Kevin Long Is God!!!

Once again Kevin Long has made the impossible possible; he has turned water into wine; he has made the blind man see.  Evidence this quote from George Kernan's article in today's NY Post.

"Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson took live batting practice off a left-hander on Field 2 yesterday and early in the second round lined a pitch up the middle. That's progress.

Granted the left-handed pitcher was Kei Igawa, but Granderson is in the process of attacking left-handers in a much different way than he has in the past."

Oh.... My.... God!  Did he say he lined a pitch UP THE MIDDLE?!?!  Off of THE Kei Igawa?!?!  Well then pigs must be flying and you can pencil Granderson in for a season hitting .750 off lefties.  Kevin Long has done it again!

To quote Lee Corso: "Not so fast my friend!"  And to quote Winston Wolf from "Pulp Fiction": "Let's not start sucking each other's dicks just yet."  It was one hit off of one batting practice pitch against a pitcher who is so bad that anything not hit into the gap or over the fence off him is considered a failure by most players' standards.  Christ, even I could hit a ball up the middle off Kei Igawa and even I would consider that a disappointment.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to read about how Granderson is changing his approach and what the differences are in his stance that Long has noticed and is working with him to correct.  But until I see him consistenty using that approach in a game situation, I'm going to hold off on calling whatever C-Grand does in practice "progress" or "improvement."

Sure players across the Yankee roster have praised Long for the time and effort he puts in and for the keen eye he possesses in helping fix flaws in a player's stance, swing, etc.  But when it comes to the biggest question mark at the plate heading into the season, let's calm down and see how C-Grand takes Long's teachings and executes them when it matters before we start declaring his lefty ails cured and praising Long as the hitting coach equivalent to Dr. House.