"Curtis Granderson understood it and had no issue with manager Joe Girardi's decision. He was happy to set up Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano.

"No problem at all," Granderson said of being told to sacrifice bunt yesterday in the seventh inning of the Yankees' 9-3 win over the Mets. "I bat second, I'm known for being able to get sacrifices down, I've been doing that my whole career. Definitely not a surprise by any means."

Well, to be fair, it was by some means. Granderson is the Yankees' two-hitter and he has speed. But he ranks second in the majors with 16 homers — in the first inning yesterday he drilled a solo blast off Mike Pelfrey.

With the game tied at 3-3, with runners on first and second and nobody out, Girardi signaled for Granderson to bunt against lefty reliever Tim Byrdak. Granderson did as he was told, sending Francisco Cervelli to third and Derek Jeter to second. Teixeira was intentionally walked afterward, loading the bases before Rodriguez and Cano followed with RBI singles.

Why have Granderson bunt?

"I was trying to get a lead, in a sense," Girardi said. "It's a lefty that he hasn't seen a lot of and I thought it was a good time to bunt there. We had some momentum going. . . . I just feel like you're getting the winning run 90 feet away."

Granderson actually delivered another sacrifice bunt earlier this season, too. On April 26 against the White Sox, with the Yanks trailing 3-2, Jeter led off the ninth inning with a single and Granderson bunted him over."