The Grandy Man can. He has all year, and his excellent production continues into the postseason. Curtis Granderson has been one of the most valuable players on this ball club, if not the most valuable. During last night’s exciting 9-3 win over the Kansas City Royals, the veteran outfielder had quite the night.
In a game that his team desperately needed to win to stay afloat in this series, Granderson delivered big-time, going 2-for-5 on the night with three runs scored and a two-run homer into the right field corner.
With the Mets trailing 3-2 in the third inning, starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard singled off right-hander Yordano Ventura. Granderson then followed with a blast that just made it over the wall for his second home run of the series.
“I was trying to get a ball up in the zone that I could handle. Ventura did an amazing job of locating the ball down throughout the course of the game. He throws hard, but you try to get something in the zone that you can do something with.”
Manager Terry Collins was quite pleased not only with his bat, but that beautiful back-handed catch on what seemed to be an easy double off the bat of Ben Zobrist in the fifth.
“A tremendous catch in right-center. That was a great catch . He’s just had a phenomenal year for us,” Collins said. “He picks us up when we needed to be picked up. And sometimes he does it with a base on balls. A big hit tonight and a good catch.”
With last night’s performance Granderson became just the third leadoff hitter in World Series history to collect at least two hits, a home run, two RBI and three runs scored in one series game.
He joins Lenny Dykstra, who went 3-for-5 with four runs, a double, two home runs and four RBI in Game 4 of the 1993 World Series for the Phillies, and Earle Combs, who went 3-for-4 with four runs, a homer and two RBI in Game 4 of the 1932 Fall Classic for the Yankees.
Everyone knew it was a big win for this team and even though it wasn’t an elimination game it almost felt like one going into it.
“I think every game in the Series obviously is a must-win situation. You come into tonight obviously down two games to nothing, and this game is just as important as the previous one and the first game,” Granderson explained.
Syndergaard certainly set the tone last night, but Granderson continued to pack the punch for what’s been a tremendous postseason for him. Through 12 games is batting .289 (13-for-44) with seven runs scored, eight walks, two home runs and 10 RBI.
Curtis Granderson and the Mets will look to keep things going in Game 4 as they try to even up the series against a familiar foe in Chris Young. The Mets got a good look at the Royals right-hander in the first game of the series, and Granderson believes that will only help them this time around.
“I think the good thing for us is he threw a lot in the first game. I think everyone got a chance to get at least one at-bat against him. Take it for what it’s worth. He came in later in the ballgame. It will be a different situation him starting the ballgame and trying to go as many innings as possible,” he said.
“Hopefully the one at-bat that everybody got, and I think some might have gotten two at-bats against him, might be beneficial for us.”
The Mets will look to tie the series tonight during Game 4 . First pitch is scheduled for 8:07 PM as Long Island native Steven Matz takes the mound for the team he grew up loving and rooting for. Fun times in Flushing… LGM
