Cano Ends Long Day, 8-7

The Yankees finished off a three game sweep of the Orioles yesterday in an, ugly, incredibly long, poorly pitched ball game. It took a Robinson Cano mammoth seventh inning home run and stellar late relief to hold on to an 8-7 win. The Yankees suddenly have a four game winning streak and trail the wildcard-leading Red Sox by 5 games as the two teams get set to start a three game series at the Stadium tomorrow night.

Sunday's game was downright painful. The Yankees and Orioles have set records at Camden Yards for lengthy games, and yesterday's fiasco was threatening the nine inning record for time played. Yankees' starter Darrell Rasner was bad, but Orioles lead man Daniel Cabrera had one of the worst games possible. He had absolutely no command of his pitches, missing the plate in every way imaginable. Unfortunately for Alex Rodriguez, that also meant taking an upper-90's fastball off of his left elbow.

With the game tied at 7-7 in the seventh, Orioles' lefty specialist Jamie Walker entered the game to face Hideki Matsui and Cano. He retired Matsui on a ground out, but Cano's swing resulted in a 425-ft blast to center to give the Yankees the lead.

The Orioles tried to tie things right back up in their half of the seventh when Ramon Hernandez and Brian Roberts stroked consecutive singles off of Jose Veras, who was working for his third straight day. But Damaso Marte came on to strike out Nick Markakis and Melvin Mora to preserve the lead. Mariano Rivera then came on for a four-out save, striking out Markakis looking, with the tying run on second base, for the game's final out.

The game ended four hours and one minute after it began. The first two innings took two days and 2,000 pitches. (Okay, not quite, but it felt like it.) It started out promising for Rasner, who retired the first two batters he faced, but then Mora and Aubrey Huff hit back-to-back home runs for a 2-0 Orioles lead. But Cabrera wouldn't accept the gift.

He gave up a lead-off single to Xavier Nady in the second and then walked Matsui. Cano drilled a pitch off of the top of the wall in right field for an RBI double, and two batters later Johnny Damon crushed a Cabrera delivery into the right field seats for a 3-run home run and a 4-2 Yankees lead.

Rasner got out of a two-on, two-out jam in the third and the Yankees added to their lead in the fourth. Singles by Damon and Bobby Abreu plus A-Rod's elbow smash loaded the bases with one out. Jason Giambi just missed getting all of one and had to settle for a sacrifice fly and an RBI. Nady then came up with a big two-out hit when he ripped a 2-run double into the left field corner. Down 7-2, Dave Trembley finally pulled Cabrera from the game.

But this would be no laugher. Derek Jeter's one-out bobble allowed Brian Roberts to reach safely and Nick Markakis brought Roberts home when Nady misplayed his single to left. When Rasner walked Mora, Joe Girardi sent for Dave Robertson to try to put out the fire. Instead, Robertson made it worse. Huff doubled to right to plate Markakis and Millar's sac fly brought home Mora to cut the lead to 7-5. Robertson finally retired Luis Montanez to end the inning, but the damage was done.

Jay Payton singled, stole second base, and moved to third on a ground out as the Orioles brought the tying run to the plate in the fifth inning. Robertson struck out Juan Castro for the second out of the inning and Girardi sent for Edwar Ramirez to face the lefty-hitting Roberts. With Pudge Rodriguez set up outside, Ramirez went inside, and Roberts drilled the pitch into the right field seats to tie the game.


News and Notes

Bobby Abreu went hitless Saturday, but had eight hits in the other two games of the series combined.

Robinson Cano's 4-5 day, which included a home run and two doubles, raised his average to .269, the highest it has been since July 26.

Mariano Rivera's save was his 31st in 32 attempts. He saved all three games in the series.

There is no truth to the rumor that the Yankees will be holding open auditions for Rasner's next start (damn!).

August 24, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NY Yankees	0	4	0	3	0	0	1	0	0		8	15	3
Baltimore	2	0	0	3	2	0	0	0	0		7	14	0

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, CF	6	2	2	3	0	0	3	.312
Jeter, SS	5	0	0	0	0	0	2	.293
Abreu, RF	4	1	3	0	1	0	0	.297
Rodriguez, A, 3B	3	1	2	0	1	0	1	.312
Giambi, 1B	4	0	0	1	0	0	5	.250
Ransom, 1B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
Nady, LF	5	1	2	2	0	2	1	.328
Matsui, DH	4	1	1	0	1	0	1	.311
Cano, 2B	5	2	4	2	0	1	0	.269
Rodriguez, I, C	4	0	1	0	1	0	4	.284
Totals	40	8	15	8	4	3	17
BATTING 2B: Cano 2 (26, Cabrera, D, Cabrera, D), Nady (32, Cabrera, D), Abreu (34, Cherry). HR: Damon (9, 2nd inning off Cabrera, D, 2 on, 1 out), Cano (12, 7th inning off Walker, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Damon 5; Abreu 4; Rodriguez, A 2; Nady 3; Matsui; Cano 9; Rodriguez, I. RBI: Cano 2 (58), Damon 3 (55), Giambi (77), Nady 2 (80). 2-out RBI: Nady 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Giambi; Rodriguez, I 2; Matsui; Damon. SF: Giambi. GIDP: Giambi. Team LOB: 11. FIELDING E: Jeter (10, fielding), Nady (3, fielding), Rodriguez, I (5, throw).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Rasner	3.1	8	5	3	2	2	2	5.03
Robertson	1.1	2	1	1	0	1	0	6.00
Ramirez (W, 4-1)	1.1	2	1	1	1	1	1	3.66
Veras (H, 9)	0.1	2	0	0	0	1	0	2.70
Marte (H, 21)	1.1	0	0	0	1	3	0	4.34
Rivera (S, 31)	1.1	0	0	0	1	2	0	1.53

Baltimore	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Roberts, 2B	5	2	3	2	1	0	0	.301
Markakis, RF	5	1	1	0	1	2	3	.301
Mora, 3B	4	2	1	1	1	1	5	.281
Huff, DH	5	1	3	2	0	0	0	.304
Millar, 1B	4	0	1	1	0	1	1	.248
Montanez, L, LF	3	0	1	0	0	0	2	.367
a-Scott, PH-LF	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	.272
Payton, CF	5	1	3	0	0	2	3	.253
Quiroz, C	3	0	0	0	0	1	4	.196
b-Cintron, PH-SS	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.273
Castro, J, SS	3	0	0	0	0	2	2	.192
c-Hernandez, R, PH-C	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	.259
Totals	41	7	14	6	5	10	20
a-Walked for Montanez, L in the 6th. b-Struck out for Quiroz in the 7th. c-Singled for Castro, J in the 7th.
BATTING 2B: Huff 2 (39, Robertson, Ramirez). HR: Mora (22, 1st inning off Rasner, 0 on, 2 out), Huff (28, 1st inning off Rasner, 0 on, 2 out), Roberts (9, 5th inning off Ramirez, 1 on, 2 out). TB: Roberts 6; Markakis; Mora 4; Huff 8; Millar; Montanez, L; Payton 3; Hernandez, R. RBI: Mora (96), Huff 2 (91), Millar (66), Roberts 2 (48). 2-out RBI: Mora; Huff; Roberts 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Mora 3; Quiroz; Montanez, L; Payton; Markakis. SF: Millar. Team LOB: 13. BASERUNNING SB: Payton (7, 2nd base off Robertson/Rodriguez, I), Roberts (33, 2nd base off Rivera/Rodriguez, I). FIELDING DP: (Roberts-Cintron-Millar).

Baltimore IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Cabrera, D 3.2 9 7 7 3 0 1 5.24 Sarfate 2.1 1 0 0 1 2 0 4.92 Walker (L, 1-2) 1.0 1 1 1 0 0 1 5.74 Cherry 1.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 Johnson 1.0 2 0 0 0 1 0 2.29

HBP: Rodriguez, A (by Cabrera, D). Pitches-strikes: Rasner 98-60, Robertson 22-17, Ramirez 27-19, Veras 13-8, Marte 27-14, Rivera 18-12, Cabrera, D 95-49, Sarfate 49-31, Walker 8-6, Cherry 12-8, Johnson 11-8. Ground outs-fly outs: Rasner 3-5, Robertson 1-2, Ramirez 1-2, Veras 0-0, Marte 1-0, Rivera 2-0, Cabrera, D 3-8, Sarfate 1-4, Walker 3-0, Cherry 3-0, Johnson 1-1. Batters faced: Rasner 21, Robertson 6, Ramirez 7, Veras 3, Marte 5, Rivera 5, Cabrera, D 24, Sarfate 9, Walker 4, Cherry 4, Johnson 5. Inherited runners-scored: Robertson 2-2, Ramirez 1-1, Marte 2-0, Rivera 1-0, Sarfate 1-0. Umpires: HP: Ed Rapuano. 1B: Ed Hickox. 2B: CB Bucknor. 3B: Joe West. Weather: 90 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 10 mph, Out to LF. T: 4:01. Att: 42,746.

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