“Got Melk?” and The Yankees Finally Got The Message
August 2, 2009 · Kate Conroy · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
The Yankees sure can’t get enough of it! ‘It’ being the young, outfielder in Melky Cabrera this season.
Today, in a much needed win by the Yanks, 24-year-old Cabrera hit for the cycle which has not been done in the organization since Tony Fernandez in 1995 and the 15th time in the history.
In a sense a cycle is the hitter’s equivalent to a pitcher having a no hitter. For all who don’t know, a cycle is when a player hits a single, a double, a triple and a home run all in the same game. It is a great accomplishment for any hitter’s resume.
That is just the icing on the cake for the switch hitting Cabrera. He has been a clutch hitter in game-deciding situations all season for the Yankees. This was a kid that almost was traded and lucky this guy stayed in pinstripes as here are what he has done for the team thus far:
- Game deciding hits on April 22, May 15, May 23, and on June 4 caused Chris Berman referring to him as “Melky Way” Cabrera. John Sterling now has cemented the phrase “The Melk Man delivers” as a regular phrase as he has been so clutch for the Yanks enough times.
- Cabrera is a switch-hitter that has 10 homers, 40 RBI and his OBP is .355. His batting average is .292…hitting .303 from the left and .286 on the right.
- Cabrera’s consistent, hero-like play earned him The Pepsi Clutch Player of the Month for May; fans voted all across the nation for the winner. The Melk-man had to beat out some strong competition: Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Rays, Roy Holliday of the Toronto Blue Jays, Torii Hunter of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins and Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers.
- Hitting a cycle today is a great accomplishment that will cement Cabrera in the history books forever. WOW is all that can be said. Other Yanks Bobby Murcer, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Lou Gehrig are a few names of other Yankees to have made this same success.
Melky success has been an asset to the Yankees this season and it seems that it sparks things for the team when their down.
Cabrera is not alone as the rest of the team has played equally as well and that was clearly seen today. Other than getting a much-needed win to avoid being swept, with Boston winning in a blow-out game of hits a loss would have cost the Yanks their first place lead.
Burnett and Sabathia have struggled their last starts but the bats finally lifted CC today. These are the Yankees that are in first place, not the ones from the three losses before.
Chamberlain is looking like a different pitcher, so maybe his dad brought him back down to reality. Someone let him into the fact of where his career was heading cause Joba has the ability to be extraordinary.
Hopefully the team will get back on track with the win today. The first two games lost to Chicago were lost on errors which is frustrating to watch as a fan, so I am sure the players were kicking themselves after the game.
With Boston on the recharged this will be a fight to the end and the better team will win. I will stick to what I have said all season, that Tampa Bay will be in this race again.
The Yankees were sent a pretty clear message. That is…don’t get too comfortable in first place in the AL East because Boston and a creeping bunch of Rays are watching. This seems to be more like the theme of the toughest division in baseball.
Yanks got a reminder and it was a comforting to see them respond right away.
Yankee Tickets
Shop Yankee
