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Curtis Granderson makes history in Marlins' 8-4 victory over Mets

By Jake Elman

July 13 (UPI) -- Miami Marlins outfielder Curtis Granderson joined an exclusive -- and older -- club with his home run against the New York Mets.

Granderson's eighth home run of the year, a two-run shot off Jason Vargas on Friday night, tied him for second place for most home runs in a Marlins season by a player at least 38 years old. Franchise icon Jeff Conine had 14 home runs during his age-38 season in 2004.

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Outfielder Andre Dawson hit eight home runs as a 40-year-old in 1995. Luis Gonzalez had eight home runs at 40-years-old in 2008.

Granderson, who turned 38 in March, went deep in the third inning of Friday's 8-4 victory over the Mets at Marlins Park. With two outs and pitcher Caleb Smith standing on first base, Vargas made six pickoff attempts on Smith. The young pitcher has not recorded a stolen base in his professional baseball career.

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"I was trying to understand what was going on," Granderson said. "Making sure I gave Caleb a little bit of time to rest there, but he was going back, standing up. ... A lot of pitchers try to disrupt rhythm by doing some things like that. The good thing for me is, I don't have a lot of moving parts."

Granderson connected on a 3-2 pitch for his first home run since June 12. The three-time All-Star is only hitting .191 with eight home runs and 24 RBIs in 77 games.

The rebuilding Marlins are 34-55 this season, and only five games behind the fourth-place Mets to escape last place in the NL East Division.

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