New York Post columnist Joel Sherman can be great with breaking news and analysis. But all too often, he seems to lack perspective on how little one regular season game means, even if it’s a high-profile season opener.
Last year, he suggested that, after lousy Opening Day performances, Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia were “money for nothing,” and wrote, “no one wants to make a bad first impression as a Yankee because the hole is always a little deeper, so deep that many never truly escape.” Yeah, because Teix and CC never came close to escaping from the hole they dug for themselves into from those crummy Opening Day outings, right?
Sherman is at it again today with “Curtis fails to get the big hit in first test“, his column about last night’s Yankees-Red Sox game, where he’s in full hand-wringing mode about how Granderson made the last out against Jonathan Papelbon. Good grief.
“Curtis Granderson opened brilliantly and had a chance to close even more spectacularly,” Sherman begins his column. He continues, saying:
“He was the tying run. He was the last shot for the Yanks to avoid a discouraging opening loss to their most bitter foe. But Granderson could not furnish a memorable final blow. He could not open with a close. Instead, he grounded out to third, the last out in a 9-7 Boston.”
More from Sherman:
Granderson exposed the issues that he will have to contend with all year, vs. lefties and vs. the ghosts of Damon and Matsui. His final four at-bats all came with runners on base, and Granderson — as opposed to Damon and Matsui — does not have a clutch rep for his career. He went 0-for-3 with a walk….
Who knows what Damon or Matsui might have done? But the specter will linger for the Yankees’ center fielder. He will try to get used to a new team while contending with old ghosts.
Besides, how is it that Granderson is replacing two players? Nick Johnson is really the person who’s replacing Matsui in the lineup. You can make the case that Granderson is replacing Johnny Damon, but if Brian Cashman and Scott Boras had each been willing to give a little, Damon could still have been a Yankee.
And enough with the ghosts, already. Remember how last year, the big story in April was how the Yankee ghosts stayed in the old Stadium. How did that work out for the Yankees last year, anyway?
Heck, the Boston papers have a more calm perspective on last’s game than Sherman’s New York Post column. The Boston Globe wrote, “Just remember, the Yankees lost their first eight games to the Red Sox last season and wound up 9-9 against them and won the World Series. And the Boston Herald said, “If the Yankees had any concerns about how Granderson would respond to his introduction to the rivalry, he answered them in his first at-bat when he crushed a Josh Beckett offering over the Sox bullpen.”
Look, I wasn’t happy with the Yankees losing last night – I never am, especially when it’s against the Red Sox. I’m also peeved that:
- The YES Network didn’t show Pedro Martinez’s first pitch live – what, would it have cut into the time designated for introducing the teams’ massage therapists?
- Neil Diamond was at Fenway in person to sing his creepy song, “Sweet Caroline,”
- John Sterling apparently came up with one of the goofiest home run calls he’s ever done, with his “Something Sort of Grandish” reference for Granderson. Sportswriter Pete Caldera reported on Twitter that this was a song from “Finian’s Rainbow.” Huh?
- Squawker Jon totally called the Dustin Pedroia homer, imploring him to hit one. I was not very happy with that!
But Granderson wouldn’t even begin to make my goat list for last night, which consists of Joe Girardi leaving in CC way too long, the Yankee bullpen being unable to get the job done, and Jorge Posada, who hit spectacularly, but was dismal behind the plate.
However, at any rate, it still is only one game. Somehow, the Yankees managed to win the World Series last year despite having both a dismal Opening Day, and an awful home opener. Imagine that!
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