3 feet short but over wall

IN THE seventh inning of the Yankees’ opener in Toronto, Brett Gardner homered over the 375-feet sign. Soon, despite that 375-feet sign in full view in two replays, YES’ David Cone parroted a graphic reporting that the home run was “projected” to have been hit 372 feet.

Incidentally, Michael Kay finally may have succumbed to the ESPN virus. After Gardner’s opening day homer, he said, “It’s his first of the year.”

As for ESPN, Thursday it scrolled that Giancarlo Stanton is the first Yankee to have hit a homer in his first atbat of the season, since Aaron Judge in 2016. Yes, it has been that long.

Jon Gruden, the new Raiders coach, last week mocked NFL replay rules as unrealistic and in need of removal. Agreed. But for nine seasons as ESPN’s expensive lead NFL analyst, he never said anything even close to that.

That HBO teamed with the WWE to produce a documentary about Andre the Giant tells us that even the ugly stuff will be heard and seen after it has been vetted and sanitized by Vince McMahon’s office. It’s a pity HBO would team with the WWE for anything.

When Wilmer Flores pinch hit in Thursday’s Mets opener, SNY cut to a shot of a fan holding a sign showing Fred Flintstone shouting, “Wilmer!”

John Sterling’s Stanton home run call? Some folks never grow tired of being attention-desperate fools.

To DVR or just ignore? Monday night’s NCAA student-athletes final is again scheduled for a tip on CBS at 9:20.