YES Network.com

NEW TAIPEI CITY, TAIWAN – The burly man carried his massive drum across the first level of Xinzhuang Stadium as if he was carrying an infant. He placed it behind a row of blue seats, rested his sticks on top of the drum and waited. He was one of the quietest men in the ballpark. But, eventually, that changed.

As soon as the Chinese Taipei National team hustled on to the field to play the visiting Major Leaguers, the man attacked the drums. He attacked them so vigorously that the folds of flesh on the back of his neck jiggled. The drummer was the essence of an intense fan, a portrait that was visible in hundreds of different shapes and colors throughout the stadium.

When Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson came to town, they noticed that the pulsating drums were only part of a festive

TAIPEI, Taiwan – When Curtis Granderson marched through the airport on Sunday afternoon, there were about two dozen reporters pointing cameras in his face. Granderson didn’t blink. Instead, Granderson mimicked them because he was pointing a video camera right back at them.

“They’re looking at me and I’m looking at them,” said Granderson, who moved as briskly as if he was dashing from first to third on a single.

When Granderson was introduced at a press conference for the 2011 Taiwan All-Star Series, he happily waved to the dozens of photographers who were crowded inside a ballroom at the Grand Hyatt. The cameras clicked a little faster and a little louder, trying to capture Granderson’s simple, smart hello.

A few minutes later, Granderson’s

Curtis Granderson’s overhauled swing didn’t automatically surface the first day that he swung a bat in Spring Training. It took time. It took work. The magical swing Granderson used from the middle of August until the end of the season had to be discovered again, nurtured again.

Granderson began the process by doing the same drills that Kevin Long, the batting coach, had used to help him rebuild his swing. He hit baseballs that were softly tossed to him, he hit baseballs off a tee and he hit baseballs inside a netted cage, dutifully working to feel the same way that he felt several months ago.

“You have to find it again,” Granderson said.

On Opening Day, it was obvious that Granderson had found it. For at least one memorable day, Granderson found his swing and