free agent, without even hearing an offer from the Yankees. And I've read several times that he didn't want to come back to New York. So, I don't think that was even on the table.

There's also a bunch of articles criticizing Granderson. New York Post columnist Joel Sherman writes:

For his part, Granderson has a Nickelodeon persona, never publicly showing anything but a smile and a positive bent. So he is unrelentingly upbeat, delusional or working on an acting career.

What does Sherman want Grandy to do -- start sobbing on a writer's shoulder or something? If Granderson showed anger to the press, he's be called testy. If he acted upset, he'd be called too moody. But when he stays positive, he's called "delusional." Good grief.

Anyhow, I wish the Yankees had won yesterday - three games out of four would have felt a lot better than a series split!


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Curtis Granderson is something sort of grandish as the Yankees win

The Grandy Man Can! Curtis Granderson has hit three homers in the past two days, and his two-run homer Monday night, combined with Javier Vazquez's great pitching, helped the Yankees win.

I'm glad to see that Granderson is finally hitting - he's .427 in his last six games. The center fielder is an easy guy to root for, between his engaging personality, and all the charity work that he does. Grandy is also a fellow blogger, so how could I not like him!

Granderson was one of Brian Cashman's big acquisitions this winter; Javier Vazquez was the other one. And Javy struggled so much in the first month of the year that he looked like Cashman's Folly. But since then, his ERA has dropped over five runs, and he's pitched more like the Atlanta Braves ace he was last year, and not the hurler Yankee fans remember from October 2004.


Anyhow, Granderson and Vazquez were the two big heroes of the night. But strangely enough, the New York Post didn't see fit to mention either of them on today's back page. Instead, with their cynical "Who Needs 'Em!" headline, Joba Chamberlain and Alex Rodriguez are lumped together as the forces of evil in Yankeeland. See why I complain about the media!

Maybe the Post is just mad that four hours after a headline on a George King blog entry claimed that "Girardi says he is sticking with Joba," Girardi went to Dave Robertson and Boone Logan instead!

As for Joba, I think Girardi is doing the right thing in trying something different. If Joba name were Joe Blow, and not Joba Chamberlain, he would have been demoted a long time ago.


A-Rod, of course, did not hit #600, but he did appear to have a lot of Yankee fans in the house cheering him on. I squawked a lot yesterday about Yankee attendance. As Squawker reader Peggy noted, the Indians have the worst attendance in the majors, averaging around 16K a game. For what it's worth, last night's attendance was 27,224, which ranks third for Cleveland's home game attendance, after Opening Day and Stephen Strasburg's second major league game.

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What Martha Stewart told Curtis Granderson

I got a note from Curtis Granderson's rep on Monday that unfortunately, the center fielder wouldn't be making his Martha Stewart Show appearance this week. He was going to cook with Martha, but he was unable to appear on the show, due to his injury. So I didn't watch the show yesterday.

But I just clicked on my DVR taping of the show, to see who would be taking his place, and I was very pleased to find out that Martha interviewed Curtis on the phone at the beginning of the program. She called him "her new favorite Yankee" and "an amazing player," and said she was "really looking forward" to having him on the show.

When asked about his groin injury, Granderson said he had "gotten better though since Saturday." But he also got sick over the last few days with what sounded like a cold, and said he had no appetite. Martha recommended drinking some vegetable concoction she makes in the juicer every day.

Anyhow, Martha told Curtis she was giving him a pair of "very comfortable" drawstring pajama bottoms, in a navy blue style with white pinstripes, that she made. And she invited him back on the show when he was feeling up to it. "Good luck Yankees," she closed the conversation with. "I expect to see you in the World Series." Very cool!

In other news, Granderson wrote a wonderful tribute to Ernie Harwell on Big League Stew. Check it out here. And check out the latest news regarding the Grand Kids Foundation, Curtis' charity, at the web site.

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A something sort of silly set of interview questions for Curtis Granderson

I was excited to see that the New York Post's Serby's Sunday Q & A featured Curtis Granderson, as I'm been a fan of him since he was with the Tigers. As for the interview itself, a lot of Steve Serby's questions were way over the top, and more appropriate for Tiger Beat than for the sports section!

Here's the very first question: What have you learned about Derek Jeter as a teammate?

Second question: What sense do you get about what he means to the Yankees?

Third question: Have you asked him to fix you up yet?

Fourth question: Well how would you feel about double-dating with him?

When I was growing up, there was a kids' show on ABC called "Kids Are People Too" (It was an updated "Wonderama," without Bob McAllister, but with the very annoying theme song. Readers who grew up in the NYC area when I did will know what all this means! Wackadoo, wackadoo.)

Anyhow, I remember one episode had cast members of "Welcome Back, Kotter" on. And that that the host's first question to them was "What is John Travolta really like?" I knew even as a kid that this was kind of an obnoxious question to ask. It's even more obnoxious when an athlete, famous in his own right, is asked not one but four questions about Derek Jeter - especially those questions about getting Jeter to fix him up, and whether they would double-date.

I mean, really. I know that Serby's Q&A is supposed to show a lighter side of athletes, but those questions are way out of line. Is he writing for a sports department or for Cosmo?

Serby continues on this line of questioning, asking Granderson:

Question Five: Describe your ideal mate.

Then more questions about the famous Yankees he's gotten to meet:


Question Six: Playing behind Mariano Rivera?

Question Seven: Meeting Yogi for the first time?

Question Eight: Tips from Reggie Jackson?

The interview is half over, and nearly every single question is about Granderson's reactions to meeting famous Yankees. One or two questions would have sufficed on that.

Fortunately, the second half of the interview is very good, asking Granderson questions about himself and his life, including visiting South Africa, going on a safari, the "Don't Think Have Fun" slogan written in his hat, his grandmother, and his favorite things.

Serby should have stuck to that method of questioning for the whole piece, and it would have made a much better interview.

* * *

Hope Granderson is a quick healer - him being out with a groin injury is going to decimate the Yankee outfield. Get well soon, Curtis!

In other Grandy news, he's going to be on the Martha Stewart Show Tuesday - noticed the listing last night on my DVR. (Yes, I'm a Martha fan, and I had a great time going to a taping of her show in March! Entertaining show, professional staff, and lots of great goodies for the audience!) You may remember that Martha fixed Curtis' batting gloves on Opening Day. Wonder what's on tap for the show?

Update: I just heard from Curtis Granderson's rep that the show will be taped this Tuesday morning for airing that same morning. So with that quick time frame, hopefully we'll get to hear the latest of his thoughts on the season so far, and how he's feeling. "Martha" airs on at 11 a.m. on Channel 4 in New York - check your own local listings for the time and station. 


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Home Run Javy and Something Sort of Groinish ruin Yankees' day

I was at the doctor's office this afternoon for an appointment, so I followed the Yankee game on my phone. Let's just put it this way - I wasn't very pleased to see Andruw Jones listed on the phone - twice - hitting a homer against Javier Vazquez. Oh, and Home Run Javy was out of the game before I even got home! It sounded like there were sarcastic cheers mixed in with the boos, at least judging from what I heard on the radio. I taped the game, so I'll listen to the replay later, after my stomach settles.

Then there's Curtis Granderson's groin injury - just heard Joe Girardi say Grandy was likely going on the DL. The center fielder got hurt when I was at OTB wagering on he Kentucky Derby (more on the bet in a sec). Poor Grandy. So I missed hearing if John Sterling declared that it was Something Sort of Groinish! (If you like that joke, I came up with it. If you don't, blame Squawker Jon!)

I did get to hear John Sterling get excited over Nick Swisher's home run to give the Yanks the lead. But I missed A.J. Pierzynski putting the White Sox ahead again.

I'm sure I missed a lot today (then again, maybe not. The Yanks did lose, after all!) I did watch the last few innings at home - what struck me was how unexcited the crowd was, even after A-Rod's hit. There seemed to be little excitement, and no hope that the Yanks would win.

To top it all off, just watched the highlight of 1) Johnny Damon hitting a walkoff homer to win the game for the Tigers, 2) Him tossing his batting helmet in the air the way A-Rod does, and 3) Getting a pie in the face. Why, oh why, isn't he a Yankee anymore?

At least the Phillies killed the Mets today, so Squawker Jon's trash talk will be subdued.

* * *

I know pretty much nothing about horse racing , but I usually make a bet on a horse or two during the Kentucky Derby, just to keep things interesting. Obviously, I wasn't going to bet for Joe Torre's horse in the race.  I went to OTB today (I was literally the only female - and one of the few people under 50 - in the place.) I was in full rube mode as I chose my wagers solely based on the horse's name, the way I usually do. So these are the horsies I dug deep to put down a whole $2 each on, and the reasons why:

* Ice Box - For some reason, Squawker Jon loves that term. I think it reminds him of the "Honeymooners," his all-time favorite show, or something. 10-1 odds when I placed my wager.

* American Lion - I love lions - they snooze 22 hours a day, and every so often feast on some unwary prey. Talk about living the dream! 30-1 odds.

* Dean's Kitten - I don't know who Dean is, but "kitten" is in the name, so as a cat person, that's good enough for me. 50-1 odds.

* Mission Impazible - Squawker Jon thought this was the dumbest name on the list. I plunked down $2, just to tick him off. 20-1 odds.

If Homeboykris, Torre's horse, somehow does well, my miserable day will be complete (I already found out that an endoscopy is in my near future!) Too bad I also couldn't do a bet against the horse!

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

The Grandy Man Can: John Sterling does it up right for Curtis Granderson!

Right after Curtis Granderson hit the home run off Jonathan Papelbon last night, I went on Twitter and wrote, "Burning question - what was John Sterling's Granderson call this time? I hope it was 'The Grandy Man Can'!"

And guess what? I got my wish!

I may not know 65-year-old show tunes, but I do know the "Candy Man" song, from one of my all time favorite movies, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." It was a huge song when I was a kid - I even remember doing some routine to it in dancing school. I also grew up watching variety shows, and saw Davis in his glory many a time. Forget "Finian's Rainbow;" this is a pop culture reference I can understand!

So, how did Sterling do the Grandy Man Can in the call? Well, first he did the "Something Sort of Grandish" call that I can't stand, then he added "The Grandy Man Can" to the home run call, by (yes!) singing it. Twice!

I guess you could say that Sterling mixed it up with love and made the call taste good!

The good folks at It Is High, It Is Far, It Is...Caught! - who referenced this Squawker just the other day - have done their own tribute to John - and to Sammy - featuring the call, mixed with Davis' own version of the song:



What do you think? Tell us about it!

Time to slam - and praise (?!) some Red Sox

I was saying last night on Facebook that seeing Jonathan Papelbon have that vacant, dopey look on his face after he gives up a homer never gets old. And it was so much fun to see that expression last night after he gave up that homer to Curtis Granderson. (You can see that vacant, dopey look on Papelbon's face in the postgame interview as well!)

Incidentally, I have never liked John Lackey - there is just something about his demeanor that gets on my last nerve. And he has managed to be even more annoying as a Red Sox.

Now that David Ortiz has finally gotten a hit - he drove in the Sox's only run - will the media stop hyperventilating over him a little? I'm not exactly his biggest fan, but even I think it's ridiculous. So I wrote an article for The Faster Times yesterday where I defended David Ortiz' outburst at the media over the way they've essentially decided his career is over. After two games.

Even Mariano Rivera, who faced him last night, had his back, saying, "I don't know what the big deal is," he said. "It's two games. It's ridiculous - for me, anyway."

Oh, and I saw that Don Zimmer is among the Boston "legends" who will be inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame this year. Yes, Zim, the manager who let his personal animus against Bill Lee cloud using him for the good of the team. Zimmer may have been a huge part of the Yankees' late 90s dynasty years - he was Torre's best bench coach - but as a Red Sox manager, he left something to be desired.

Wouldn't it be great if Boston's Prudential Building really did have the Yankee logo up? Alas, it is only a prank, done with special effects.




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Joel Sherman concedes - kind of - that his Opening Day column was a bit over the top

New York Post columnist Joel Sherman got a lot of grief today from Yankee fans - including myself - about his column "Curtis fails to get the big hit in first test", regarding Curtis Granderson's performance in last night's Yankees-Red Sox game. So after fans were squawking about the article, Sherman wrote an explanation of sorts on his piece, via his Hardball blog. Here's some of what he had to say:

There are few columns I enjoy writing less than the post-game one after the season opener. You feel forced to make huge proclamations based on a single game. It is one of the elements of my business I would change if I was elected newspaper czar. Alas, the job is not open and I am not running.

 Hmmmm. Sherman is not only one of the biggest names at his paper, he's one of the top stars on the New York baseball beat. Is there any reason he should "feel forced to make huge proclamations based on a single game"? Absolutely not. Nobody's putting a gun to his head and making him extrapolate such ridiculous pronouncements based on one game. (Incidentally, if any player gave such a "blame the system" response to crititicism, he'd get ripped to shreds by the likes of Sherman for not taking responsibility. Just saying.)

In the scope of things, Game 1 matters as much as Game 111 does. Which is to say, it's silly to read much of anything into it. Granderson, Sherman continues, "filled a lot of columns in Day 1, but obviously no conclusions should be drawn on anything." Gee, ya think?

However, Sherman still argues that "Granderson is going to have to compete this year against the ghosts of Hideki Matsui and, especially, Johnny Damon." I still don't get this logic. Granderson is technically replacing Melky Cabrera, although I can understand why he's perceived as essentially replacing Damon on the team. That makes sense. But it doesn't make sense to have it that he's replacing Matsui as well - that's Nick Johnson's spot. Unless Granderson becomes Albert Pujols overnight, he would never be able to replace both Matsui and Damon, and to suggest that he is is dooming him for failure.

One other thing - in both pieces, Sherman talks about clutchness, although in the blog entry, he further explains his point about Grandy's last at-bat of the night.

That Granderson grounded out to end the game does not mean he was afraid. Most people make out against Jonathan Papelbon. There is no shame in that. But this is the beginning of the evidence about how Granderson will handle how major situations by which Yankees are defined: On the road at Fenway in the ninth inning, who do you want up?

What, is Sherman looking for a new "he's not clutch" scapegoat, now that A-Rod has gotten that monkey off his back? The writer suggested in his column this morning that Granderson "does not have a clutch rep for his career." But according to Baseball-Reference.com, 63 of Granderson's 103 career homers have come with the game being within one run or less, and a 91 of his 300 RBIs came with two outs.

Anyhow, why don't we wait a week or two (or three or four!) before we decide whether the Curtis Granderson Era is a failure yet? Just a thought.


What do you think? Tell us about it!

Why did John Sterling make such a bad home run call for Curtis Granderson?

I wrote two pieces for The Faster Times today. First is about John Sterling's silly home run call for Curtis Granderson. Second is another predictions piece - in this one, I do my own NL picks! Please check them both out.

Quick John Sterling story - I met him at the Yankees 2009 World Series movie premiere, and thanked him for entertaining me with his broadcasts. He described his role on the radio to me as a "labor of love." Just wish he'd love these obscure theater references a little less!