Game 35 - Gardner & Cabrera Lead Yanks to 3rd Straight Win

During all of spring training, Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera competed for the starting CF job.  Gardner would win it when they broke camp, but lost it after he got off to a slow start.  Melky has been hitting well and looks like a different player then he was a year ago.  Competition can be a very good thing.  Tonight, both players would spur the Bombers in their dramatic come from behind 5-4 victory against the thrifty spending Minnesota Twins.  

Gardner wasn't even in the starting lineup, but came in when Johnny Damon was tossed for arguing a called 3rd strike.  Damon was called out on strikes twice on what appeared on replays to be on pitches that were a foot outside the first time and a foot inside the second time.  Damon immediately made his feelings known to the ump, deliberately pointing with his bat where he saw the pitches crossing in the batter's boxes.  Although Damon has been by far the Yankees best hitter this season, this worked to the Yankees benefit.  Gardner would go 3-3 including an inside-the-park HR .  It was the 1st one hit by a Yankee player since Ricky Ledee hit one in 1999.  I don't recall if I've personally ever seen a Yankee player hit one in my life.  His HR brought the Yanks to within 4-2.  

Gardner wasn't done though.  With the team trailing 4-2 in the 9th, and facing the dominating Joe Nathan, he led off with a stand up triple, despite slipping and falling coming around 1st!  Who knows, he might have hit his  second inside-the-park round tripper if he stayed on his feet.  Mark Teixeira followed with an RBI single to cut the lead to 4-3.  Arod would work a walk, overcoming 2 more bad strike calls by the home plate ump.  After a Matsui strikeout, Swisher was robbed of a game tying hit on a sensational play by 1B Justin Morneau.  Both runners advanced to 2nd and 3rd.  With 2 outs and 1st base open, the Twins made a monumental mistake - they intentionally walked Robinson Cano.  In my honest opinion, I feel Cano is one of the worse clutch hitters I have ever laid eyes on.  I would have told Nathan to go right at him.  Melky, who is also RISP-challenged, seems to be a different player when the game is on the line, coming through on numerous occasions.  On Nathan's first offering, he lined a single into left center, knocking in 2 runs to win the game. 

This win was the 3rd in a row for the Yanks and puts them 1 game over .500.  Wins like this can build a team's confidence and helps sustain winning streaks.  However, this game looked doubtful as they left dead soldiers all over the field, stranding 13 runners.  They started the game 0-7 with RISP before Teixeira's single in the 9th.  Victories always help gloss over the negatives.  Phil Hughes provided the Yanks with a working man's 5 innings, holding the Twins to 3 runs,  with 2 coming on 2 solo HRs by Justin Morneau.  The Yankee bullpen limited the Twins to 1 run in 4 innings, with the lone run coming on a Joe Mauer shot.  Derek Jeter got the Yanks on the board with a solo shot in the 5th.  But this night belonged to Gardner and Melky, who came up large against one of the league's premier closers.  Hopefully, both players will continue to push either other to be their best.  I anticipate both to start tomorrow, as Swisher has been struggling mightily since his magic genie returned back to its' bottle.

Other notes:  Big Sloppy sits and Mariners female softball player, Suzuki, embarrasses the Sox with 2 HRs, leading the M's to a 5-4 win.  Tampa overcame a 7-0 deficit against Cleveland and their crappy bullpen to win 8-7. 

Yankees Record:  18-17