WHY MELKY CABRERA WAS FUN TO WATCH

(Photo: Getty)

My fondest memory of Melky Cabrera was in the July of 2006. My buddy and I had gotten some great seats at the Stadium and were watching Sidney Ponson pitch. The Yanks were playing the Mariners that night and there was not doubt to me, we were about to get our ass kicked, after all, Sidney Ponson was pitching and he really never worked out for the Yankees.

(Photo: Taken July 18, 2006)

That night, the Yankees were losing the game, but managed to come back and tie the game. Well, extra innings happened and suddenly there was an enormous thunder and lightning storm that literally stopped the game for an hour or more. It was late and the rain felt good, but it poured. Many left. We die-hards stayed. That rain storm was a sign for better things to come, I was convinced of it. That night, after the storm, many areas lost power, but the stadium was lit. After all the chaos and the storm passing, baseball resumed and Melky Cabrera came up to the plate. He cranked a homer over the right field fence in 1 second. Suddenly it was Game Over, Yankees Win! It was incredible and worth the wait. Read about it HERE.

After that, I watched Melky Cabrera much closer. You could tell, the kid was just happy to be there. His athleticism in the outfield was amazing and I still remember a newspaper headline reading Glove Story when he literally reached over the fence in left and pulled down the ball in his web. I remember Johnny Damon’s face... he was so impressed.

Years later, after the Braves, Melky calls Kansas City home. He looks like a leader there now, where as a member of the Yankees, he was just a kid and looking for leadership. Melky's matured. I think personally, even though I enjoyed watching this kid play in the Bronx, it was the best thing for him to leave New York.

Melky seems to have grown up, where, in New York, I feel like he was almost a distraction to himself and best pal Robinson Cano. Now, in another city and a smaller market, this guy really looks like he will lead his young team and who knows, one day maybe the Royals will have a shot. Hell, maybe just maybe Melky would have another shot in the Bronx one day, but this time he'd be a little older and a little wiser. That Melky I'd welcome for sure.



Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.

HOW THE YANKEES BEAT THE YANKEES LAST NIGHT

The Yankees, like every MLB team, play 162 regular season games. And every year there are usually a handful of games that have me scratching my head; last night was one of those games. No disrespect to Mr. Bruce Chen and the Royals organization but you did not beat the New York Yankees last night; the New York Yankees lost that game and it didn't help to have some awful umpiring!



It all started in the first inning. Derek Jeter led off the game with a single to left. In fact it was the very first pitch. Jeter would go on to have another great game at the plate (more on that in just a bit) but it was that first hit that set the tone for this game. After Jeter's hit Curtis Granderson worked a 3-2 count and then it happened...Jeter attempted to steal second and Chen picked him off by a mile. And, of course, what happens on the very next pitch? That's right, Grandy smacks his 34th homerun of the year. Look, Jeter is the man. Hands down one of the smartest players in all of MLB so it's hard to get on him for that baserunning mistake. But, after the 1st inning the Yankees settled for the 1 run instead of 2, which would come back to haunt us.



Bartolo Colon did not have his A game last night, no doubt about that, but he did battle. He battled for 5 innings giving up 5 runs. Not a great night for Colon but believe it or not he should have either won that game or at least finished with a no decision. Bartolo Colon's final line:

5 IP - 7 H - 5 ER - 2 BB - 4 K

Moving onto the 3rd inning. The Royals scored 4 times but it should have only been 3. The umpires ruled Billy Butler's double a home run even after using Instant Replay. I still cannot believe that the umps screwed this one up. Now, although this was an important run I still believe the Yankees blew this game, not the umpires. So I am not going to spend time blasting the umps or Instant Replay.



The Yankees were an awful 1-10 with runners in scoring position tonight. That is just not going to get it done. Bruce Chen could not get his fastball above 86 mph! I tweeted this last night that I thought Jose Cano threw harder to his son at the Home run Derby last month!

But it wasn't only the bats that let us down last night...it was also our defense. Now, if you look at the box score you will see the Yankees did not have any errors, but to me that does not tell the whole story. Let me explain...in the 7th inning the Yankees were down 4-2. With Colon still pitching, Melky Cabrera led off the inning with a triple and then Billy Butler walked.

Inexplicably Joe Girardi and the Yankees decided to play the infield back/DP depth. What? Why? We're down 4-2! Why were we basically giving up a run? I cannot believe we played our defense that way. And then Colon gets what he needs. Eric Hosmer grounded to Tex but instead of throwing home to get Melky and hold the Royals to 4 runs, Tex takes the safe play at 1st base. Again, like Jeter, Tex is one of the most intelligent players in MLB and the best defensive 1st baseman but if there is one flaw I have seen in Tex is that he doesn't always like to throw home. It certainly is no guarantee we get Melky but why not go for it.



Well, after giving up that 5th run the Yankees did get Jeff Francoeur to ground into a double play but the damage was done. Just another example of how I think the Yankees beat themselves last night. In fact, Jeter's base running mistake and Tex's safe and conservative play in the 7th alone cost us two runs.

This all leads us to the 9th inning. The Yankees inched closer and had a rally going that brought them within one run of the Royals. In fact, we had the bases loaded and our birthday boy up, Jorge Posada. I had the "Hip Hip Jorge" tweet ready to go but it was not meant to be. Jorge struck out looking. It was an ugly at bat for Jorge but was the "perfect" ending to just an all around ugly game for the Yankees. We have to look at the silver lining in this series. Despite last night's loss we still took two out of three on the road. It's now onto Minnesota and hopefully, even though he won't be in the lineup tonight, A-Rod is just what the doctor ordered...



Here were a few bright spots last night:

• As I mentioned earlier, despite his 1st inning base running mistake, Jeter had another great night at the plate: Jetes was 4-5 with a double and run scored. Jeter is now hitting .290 for the season, creeping closer and closer to .300.

• "2011 AL MVP" Curtis Granderson had another monster game. Grandy went 3-4, hitting his 34th HR, knocking in his 95th RBI and scored two more runs.

• Hector Noesi relieved Colon and pitched fantastic. He threw 3 innings only giving up 1 hit and no runs.

Final Score: Kansas City Royals 5 - New York Yankees 4

--Mikey Blue, BYB Senior Writer

Email: DonnieBaseball2323@gmail.com

Twitter: @MikeyBlu23



Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.

WHY MY YANKEES KEEP ON ROLLING

(photo: Getty)
The approach was simple, it was a must win to set the tone for the Series. Freddy Garcia clearly reads Bleeding Yankee Blue, because he knew that a winning streak would help morale for the ballclub and it did. The Yankees will now win 2 of 3 or sweep the Royals, it's the best case scenerio because the one thing the Yankees want to do is have a winning streak going into the Boston series.

The 2 things that stick out in my mind tonight, Nick Swisher with a terrific catch in the 5th inning to get out of the inning. If that ball passes Siwsher on that diving catch, 2 runs score and who knows what would have happened tonight.(Photo: Getty)
The second moment was David Robertson pitching out of the 7th inning with the bases loaded and he struck out 2. It reminded me of the playoffs in 2009. Jesse Schindler wrote WHY ROBERTSON NEEDS MORE CREDIT and it's true, Robertson is the most under-rated bullpen pitcher out there....and he's ours, which I love.

A-Rod and Jeter were great tonight and we need these guys to step it up. It's beautiful to see someone like Jeter get out of his slump 2 days ago and suddenly, it's addicting...A-Rod gets a major hit tonight scoring 2. Could that be the end of Alex's slump? Stay tuned.

Freddy Garcia pitched 6 great veteran innings, and struck out 3 giving up 1 run. It was slightly dicey early, but he knows how to adjust and did. What can you say about Freddy but "Welcome to the Bronx." He and Colon make me damn happy to have them on our mound. He's doing more than I can ever expect.

It was good to see Melky Cabrera and good for him to crank out a home run. Bottom line, while it's good to see the Melk man, it's better that the Yankees unloaded him when they did, Cano is a different man now, a leader, a pro and no distractions.

Final Score: Yankees 3 - Royals 1. Keep the wins coming Yanks, get a streak going.

Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.

WHY I'M MELK FREE

I never like writing about things that could have happened but didn't. To me, it's the past and we have plenty of new news going on with the first place Yankees.
(photo: NY Post: Charles Wenzelberg)
But, here is goes. Jon Heyman from Sports Illustrated floated this. Apparently, during the off-season, Alex Rodriguez was telling the Yanks we needed to get Melky Cabrera back. Apparently he moved to Miami so he and Alex could train together. Something like that.

The reason I find it interesting is because yes, while I think the Yanks liked Melky, they didn't love him. Partially because of his play and partially because it distracted his best friend Robinson Cano. The fact of the matter is I don't see Melky ever coming back to the Bronx, unless Cano isn't there and that's not happening. At this point, the Yankees love what they see in young Cano and know he will be a leader for the team at some point. May I even suggest that "Captain" could be in his future.I am convinced that the Yanks made a calculated decision to move Melky when they could and they did... to the Braves. I think they knew what Cano could offer and distractions aside, he would blossom. Am I right? I think I am. Look, my theory holds water, Cano's been an animal since the Melk Man left and he just keeps getting better. Remember, BYB thinks this is Cano's batting title year. I hope we're correct.(photo: Getty)
This year so far, Melky is batting .279 for the Royals.

Cano's batting .310 with 4 home runs and 11 RBI's.

Andruw Jones is currently filling the role that Melky would have played if he came back to New York. Jones is batting .333 with 1 home run.

I say... hold the Melk.

Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.