Talkin Baseball Podcast

Here is the latest Talkin Baseball: The Hot Corner, we talked with Drew Fairservice from Ghostrunneronfirst.com about the Blue Jays coming to the Bronx. We of course talked about the Fred Wilpon comments and all the latest chatter about the Yanks.

Enjoy... and remember to check out the show live every Tuesday  from 7-9pm on WCWPSports.org

(Remember to click on to click on the tab to get the drop down bar and click the correct interview and episode.)

Yankee Stadium Expierences: Yankees vs Mets 5-21-2011

View from the top of the Gateway Mall

The night before the Yankees had lost to the Mets 2-1, and were unable to get anything going on offense, yet the pitching was great again. That last line seems to be the story of 2011, the hitters haven't done the job, yet the pitching has held up.

After that Friday performance, I was feeling down on the team, and didn't know what to expect when A.J. Burnett faced off against Chris Capuano. I wasn't feeling like listening to Mets fans, celebrate and bash the Yanks like they had just won the world series, so a win for the bombers was desperately seeked.

Once arriving in the area around Yankee Stadium, I was saddened to see that the parking lot that normally charges $20, was not opened (I later read that they were charging $40, which makes no sense) so I tried out the Gateway Mall parking (more on that later in this post). Because I was there so early, my friend and I checked out the mall, which was really confusing to navigate because of how it is set up, either way you get a nice sight line of the Bronx from the top level.

They must sponser everything!

As the gates were ready to be opened, the lines to enter the stadium stretched a long way, most games I go to are midweek games since that is what my ticket plan is full of, but the area around the stadium on this night was very crowded. Their were more vendors outside then normal, and ton of cops just standing around on the street, it had almost a postseason atmosphere to it.

As I entered the stadium, a light rain began to fall, but it let up,  but about an hour before game time, it began to pour and everyone ran for shelter. Luckily the game was not forced to be pushed back. As it rained I stood up near the batters eye cafe to stay dry, I noticed that Mastercard now is the sponsor of that area so the signs in the area has the Mastercard logo and then says "batters eye cafe". Not to whine, but they really have sponsored everything at the new stadium, it gets annoying after a while.

After it poured it was time to head to the seats, which I was able to purchase for face value during the Yankee pre-sale back in March. They were good seats in section 237 of the bleachers, they were row 10, but they felt much lower, really good seats for the value.

View from section 237

As the game began and Burnett struggled I felt like this was going to be another game in which I saw the bad A.J., after all I have a record of 3-5 when Burnett starts and I go to the game. But after the first inning, Burnett settled down and cruised for most of the night.

I have been to Subway Series games at both Yankee Stadium and at the Mets ballparks, and I can say that this was one of the most easy going crowds. Now I'm not saying the crowd was not into it because I would say this was the most into a crowd has been into a game all this season, but their was only friendly banter and good fun ribbing between Mets and Yankee fans. Their were no fights that I saw and only at one point did someone get tossed from the bleachers ( a Mets fan, for those scoring at home).

In the end the Yankees beat up on the Mets, hitting four home runs. All of which except Russell Martins homer would have likely stayed in Citi Field, but that's something the Mets can fix when they face the Yankees at Citi Field in July.

One of the TV's was broken, in section 239.

Although the score was 7-3, most fans stayed around till the end to watch Luis Ayala shut down the Mets. Frank Sinatra played, Yankee fans were sent home happy, and the world didn't end at 6pm cause of the rapture.

Last thing, I mentioned earlier about parking at the Gateway Mall, I would no recommend it. Now of course this was a premium game that had one of the largest crowds of the season, so the parking was packed but getting out of there is a mess. They don't have anyone directing traffic, and only two spots to exit from, causing a huge mess. For the $30 you have to pay, it is more efficient to cough up the extra $5 and pay at one of the garages, closer to the stadium.

Final score:Yankees 7 Mets 3

Have fans lost interest in the Subway Series?

As we mentioned in yesterdays post, this is the 15th season that interleague play has been apart of baseball, of course the traditionalists hate it, but attendance proves otherwise. Adding to that attendance is match ups with the inter-city rivals, like the Mets and the Yankees. But when last nights contest between the two clubs, didn't sell out and tickets could be had on the cheap on the secondary market, you must question if the rivalry in the stands still matters.

It was alarming to see tickets so cheap for a Subway Series game last night on Stubhub and other markets, but the weather was a factor with the possibility of showers all night. But also remember that tickets were likely on the cheap, because both fans have had their fair share of issues with these teams.

The Yankees have played awful after getting off to a hot start, and as we have noticed tickets haven't been selling this year, even against teams like the Boston Red Sox. If they have an issue against the Red Sox, a team that many would consider a bigger rivalry, then the same issue would be had with the Mets. But it is not just Yankee fans, that have frustrations, Met fans have had a life full of misery. This year isnt much better, as the Mets have had low expectations from the start, but have gotten off to a nice start. But that doesn't mean the Mets fans are looking for some torment at Yankee Stadium, as last year they also got off to a decent start and still fell behind .500.

Even though the Yankees did not consider it a sell out they still sold 47,000 + tickets and it was the largest crowd of the season. In large part, most of the tickets that went unsold were the most expensive seats that have had a problem selling all season. The series, has not lost any of the polish, just the teams have. The fans are still into the game, but high ticket prices and lack luster teams have killed a bit of the polish of the Subway Series in 2011.

Subway Series preview: Looking back and this weekends match ups.

Dave Mlicki beats the Yanks in the first
Subway Series game.

In 1997, the havoc began and 15 years later, the crosstown rivalry continues to grow. Although this season, the Mets are not expected to compete, they have done a fine job of proving the nay-sayers wrong. Both teams roll into the Bronx tonight on a hot streak. The Mets have won six of their last eight, and the Yankees come in riding a three game win streak after bashing the Orioles last night, before we look at this weekends match ups, lets look at the past Subway Series contests.

1997: Yankees take the series 2-1: Yesh! I forgot that they only played one series back then, this one took place at Yankee Stadium. Of course as we all know the great Dave Mlicki won the game the first night, but the Yankees would win the next two. Another strange thing about this series, they were Monday-Wednesday, so they were during the week, and the Wednesday one was a 1pm start.

1998: Yankees take the series 2-1: Once again they only played three games but this time they faced off at Shea Stadium. This is the year they moved the games to the weekends, and this would be the last of just one series.

I still have no clue how Matt Franco beat Mo.

1999: Split the series 3-3: I guess this is when Major League Baseball realized that by having six games, they were guaranteed to sell out each time and each team would get three games at home. This was the year of the famous Mariano Rivera- Matt Franco game in which the Mets pulled the upset on the mighty Yankees and beat the great Mo.

2000: Yankees win regular season 4-2, also win World Series 4-1: This is the year, it was no longer a rivalry for the fans as Roger Clemens and Mike Piazza would turn the rivalry up a notch. The Yankees would win the regular season set, including the first ever double header in which a game took place in each stadium. Aside from Clemens drilling Piazza in his melon, Doc Gooden would get some revenge beating the Mets during the double header. In the World Series, the Yankees would beat the Mets in a closer series then many remember, the Yankees won the series by just five runs and the Clemens-Piazza rivalry would heat up after the rocket man tossed a piece of Piazza's broken bat at the Mets catcher.

(Insert roid rage joke here)

2001: Yankees win series 4-2: The final time the Yankee dynasty team would beat up on the Mets, although the Mets would get revenge at Yankee Stadium beating Mariano Rivera again to pull off a 3-0 victory.

2002: Split the series 3-3: Robin Ventura would return to Shea Stadium after being traded by the Mets to the Yankees, Ventura would hit a go ahead home run against the Mets, helping the Yankees win the game. Also, I can remember that Mo Vaughn, had one of his best Mets moments when he hit a home run off the old Shea Stadium scoreboard, one of the longest home runs I ever saw. This was also the series that Shawn Estes, threw behind Clemens, talk about a few years too late.

2003: Yankees sweep the series 6-0: What can you say about this years series other then everything went right for the Yankees and everything went wrong for the Mets.

2004: Mets (finally) win the series 4-2: Of all the decent Mets teams who would expect the 2004 squad to win the series. They would lose 2 of 3 at Yankee Stadium, but swept the Yanks at Shea Stadium. I will always remember that the Yanks had just swept the Red Sox the series before, and Jeter dove into the stands, but couldn't beat the Mets, I guess that is why you can't predict baseball.

2005: Split the series 3-3: The Mets began to get better, and Dae Sung Koo had a career day against the Yanks, pitching well against them before hitting a double and scoring from second on a sac bunt. The Yanks would get some revenge the next day when they rallied back against  Roberto Hernandez to steal a victory.
 

2006: Split the series 3-3: I consider this year the rebirth of the rivalry since the Mets had the best team in the National League this season and the Yankees had the best in the American. The series began with a bang for Mets fans when David Wright won the first game of the series against Rivera again, but the Yanks would strike back the next day and beat the Mets 5-4, after getting four runs against Billy Wagner in the 9th. Also in the final, crazy game of the series the Yankees bashed the Mets 16-7. The game didnt start until 9:15pm, due to rain and Alex Rodriguez and Paul LoDuca had words after an A-Rod home run.

2007: Yet another split 3-3: The Yanks almost got swept at Shea Stadium, but Tyler Clippard had one of the best outings of his career, beating the Mets, to earn the back page title of "The Yankee Clippard". When the series made its way back to Yankee Stadium, the Mets won the first game thanks to Carlos Gomez robbing a home run, but the Yanks would win the next two to tie the series.

2008: Mets win the series 4-2: One of the worst years for the Yankees, as they lost the series and each game they loss was a blow out for the Mets. The highlight was the Yanks beat Pedro Martinez at Shea Stadium, bring back they "who's your daddy" chant for one night.

2009: Yankees win the series 5-1: The Yankees would sweep the series at Citi Field, and take 2 of 3 at Yankee Stadium, including a 15-0 victory for the bombers. But this year will always be remembered by a dropped pop up from Luis Castillo.

2010: Split the series 3-3: Sadly no dropped pop ups this year, as the clubs split the series at three games apiece. In an odd situation the Yankees and Mets had the same pitching match ups for both series, and each pitching match up was split 1-1, between the clubs.

This year the Yanks have the advantage heading into the first match up of the year, with the pitching match up favoring the Yanks in the Friday and Saturday games (Dickey vs Garcia and Capuano vs Burnett), while Sunday leans towards the Mets (Pelfrey vs Nova). Looking at the match ups between the position players the Yanks have the advantage at ever spot except shortstop (Reyes beats Jeter) and right field (Beltran over Swisher).

NYY Stars and Pinstripes Domain change! Now a Dot Com

As NYY Stars and Pinstripes moves towards our one year anniversary, we figured it is time to add something new and upgrade from being at blogspot, to becoming part of the dot com society. So instead of typing in the old long address at blogspot, you can now simply go to NYYStarsandPinstripes.com .

But don't you worry, NYY Stars and Pinstripes will still bring you the latest Yankees news and discussions about Yankee Stadium. For any suggestions, comments or complaints please feel free to send them to myself on Twitter @NYMoot. Until then enjoy!

High fives around for NYY Stars and Pinstripes

Yankees Link dump 5-18-2011

Hey we finally won!

Saw a few interesting links this morning  I should pass along....

In today's Daily News, Juan Gonzalez writes about the Yankees parking issue. While this is nothing new at all, and has been covered extensively on this site, it was nice to see some stats finally on the 2011 parking. I can't wait for the city to admit they messed up, they can than lower the prices of the lots and possibly knock some of them down and create some park land for the community around the stadium.


Also in The NY Daily News today was an article about how the Jorge Posada-Joe Girardi goes back deeper then just this season, but goes back to 2005 when Girardi was a coach. Apparently they fought over scouting reports and Jorge skipped the meetings, frustrating Girardi then the bench coach. Really interesting stuff, but after this weekend, Posada looks more and more like a diva. Also this "source" that was used makes me wonder if it was John Flaherty, since he would have been apart of those meetings.

Final article on a lighter note is from the NY Times about babies named after Yankees, of course Mickey Mantle is mentioned but naming a kid Jeter? That seems a bit obvious, either way I plan to name my first born Melky after the former Yankee great.

Talkin Baseball: The Hot Corner 5-17-2011

Tuesday means Talkin, Talkin Baseball: The Hot Corner that is, tonight the guys discussed the Yankees struggles and what the bombers could do to improve. Also they talked alot about the whole Jorge Posada issue A.K.A "Posada-gate".

Jason Collette of DRaysBay.com joined the program and talked about the Rays for over 15 minutes, that interview can be heard by simply clicking down on the tab and selecting correctly labeled interview.

For the remained of the show we discussed our favorite Subway Series moments along with what the Mets have done since we last left off.

At the end we did the weekly true/false segment and finished it off with our POW's and WOW's.

Enjoy and remember to tune in live every Tuesday from 7-9pm on WCWPSports.org

Time For a Change: Switching The Line Up



Swisher should convince Jeter to get a
mo hawk.

 Six in a row and it's time to panic in the Bronx. Among Yankees fans, I would say that I amongst the cooler heads and won't overreact to a losing streak like this in May. But looking at the losing streak and the games even before the streak the Yankees had not been that impressive. Sure they were out homering everyone, but doing little other wise. So here is my pitch for what Joe Girardi should do with the line up.

1. Derek Jeter - Yes he stays on top of the line up, in the ideal world I would hit Jeter lower, but you can't do that to the captain unless he comes to you and asks to bat lower, especially after this weekend long drama with Jorge Posada hitting 9th. Jeter looked like he was improving, until the Boston series when he turned back into ground ball Derek.

2. Nick Swisher- Before he hits second I think Swisher needs to sit a day, he has looked off and his comments the other day about trying too hard to hit home runs was alarming. Give him a day to clear his head, and then insert him back into the line up hitting after Jeter. Sure the possibility of the ground ball double play could be large, but Swisher was great in this spot last year. He is going to see a ton of fastballs and good pitches to hit, since most pitchers would rather face Swisher then Tex of A-Rod.

3. Robinson Cano- Here is the first big switch, Cano hits third. Robby has frustrated me this season with his lack of patients at the plate but has been the Yankees second best hitter all season long. Other than his slump this past week, Cano has been fairly consistent and deserves the chance to move up and hit third.



If they can play the infield together, they can hit
behind each other

 4. Alex Rodriguez- A-Rod was hitting .385 when he hurt his oblique, since then he has hit just .180 and has looked lost at the plate. Either way, Girardi loves A-Rod in this spot, and it is the best possible spot for him.

5. Mark Teixeira- The move is basically flip flopping Cano and Tex in the line up, Teixeira had a great April and avoided his annual slump, but that seems to have carried over to May. No doubt in my mind Tex will bounce back, but how soon?

6. Curtis Granderson- "The Grandyman can, oh the Grandyman can" that line has been frequently heard on WCBS 880 when John Sterling breaks it out for Granderson. In his second season with the Yankees Granderson has been everything and more from what they expected from him. He already has 14 home runs and has a realistic shot of hitting 40. If Curtis hits 6th, he would be able to collect a few more RBI's. Although I am often against switching guys in the batting order when they are doing well, I do believe that what ever Kevin Long did that night in Texas last August has helped and will continue to show throughout the season.

Granderson has hit many home runs with that bat.

7. Jorge Posada- I hope hitting 7th does not bruise his ego, because this is the best spot for Jorge. I think he is going to turn it around and hit better than the way he has so far, I mean it can't possibly get worse, right?

8. Russell Martin- The Canadian catcher has hit a bit of a slump come May hitting just .167, but he is still getting on base and has had some good at bats. I like hitting him 8th since behind him will be Brett Gardner, and Martin has some speed, so if both get on I wouldn't mind a double steal.

9. Brett Gardner- The way he has played this month has been under the radar, hitting .341 in May and getting on base at almost .100 more than his batting average. The alarming thing has been that Brett has gotten caught stealing more times than he has been safe (CS-6 SB-5). Gardner's hitting may lead to him moving back up to lead off, but I am a big fan of him hitting 9th at this time, creating a double lead off. The one issue I have with Gardner is his lack of base running skills. Sure he is fast, but some of the choices he makes on when to go or not shock me, he also waits way too long to run and the hitter up at the plate take hittable pitches because of this.

The end is near for Jorge Posada: Won't be a Yankee after this year

I don't think the Yanks want to replace Tex with Jorge
anytime soon.

Joel Sherman of the NY Post was the first to bring this up on Twitter the other night, after this year Jorge Posada may no longer wear the Yankee pinstripes. After the 2007 season, the best of the then catchers career, Posada inked a four year $52 million dollar deal, at the time the contract seemed questionable, since Posada was going to be an older catcher. It has turned out to be a bad contract but not terrible, Jorge did miss most of the 2008 season, but was able to play in 2009 and then really declined behind the plate in 2010. This year is the final year of that deal, and now that he can no longer catch, suddenly a place for Jorge is missing.

Sure he could be the DH again next year, but the Yankees have a bunch of older players that need their half days off, and Girardi and Cashman agree they like to leave the DH slot open to resting some of the players. Add in that Posada has yet to hit this year, and that is what he getting paid the big bucks to do, the end of Jorge's Yankee career will likely come to a close after this year.

It's never easy to say goodbye to a modern day Yankee hero, when Bernie Williams was not asked back following the 2006 season, fans were outraged. The truth was their was no place on the team for him, and in 2012 that same fate will loom for Posada.

This whole "Posada-gate" with him asking out of the line up did not help the possibility of him re-signing with the Yankees after this year. If he is not willing to be a team player and hit 9th, when he's hitting .165, than what will he be like as a part time player next season?

Thanks for the memories Jorge.

If the Yankees don't make the playoffs then, we will know that Jorge Posada's final home game in pinstripes is September 25th 2011 against the Boston Red Sox, the same team he had one of his biggest hits of his career against in the 2003 ALCS. Posada's career might not be done, of course another AL team could add him as a DH, or an NL team may have him as a pinch hitter, but going to another team at the end of a players career always takes some shine away from playing with the same team your entire career. But after this past weekends events, and his declining performance on the field 2011 looks to be the farewell tour.

2011 Yankees Stars and Stripes hat

Every year since 2008, Major League Baseball has had it's teams wear patriotic hats on Memorial Day, July 4th weekend, Labor Day and September 11th. In 2008, the design was blue, 2009 they went to red and last season they went white, so with the three colors of the flags used up what did they go to? This which is a mix of the 2008 and 2010 hats. I'm not impressed and felt they could have done better, but I'm sure MLB does not care since they will still be making a ton of money of these hats.

One of my biggest pet peeves about these is that because of the colors, the hat looks foolish on some teams, like the red 2009 one looked weird on the Yankees or the Marlins. They don't match the uniforms at all, I would rather see the teams wear their regular hats but just have the flag on the side and the flag waving through the team logo.

Another New Era Rivalry Commercial

Yet another great commercial by New Era, they really should continue with this series and create a few more. Hopefully today the bombers bats can pack as much of a punch as Alec Baldwin's fist.

Editors Note: Sorry for the lack of posts lately but Blogger has been acting up and hadn't allowed me to post anything since Wednesday. But don't you worry cause its working now!

Talkin Baseball: The Hot Corner Podcast 5-10-11

It's that time of the night when Talkin Baseball: The Hot Corner is packaged up and sold for free as a podcast. Our guests for the night were former big leaguer Brian McRae chatted with us about his time in the bigs, along with what is going on now with the Royals since they invaded the Bronx this week.

But we weren't finished chatting it up with some pros as Tom Harding proved why he is the best at covering the Colorado Rockies for MLB.com, to talk everything Rockies even a mention of "the Giambino" Jason Giambi.

The banter between the guys consisted of who would you trade and who would you keep Jose Reyes or David Wright. Melky Cabrera and his return to the Bronx, Derek Jeter's hitting turning around, Milton Bradley and if he will ever see another MLB uniform and more Melky! Of course at the end we gave our POWS and WOWS (player of the week and worst of the week)

(Note the McRae Interview is 15 minutes into the podcast, and the Harding interview is an hour deep into the show)

Ticketmaster introduces new interactive seat chart

For years Stubhub has used a seating map where you could simply click the section and it would tell you the row and the price. Well now Ticketmaster has taken it one step further, introducing a new interactive seating chart for Yankee tickets where you can check the exact seat you want. You can tell if the seat is on the aisle, how many seats are available and even determine if you are covered by an overhang.

Screen shot courtesy of @StadiumInsider.

I searched through a few games and realized the obvious, tons of expensive seats are available, even for premium games like this weekends series against the Red Sox, the following week against the Mets and even for weekend summer games like old timers day against the Rockies.

This is helpful though, because I realized that the Yankees aren't lying when they say all the bleacher seats are sold out, but I also realize that they hold back a lot of seats to sell as packages. If Ticketmaster and the Yankees could just lower the charges (Yanks the ticket prices, and Ticketmaster handling fees) I know I would rather be able to buy the exact seats I want knowing that they are possibly the first row or possibly aisle seats.

Army and Rutgers to play third ever football game at Yankee Stadium November 12

It may look nice but Yankee Stadium has awful
sight lines for football.

It seems like Army is trying to set the record for most football games played at the new house, when for the second straight year they play at Yankee Stadium. Last year it was against Notre Dame, in a game that Army would pounded by the Fighting Irish 27-3.  That game sold out, and was the harder draw then the later and much crappier Pinstripe Bowl.

This year Army will face Rutgers, a local team that is sure to draw a lot of local alumni. Last season, the Yankees never had an official pre-sale for the ND-Army game and eventually screwed the fans by selling tickets only through a bundle of buying the ND-Army game, the pinstripe bowl and a field level seat for a Yankee game. Those packages were costing over $500, a bit high if you ask me. Last season I vented my frustrations about that practice here.

I'm not sure who's home game it is, but I'm going to guess Army.

Yankee Stadium Notes: Metallica tickets go on sale and 5K run to be held

Last year during the Jay-Z and Eminem concert

Today tickets went on sale for the "big four" concert at Yankee Stadium in September. The "big four" is considered Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeath, all heavy metal bands from the 80's. The prices for this event were almost double the amount they were for the Jay-Z/Eminem concert that they held last year at the stadium around the same time. For the rap concert last year the prices started at $52.50 but this year it will cost $94.50 to get in the door and hear Enter Sandman live.

I wasn't born till the 90's and metal isn't really my style of music so, I will say I have never heard of any of those bands other then Metallica. But close to $100 to get in seems very steep, Metallica has a reputation for being money hungry, and so do the Yankees so that's always a bad combo.


On to some cheaper news that will benefit a good cause, Yankee Stadium will be hosting the Damon Ruyon walk/run for cancer research again this summer. So save the date of August 7th for chance to check out the stadium, and even get a chance to run on the warning track along the field. I have never done it but it seems like a really cool experience. It does cost $40 to register and you must raise $60 to participate, but remember its going to a good cause. Michael LaPayower, winner of the 2010 YES Network fan of the year has set up a team called "BigYankeeFan" and is attempting to raise money to run for the cause, so help him out!

Talkin Baseball: The Hot Corner 5-3-11 Podcast

Jered Weaver was a beast in April.

The school year might be coming to a close at C.W. Post, but that doesn't mean that Talkin Baseball ends! With April ending the guys broke down the month of April, giving their thoughts on who were the biggest surprises with the stick and who impressed us with their arm. We also discussed what teams surprised us and what teams have disappointed us along with the most disappointing hitters and pitchers of the month.

Although we spent alot of time recapping the months we also talked about the Yankees and the Mets. Mentioning the Yankees pitching surprising us all, especially Bartolo Colon and Derek Jeter's struggles. On the Mets side we talked about the injury to their top prospect Jenrry Mejia and also discussed if MLB should have stopped the game Sunday night after Osama Bin Laden was killed.

As always we also picked out best and worst of the week, while I annoyed Joe by playing some Soulja Boy. So tune in and listen. To catch us live tune in each Tuesday from 7-9 pm EST on WCWP.org.


(This edition was so packed with baseball that we had to break it up into two podcasts, so once your done with the first, just click the tab bar and enjoy the second part).

Yankees April 2011 MVP: Russell Martin

He did it all this month, even stealing bases!

The Yankees won 16 games and are in first place in the American League East, home runs are flying out of the park at record rates and the pitching is holding up. With April over, it's time to announce this months MVP, a new feature to NYY Stars and Pinstripes (after each month a Yankee will be named month MVP).

The candidates:

• AJ Burnett won 4 games and has kept the Yankees in all of them.
• CC Sabathia has the best ERA and most strikeouts
• Bartolo Colon is partying like its 2005, and has been a huge key for the bombers
• Robinson Cano leads the Yankees in batting average, home runs and runs batted in.
• Curtis Granderson was rumored to possibly miss time when the season began, but hit 8 homers.
• Alex Rodriguez was off to a hot start before suffering an oblique injury.

And of course Russell Martin, who wins the award for April. The Canadian catcher was coming off terrible season with the Dodgers and rumors in the off season were that he would have to beat out Jesus Montero for the job. But Martin came to spring training healthy and went on a tear in April hitting .293 with six long balls and 19 runs batted in. But Martin also was behind the dish for ever game except two, and it was great to see a catcher who could finally throw a runner out. An instant crowd favorite for his quick start and hustle, Martin has exceeded expectation. All Yankee fans would love to see Jesus Montero be the catcher of the future, but with the way Martin has played this season they can enjoy the wait.