Citi Field muscleman unable to open water bottle sets record straight

The Citi Field muscleman —who was hilariously unable to open a water bottle — is now flexing more than his biceps and wants to set the record straight on the full story of the stubborn bottle cap.

After becoming the target of ridicule by Mets announcers — and a YouTube video with over two million hits — for his inability to open a water bottle during last weekend’s game against the Kansas City Royals, the muscleman whose battle was captured for posterity has come forward to give his side to the embarrassing incident.

“First of all, it was not my water bottle,” Christopher, a 38-year-old lawyer in White Plains, N.Y., told The New York Daily News.

“It was handed to me by a security guard in the dugout area who was having trouble with it. The guy was much bigger than me, by the way.”

Chris, who did not want to share his last name out of privacy concerns expressed by his fiancée, told the Daily News that neither he, nor the security guard, managed to make the cap so much as budge.

Chris said cameras only captured a portion of the tag-team effort to open the bottle, making him the butt of jokes by announcers Keith Hernandez and Gary Cohen.

“All that working out and you can’t open a water bottle?” Cohen said of his rather bulging physique.

But Chris says that the camera may have made him look larger than his 5’8” and 190-pound frame.

“I tried as hard as I could,” Chris said.

After his turn with the water bottle, Chris tossed it back to the security guard, and only later realized that the episode had been captured forever.

“It wasn’t played on the Jumbotron,” Chris said. “I had no idea it was being filmed.”

Still, despite becoming the butt of more than a few jokes, Chris has maintained his sense of humor about the incident.

“I don’t blame anybody. It is pretty funny,” Chris said. “But a lot of things were presented incorrectly.”

So glad he cleared that up. Still wondering though, who opens his Muscle Milk?

Royals fans save Mike Moustakas from foul ball face-plant (VIDEO)

Mike Moustakas reached over a railing in pursuit of a Nick Markakis foul ball at Kauffman Stadium on Thursday. The third baseman could have suffered a nasty bump on the noggin, if not for the helpful hands of a group of loyal Royals fans who caught him as he tumbled into the stands.

Afterwards, there were sighs of relief and high-fives all around.

Moustakas and Markakis — sound like appetizers on a Greek menu.

Jeter singles, scores in first at-bat in return to Yankees (VIDEO)

The captain is back.

Derek Jeter reached first base with an infield single on his first pitch following a nine-month long layoff from surgery, immediately testing his healed left ankle Thursday afternoon in the first inning of the New York Yankees' series finale against the Kansas City Royals.

Jeter didn't acknowledge the cheering fans as he made his long-awaited return. He turned on a 95 mph fastball from Ervin Santana and sent a three-hopper up the third-base line that fell from Miguel Tejada's throwing hand.

Fans chanted "De-rek Je-ter! De-rek Je-ter!" as the 39-year-old shortstop ran up the line well past first base, then returned to the bag. The ankle got tested more when he raced to third on Robinson Cano's single up the middle and came home without a throw on Vernon Well's sacrifice fly to right.

Jeter was the designated hitter and batted second in his first big league game since he broke his left ankle during the AL championship series opener Oct. 13. He said after the initial injury he would return by opening day, then fractured the ankle again in April during his rehabilitation and missed the first 91 games of the season. He played four rehab-games for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders until Wednesday.

Late Wednesday night, general manager Brian Cashman called Jeter in Scranton and said come back home to New York.

After Brett Gardner and Travis Hafner each suffered minor contusions during Wednesday's 8-1 win over the Royals and are considered day to day, the short-handed bench prompted Cashman to summon Jeter from the Minors.

"It was an obvious situation where, 'Hey, he could DH today in Scranton or he could DH today in New York,'" Cashman said. "We'd might as well bring him in and DH him in New York."

Jeter was not introduced at Yankee Stadium by Bob Sheppard's recording in his first at-bat but the old familiar intro was used when Jeter walked up to the plate in the second-inning before he grounded out.

Welcome back.