Results tagged “melkycabrera”

• Yankees 8, White Sox 5: Not since Tony Fernandez in 1995 had a Yankee hit for a cycle. But Melky Cabrera did just that in the Yankees' 8-5 win to stave off a sweep in Chicago. Cabrera got a three-run homer off White Sox starter Mark Buehrle in the second inning, doubled in the fourth, singled in the fifth and tripled over the head of Jermaine Dye in the ninth. CC Sabathia pitched into the eighth and allowed five runs, though four of those came in the third inning. Mariano Rivera got a four-out save. The Yankees are off Monday before traveling to Toronto for two games on Tuesday. The win snapped a three-game losing streak and kept them in first place by a half-game over the Red Sox.

On a day when Yankee fans were remembering a sad anniversary for one of the franchise's legends, one of the current Bombers found his way into their record books with Melky Cabrera becoming the fifteenth Yankee in history to hit for the cycle in today's game against the White Sox. Cabrera got things started with a bang, hitting a three-run homer off the man who just last week got a call from the president following his perfect game, Mark Buehrle. He saved the toughest part of the cycle for his final at-bat, just barely beating out a throw coming in from right field for a triple in the ninth. He'd then score for the third time of the day on a Derek Jeter single, providing Mo Rivera with an insurance run in closing out the 8-5 victory. Melky is the first Yankee to hit for the cycle in fourteen years—the last player to do it was Tony Fernandez, marking perhaps the only memorable moment of his one year in The Bronx, back in 1995.

Yankees 6 Tampa Bay 2: Joba Chamberlain pitched another great game and the Yankees hit three homers to back him as they took two-of-three in Tampa. Chamberlain allowed only three hits, while striking out five over eight innings. Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera and Mark Teixeira all went deep, part of a 12-hit attack for the Yankees. The win combined with a Boston loss, puts the Yankees 3-1/2 games into first. Fun fact: Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was at the game; Chamberlain said of the Boss's presence, "It's great he came here. It's definitely good to get a win when he's in the house. I heard stories about when he was here. It was a little nerve-racking. I got a little nervous knowing he was in the house."

• Yankees 8 Oakland 3: Joba Chamberlain had his second dominant start in a row and the Yankees’ offense blew the game open in the eighth. Chamberlain allowed only two hits over seven-plus innings while striking out six to earn his sixth win of the season. Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter combined for five RBI’s while Melky Cabrera had three hits and two runs scored. The win keeps the Yankees 2-1/2 games in front of Boston.
• Houston 5 Mets 4: New York needs Johan Santana to get a victory every time out and that is an impossible standard for Santana to live up to. Friday he wasn’t his best, allowing 12 hits and the Mets blew a golden chance to tie the game on a play at the plate. For some reason, Jeff Francoeur was sent home on a grounder to right in the 7th and he was thrown out by a mile ending the Mets’ rally and sending them to another loss.

Yankees 9 Mets 1: The final score may not have been close, but the Mets threw the game away by committing three errors in the second inning. The first one, a wild throw by David Wright is somewhat understandable, he had picked the ball up barehanded and was off-balance as he threw it. That put Melky Cabrera on second and he scored when Ramiro Pena blooped a double down the rightfield line. Pena then scored when C.C. Sabathia hit a single up the middle to make it 2-0 Yankees.

• Yankees 5, Phillies 4: Hope you didn't donate that old "Got Melky?" t-shirt you bought a couple years back because it looks like it might be a hot item once again this summer. Melky Cabrera had his third game-winning hit of the young season yesterday with an RBI single off of Phillies' closer Brad Lidge to cap off another dramatic win in the Bronx. The Yanks came into the 9th down by two runs, but that lead was quickly erased when A-Rod took a full count fastball and sent it over everyone's favorite right field fence. After the game, Rodriguez called himself "the happiest .200 hitter in baseball," since seven of the ten total hits he has since returning have left the ballpark.
• Mets 3, Red Sox 2: After the Yankees disposed of last year's World Series champs and their star closer, the Mets pulled the same trick on the 2007 champs and their premiere stopper. Met catcher Omir Santos may have needed a little help from instant replay to record his second career home run, but that didn't take away much excitement from the two-run shot that handed Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon his first blown save of the year. The home run was originally ruled a double, only to be corrected in the first replay review in Fenway history. Until the big ninth inning hit, the Boston crowd had watched a pitcher's duel between Josh Beckett and Mike Pelfrey that hadn't seen any runs put on the board since the first inning. In the bottom of the ninth, the Mets had to turn to JJ Putz to finish things off as Francisco Rodriguez became their latest casualty to sit out with an injury, suffering through back spasms.

First innings aren't always eventful, but Thursday's between the Yankees and the Orioles was. Joba Chamberlain left the game after being hit in the leg by a line drive. In the bottom of the inning, the first three Yankees to bat doubled, and the Yankees put up a four-spot en route to a 7-4 win over Baltimore. It was their ninth straight win. Alfredo Aceves picked up the win in relief of Chamberlain, who had X-rays on his leg come back negative. Robinson Cano, hitting second with Johnny Damon getting the night off, had an RBI double and a two-run homer among his three hits. Mark Teixeira also had an RBI double in the first and had two hits. Melky Cabrera had a critical two-run double.

• Yankees 5 Twins 4: Down two runs entering the ninth, the Yankees turned in one of their biggest wins of the season. Brett Gardner, who had already hit an inside-the-park home run, led the inning off with a triple. Gardner scored on a RBI single from Teixeira and after A-Rod walked, the Yankees had two on and no outs. But, Matsui struck out and Swisher was robbed of a game-tying hit on a great play by Morneau. Swisher’s scorcher put the runners on second and third and with two outs the Twins elected to walk Robinson Cano and pitch to Melky Cabrera. Cabrera lined the first pitch he saw into left center, scoring two runs and winning the game.

Andy Petitte led the Yankees to victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Mets' Mike Pelfrey shut down the Giants (the Amazin's are a game-and-a-half behind first place!).

• Yankees 5, Mariners 1: Things Chien-Ming Wang does that other pitchers don't. Throw strikes (two walks Friday), stay in the game (he thew six innings), keep the ball in the ballpark (only one homer allowed this year) and helps his team win games.
  Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Strong Showings"

Hideki Matsui added a RBI double in the eighth and the bullpen provided four shutout innings in support of Mike Mussina. Mussina won the 253rd game of his career, tying him with Carl Hubbell on the all-time list. The Yankees, who have played 18-of-20 on the road now come home for a long homestand.

It may have come a day later than many people wanted, but the Yankees opened the final season of the Stadium on a high note, winning a close and well-pitched game 3-2. Chien-Ming Wang went seven innings allowing only two runs and Joba and Mo closed the game out with a scoreless inning each.

For all the noise of this Yankees offseason, as far as the team on the field goes, all it amounted to was the status quo. Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera are all back -- and richer. Young pitchers Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and center fielder Melky Cabrera didn't go to the Twins for Johan Santana. The 2008 Yankees will be a slightly older albeit considerably more expensive version of the 2007 team. And most fans are fine with that.

However, they still trail 2 games to 1 and Joe Torre’s neck is still on the line. Torre has done the right thing and announced that Chien-Ming Wang will start tonight on short rest. Wang gives the Yankees a better chance of wining than Mike Mussina, but keeping Cleveland in check will not be easy. To make matters worse, Joba pitched two innings Sunday and Mo one, so their availability in a close game is in question. What happens later tonight is impossible to predict, but at least we have another game to watch.

• Yankees 12 Blue Jays 11 (10 innings): What could have been one of the more painful losses of the season turned into a very satisfying win. Down 3-1, the Yankees rallied to a 6-3 lead, only to fall behind 8-6. Once again, the bats responded, putting New York ahead 9-8, but Toronto jumped ahead again 11-9 in the eighth. The Yankees had another rally in them and tied things up in the bottom of the inning thanks to a two-run single by Melky Cabrera.
  Continue reading "Last Night's Action: A Long Day In The Bronx"

• Yankees 7 Orioles 6: This game is an example of how good things are going for the Yankees right now. Ace gets slapped around for three runs in the first, no problem. All-time great closer blows it in the ninth, no problem either.
  Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Another Win"

• Yankees 3 Blue Jays 2 (10 innings): This was a wild one. Andy Pettitte and Roy Halliday pitched brilliantly each allowing only one run before turning it over to the bullpens and that’s when things really got interesting.
  Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Balking In The Bronx"

• Angels 2 Yankees 1 (13 innings): The Yankees had their chances and probably would have won this game if they hadn’t made five errors in it. The biggest were Miguel Cairo’s mishandling of a grounder in the top of the 13th, which resulted in two errors and allowed the Angels to score the go-ahead run.
  Continue reading "Last Night's Action: 30 Innings Total"

Darrel Rasner's broken index finger sends yet another Yankees pitcher to the sidelines for as long as three months, and necessitates that Joe Torre call up yet another young prospect to deal from the mound for the Bronx Bombers. The candidate making his Major League debut pitching at an away game in the high profile Subway Series at Shea will likely be Tyler Clippard, a righthanded 22-year-old. Just nine weeks ago, Clippard acknowledged that as the 7th-best Yankees prospect ranked by Baseball America at the start of 2007, he wasn't too dispirited by the lack of attention he was garnering in comparsion to some of his teammates. What a difference a few months can make!