Granderson has made the same catch before, and better.
And arguably even bigger as this one below literally saved the Tigers from losing to the Indians earlier this year on what would have been a walk off, 2-run bomb off the bat of Grady Sizemore. It not only saved the Tigers a win, but it saved Justin Verlander’s 1-0, complete game shutout, too.
After the fact, the only thing this Carl Crawford catch saved was extra innings and more Joe Buck and Tim McCarver because the AL scored in the next half.
Carl Crawford’s catch came in what was mostly a highlight free All-Star Game. It wasn’t necessarily game deciding, but it was huge in the situation. As a result, Carl Crawford’s snag in the bottom of the 7th to prevent Brad Hawpe and the National League a go-ahead home run won him the All-Star Game MVP award. Many probably believed it served as a catalyst for the American League to mount their one run rally in the top of the 8th inning, started with Curtis Granderson’s triple, and followed by an Adam Jones’ sacrifice fly. The catch was huge, there is no doubt about that, but should it have been enough to win him the MVP award? One thing is probably sure, without it Granderson is your 2009 All-Star Game MVP.
My guess is that the options for the AL MVP were Adam Jones for knocking in the go-ahead run, Curtis Granderson for hitting the triple and scoring the go-ahead run, and Carl Crawford for his home run saving catch (and he had a hit, too). I wouldn’t call it a no-brainer, but there’s enough reason to give the award to Carl Crawford, although it would have been nice to see Curtis Granderson get the award in his first All-Star appearance.
Either way, the Tigers will have home field for the World Series in the Fall. No complaints about that.
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