Jesus Montero's Yankee Stadium batting average falls to .471

Before the Squawkers attended last night's return of Jesus Montero to Yankee Stadium, Lisa predicted that the former Yankee would hit a home run. And he did! 

Since Lisa has managed to jinx most Met games she has attended, I was hoping to return the favor, and it looked like it might happen when Montero's homer put the Mariners ahead in the sixth inning. But it was not to be.

Last night, the Mets blew a ninth-inning lead and their five-game winning streak came to an end. The only other notable win streak the Mets have had this year (four games) came to an end when Lisa and I went to the April 10 loss to the Nationals. Maybe I should just stay out of all ballparks with Lisa when the Mets go on a winning streak.

The apologists for the disastrous Montero-Michael Pineda trade can take heart in the fact that Montero's 1-for-4 evening dropped his Yankee Stadium batting average from .500 (15-for-30) to .471. His OPS in Yankee Stadium plummeted from 1.483 to 1.462.

Meanwhile, current Yankee catcher Russell Martin isn't enjoying the cozy confines of Yankee Stadium quite as much this season. Martin is hitting just .071 (3-for-42) at the Stadium with an OPS of  only .347.

While at Yankee Stadium, I got the meatball sandwich from Parm in the Great Hall. Along with the Lobel's steak sandwich, Yankee Stadium now has two concession stands with food worthy of the offerings at Citi Field.

Mets have better record than the Yankees

Squawker Lisa, in case you don't have access to the standings, I thought you should know that the Amazing Mets are 18-13 while the Yankees are 17-14. If the season ended today, the Mets would be in the playoffs thanks to the new system, while the fourth-place Yankees would be playing golf (maybe they could invite Josh Beckett).

Despite the NL East being much improved this year while the Mets cut their payroll by $50 million, the Mets are 13-5 so far against their divisional rivals. They have already swept series from the Phillies, Marlins and Braves. In the just-completed sweep of the Phillies, the Mets had to face Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee, while both Johan Santana and R.A. Dickey missed the series.

Tonight, however, I won't get to watch the Mets make their first visit to the new Miami stadium because the Squawkers will be heading up to the Bronx to see Jesus Montero's first game back in New York.

Lisa was opposed to the Montero trade from the start, while I thought it was more evenhanded, though not without risk considering how poorly Michael Pineda did in the second half last year and how bad his record was pitching outside of Seattle.

Montero has played 29 games for Seattle and been the catcher in 12 of them. Montero is now hitting .268 with 4 homers and 16 RBI.

Current Yankee catcher Russell Martin is hitting .188 with 3 homers and 7 RBI.

Why Brian Cashman is like Kim Kardashian, and other Yankee thoughts

Brian Cashman, the GM who brought us that wonderful Jesus Montero-Michael Pineda deal, took a cue from both "Undercover Boss" and Kim Kardashian with his appearance in the bleachers Sunday. By wearing that same stupid wig/visor than he did while rappelling a building, he had about as ridiculous -- and as obvioius -- a disguise as the bosses do on "Undercover Boss." (An aside -- is anybody on that show ever really fooled? You have some new low-level staffer wearing wigs out of the Harpo Marx Collection, and being followed by a camera crew, and nobody catches on? C'mon now.)

And Cashman was like Kim Kardashian in trying his best to make a spectacle of himself to get publicity. He's been GM since 1998, yet it took him until 2012, after he was finally on the hot seat a little bit, for him to go hang out with the proles in the bleachers? Spare me. It is about as shameless a publicity ploy as Kardashian's faux-mance with Kanye West, where they have hit up nearly every high-trafficked tourist spot in New York to show off their "love." How perfectly fake. Come to think of it, maybe we're going to see Kanye and Kim in the bleachers soon, too. Good grief.

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When the best you can say about Phil Hughes' pitching is that he didn't stink as much as he has in his previous four starts, it is not a good night. Especially when he didn't even pitch as well as Hector Noesi (traded as part of the Jesus Montero/Michael Pineda deal) did last night for the Seattle Mariners.

Speaking of Montero, he went 4-for-4 last night for Seattle, and hit a home run the night before. His batting average is now up to .294 (better than every Yankee starter except for Derek Jeter) and he has hit 4 homers (as many as Jeter and A-Rod) and driven in 13 runs (which would put him at third on the Yankees). Not that the Yankees could use him or anything, especially with Nick Swisher out of the lineup.

Meanwhile, rumor has it that Pineda caught up on his reading, finishing "The Hunger Games" just in time so he could catch the movie in the theaters. Next up, to steal a joke from my friend Sully Baseball, a thrilling game of Sudoku. Good times!


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So Much for a Quiet Winter: Yankees Make Two Big Deals

So much for my saying just yesterday that "this has been arguably the quietest Yankee offseason in ages." Brian Cashman has reportedly shaken up the hot stove league with two deals last night. In the smaller of the two transactions, he signed former Dodger starter Hiroki Kuroda for a one-year, $10 million deal, which sounds like a good move.

The other move he made, which I am not sold on, is trading Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi to the Seattle Mariners for pitchers Michael Pineda and Jose Campos. I was very upset when I heard about the deal. Seeing Montero come up last September was one of the highlights of the 2011 season. He not only has great hitting skills, but he already showed poise and grace under pressure that you cannot teach.

Remember, Montero was the player that Cashman had this to say about when Albert Pujols signed with the Anaheim Angels:

"He is obviously one of the greatest who has played," Cashman said of Pujols. "He makes everyone significantly better. If he played for anybody, he would make them all significantly better. I don't know him personally, but I see what he does with that and it is Montero-like." 

Or how about these comments to Ian O'Connor in September, when Montero was called up> I was appalled by what Cashman said at the time, because it seemed to be putting too much pressure on Montero:

"In terms of hitting ability, Montero can be a Manny Ramirez or a Miguel Cabrera." He also said, "As a catcher, he's got a cannon for an arm. As far as everything and what I want him to be, I want him to be Jorge Posada. He has a chance to bat third or fourth. He has the potential to be a beast in the middle of our lineup."

So, let's review -- Montero is, according to Cashman, the next Albert Pujols/Manny Ramirez/Miguel Cabrera. Given all that, you'd think he'd at least be worth getting Felix Hernandez in return! I mean, really! (Yeah, yeah, I know that Pineda projects to be a very good young pitcher, but he's not King Felix.)

Lots of people are comparing this deal to the Josh Hamilton/Edinson Volquez deal a few years back. But that deal worked out better for the Rangers than for Reds.

I hope I am wrong, and maybe it's because I'm not exactly a big fan of Cashman at this point, but I would rather the Yanks had held onto Montero. But we shall see how this all turns out.

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Big Disappointment: John Sterling's Jesus Montero Home Run Calls

When Jesus Montero was called up to the majors, I asked my Facebook friends to predict what John Sterling's home run call would be. I got lots of responses, such as "Jesus Montero Superstar," "Jesus Juiced One," and even "Holy Moses, Jesus Crucified it." And people were very interested in the subject.

So when Montero hit his first home run, I expected something maybe show-tunes related from Sterling. Something memorable. Instead, we got "Jesus is loose." What? He had all weekend to come up with something catchy, and we got a cheesy knockoff from "The Goose Is Loose"? Puh-lease.

And when Montero hit his second home run of the day, Sterling expanded on his call, saying "Jesus has been turned loose." Really? What is this, some Unleash the Kraken reference or something? Hate it. Back to the drawing board, John!

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Something else I wasn't crazy about were Brian Cashman's comments the other day on Montero. He told ESPN's Ian O'Connor that "In terms of hitting ability, Montero can be a Manny Ramirez or a Miguel Cabrera." He also said, "As a catcher, he's got a cannon for an arm. As far as everything and what I want him to be, I want him to be Jorge Posada. He has a chance to bat third or fourth. He has the potential to be a beast in the middle of our lineup."

What, why not throw in Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Yogi Berra to make the comparisons even more hard to live up to? Good grief.

I fail to see how hyping up a rookie so much is a good thing.

How about being happy for now if Montero can be better than Francisco Cervelli? Isn't that enough at the moment?

And when I told Squawker Jon what Cashman said, he snapped back, "Then why did Cashman try to trade Montero for two months of Cliff Lee?" Good point!

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