Baltimore @ New York preview
Yankee Stadium
Last Meeting ( Jun 2, 2010 ) Baltimore 1, NY Yankees 9
With all the megawatt talent on the New York Yankees roster, the headlines are usually reserved for the usual suspects.
Jeter, A-Rod, Teixeira, Sabathia. Big names, big numbers, big dollar signs.
Here's a bigger surprise: All the aforementioned Yankee stars are being dwarfed this season by the meteoric rise of Robinson Cano.
The 27-year-old second baseman is on a white-hot tear at the plate, leading the Yankees to four straight victories heading into the Thursday's finale of a three-game series with the Baltimore Orioles.
Cano continued his assault on opposing pitching Wednesday night, going 3-for-4 and smacking a two-run homer in a 9-1 rout of the woeful Orioles.
That gave him a string of eight consecutive multi-hit games during which he has collected 15 RBIs and is batting .576 (19-for-33).
It also extended Cano's hitting streak to 16 games - a surge that has allowed him to overtake Minnesota's Justin Morneau for the league's batting lead with a .373 average.
In 53 games this season, Cano already has produced 26 multi-hit games, delivering on the promise that led many to predict he would win at least one league battle title.
But we’re not talking a singles hitter here. Cano also leads New York in home runs (12) and RBIs (43), pretty heady numbers when tucked behind Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez in the lineup.
Cano has a good chance of keeping his hitting streak intact this afternoon against Orioles starter Kevin Millwood (0-5), owning a career .381 average (8-for-21) against the veteran right-hander.
Although Millwood is 2-4 in 10 lifetime starts against New York, including a no-decision on April 27 when he gave up two runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings, the odds couldn’t be stacked any more against him today.
Despite a solid 3.89 ERA, Millwood has yet to win in 11 starts this season. And Baltimore has staggered to seven consecutive losses, scoring just 11 runs in that span. In the first five games of this six-game road trip, the Orioles have managed to push across a total of five runs.
Any wonder why they are a major league-worst 15-38.
Oh, and the Yankees happen to have ace CC Sabathia on the hill for the series finale.
Sabathia (4-3) has had his own struggles of late, going 0-2 in his last five starts. But he has owned Baltimore in his career, posting a sparking 11-1 record with a 2.52 ERA in 16 starts.
The burly left-hander’s last win came against the Orioles on May 3, holding them to one run and six hits in eight innings.
Sabathia also beat the Orioles on April 28, though he was touched for three runs and 11 hits in 7 2/3 innings.