Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Principal Cano, Don'tcha Know


Yankees Capitalize on Cano’s Big Night


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Washington
0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0
3 6 1
NY Yankees
0 1 1 0 0 0 2 1 X
5 8 0

WP - Sabathia (6-4) SV - Rivera (15) LP - Villone (3-4)

Robinson Cano spent Tuesday afternoon at P.S. 55 in the Bronx as the school’s honorary principal. Tuesday night he schooled the Washington Nationals, going 4-4 with the game winning RBI and made several stellar plays in the field in the Yankees 5-3 victory.

The Yankees fell behind 3-2 in the 5th inning when CC Sabathia surrendered a 3-run home run to Anderson Hernandez. It was the first home run of the year for the former Met. But the Yankees jumped on one of their former players, Ron Villone, in the 7th inning. Johnny Damon led off with a single and scored from first when Mark Teixeira’s blast to left-center eluded a leaping Elijah Dukes for an RBI double.

Villone struck out Alex Rodriguez, but Cano’s hit a line drive over the head of Dukes, who misjudged the ball, to put the Yankees on top 4-3. Cano was credited with a double, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.

Sabathia retired the first two hitters in the 8th before walking Nick Johnson with his 109th pitch. Joe Girardi called on Brian Bruney, who kept his mouth shut and retired Ryan Zimmerman to end the inning. The Yankees tacked on a run in the bottom half of the inning against Nats’ reliever Mike McDougal.

Hideki Matsui drew a lead off walk and was replaced by pinch-runner Brett Gardner. The speedy outfielder stole second base, moved to third on Nick Swisher’s ground out and scored on Ramiro Pena’s bloop over the drawn in infield. Pena had entered the game in the 7th for Derek Jeter, who left with stiffness in his left ankle.

Mariano Rivera converted his 11th straight save opportunity with a 1-2-3 9th inning. It was his 15th save of the season and number 497 all time.

Game Notes

The Yankees defense was on his display tonight. In addition to Cano’s glove work, Melky Cabrera made a diving ice cream cone catch in center, and Pena looked smooth on the game’s final play- a grounder up the middle that he ranged far to his left on, spun around and fired a strike to first base.

In addition to Nick Johnson and Villone, the Nationals roster also includes former Yankees Alberto Gonzalez and Wil Nieves.

Yankees’ first round draft pick Slade Heathcott attended the game and took batting practice beforehand.

New daddy Chien-Ming Wang goes for the Yankees on Wednesday in what could be his last start if he doesn’t show some improvement. Left-hander John Lannan starts for Washington.

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