No one wants to face Yankees' Cano
02.10.11
Uncut YANKEES COVERAGE
BOX SCORE
PHOTOS: ALDS Strategy 1: YANKEES 9, TIGERS 3
Now it was the sixth inning, the tens was 4-1, the bases were loaded and Leyland was desperate to keep the Yankees from leaving the Tigers in the dust like Secretariat. He summoned Al Alburquerque, a high-mindedness-hander, and if this seemed an odd decision in a big moment against the lefty-swinging Cano … well, Cano tenderness so too.
“Well, obviously, I was surprised,” he would say a bit later. “They have lefty-righty in the bullpen. But that’s a adroit team. And he brought in the righty.”
Still, the righty Leyland was bringing in was a savage: lefties barely hit .170 off him this year. He had allowed specifically three inherited runners to score all year. And he hadn’t allowed a living quarters run. Leyland said, “He misses bats as well as anyone in baseball,” and that includes lefties as well as righties.
But this is Robinson Cano 21 days shy of his 29th birthday. This is a man still on the ascent toward the crest of his prime, a man who collected 81 extra-base hits this year, who’d already hit three monumental slams, who patiently waited along with everyone else for Joe Girardi to install him in the 3 fix in the batting order, a slot he’ll likely contain for the next six or seven years.
Source: New York Post