In the above pic, Granderson actually caught the ball. In tonight’s game against the Red Sox, he misplayed it, handing Boston the victory even though Ciriaco was credited with a triple. Very disheartening after the Yankees’ stirring comeback.

Sticking with the stirring comeback, I hope everybody got to see the face-off between Tex and Padilla. It was like watching this.

They really loathe each other, so it was extra sweet when Tex pounded the crap out of Padilla’s pitch, sending it into the seats and providing some real entertainment. As the beat writers were fond of saying on Twitter, Tex did a very un-Tex-like thing after he hit the homer: he admired it. Yup, he stood there for a second or two, then walked out of the box toward first instead of breaking into his usual trot. Or, as others tweeted, he “pimped it.” It was a beautiful moment in any case.

Less beautiful was CC. Sure, there was a rain delay. So what. It didn’t affect Lester. CC came out and gave up three quick runs, then settled down, then gave up more. He was just plain bad.

David Phelps, on the other hand, was brilliant. Why didn’t Joe leave him in? It was a tie game, not a save situation, and Phelps was on a roll. I get that going to Soriano was the likely move, but I always prefer to stay with the hot hand.

Rubber game tomorrow night. I’m hoping for better. Much better.