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May 25, 2006


Melky-mania
by SG

The Yankees exceeded my expectations last night when they defeated Boston in another nail-biter, 8-6. Randy Johnson continued to unimpress, although he appeared to pick up life as the game went on. After giving up 9 hits and walking one over the first 15 batter she faced, Johnson gave up just one walk while striking out five over the last 10. I still think Johnson's got major problems, but enough about him.

The star of the day was Melky Cabrera. While Cabrera's lack of power has been an issue that depresses his overall value as a corner outfielder, he's done an amazing thing for a young player, and impressed Joe Torre to the point of him being inserted in the leadoff spot last night with Johnny Damon being rested due to his foot injury. Cabrera went 2 for 4 with a BB, but more importantly, drove in 4 runs and made a very nice running catch. Slowly but surely, he is showing that he may belong at the big league level.

I give Torre a hard time a lot, but I thought he managed a very good game yesterday. He gave Melky the start at leadoff and also managed his bullpen well. While I'm still not happy to see Scott Erickson on the team given the better options available in the organization, he did his job well last night. Mike Myers actually did what he gets paid to do, and to Torre's credit, he stuck with Kyle Farnsworth in a dicey situation with David Ortiz up with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the eighth. This was an important risk by Torre, because I think it showed trust in Farnsworth, and it also allowed Farnsworth to prove he was worthy of that trust. My gut without looking at the numbers is that Mo struggles in multi-inning saves, so Farnsworth needs to be able to get the last out in the eighth inning the majority of the time.

It was nice to see Bernie got 3 for 5 as a lefty hitter last night. While I still don't think he should be starting full-time, I'd like to see him get his numbers up to respectability. His OPS+ of 80 is still not any good, but it's getting better.

And kudos to Terence Long for changing some of the zeros in his batting line. Good job.

In roster news, the Yankees acquired infielder Nick Green from the Devil Rays on Wednesday, for cash and stuck him in AAA.

They also promoted Matt Smith from Columbus again, sending Kevin Reese back down. Maybe he'll even get used a bit.

Jorge Posada's getting an MRI on his injured knee, hopefully it won't be too bad. Posada may be the Yankees' most indispensable player given the crap behind him. The upcoming series with Kansas City may be a good chance to rest a few players like Damon and Posada.