Joba Hurt, Yanks Continue To Soar

The Yanks put this one away in the first inning two innings with 6 runs on a plethora of lasers. The first was punctuated by 4 doubles and the really, it seemed like the Yanks toyed with the Orioles for the remainder of the night.

Alfredo Aceves was called into action when Joba went down. He threw 3.1 shutout innings to pick up his third win. I was a little surprised Girardi stretched Aceves out so much, considering he pitched 2 innings the night before, but when you need to piece together basically the entire game from your pen, someone needs to get pushed. Albaladejo was underwhelming, getting touched up for all 4 of Baltimore's runs in his 2.1 innings of work. Veras and Mo combined for the final 8 outs, leaving Bruney, Coke and Tomko fresh for game one against the Phils tomorrow night.

The news was positive, in that the x-rays on Joba's knee were negative. He's listed as questionable for his next start, but if it's just a bruise, I'll be surprised if he doesn't make it.

The offensive star of the game was clearly Robinson Cano. Cano was part of the doubles party in the first, then hit a lined shot to the short porch in the 2nd. He'd later line a single up the middle. The three hits raised his average to .317.

So 9 straight wins. That's nothing to sneeze at. One word of warning, however. It's great to be loose. It's not so great to be complacent. Against the Orioles, every time the Yanks got the lead, they relaxed. In the first two games, they tacked on runs late to put the O's away, but you can't do that against good teams. You especially can't do that against the Phillies, who will head into town for tomorrow night's game. I'd like to see 9 innings of effort tomorrow night in support of A.J. Burnett. Brett Myers is coming off two very good starts, and the Phils are probably the second-hottest team in the league right now.

Player of the Game: Cano
Team Record: 24-17
Up Next: Burnett vs. Myers, tomorrow night