By Larry Barnes | Yankees ‘n More
and The Yankees Daily-Press
As I’m sure you know by now, Robinson Cano hit a rather significant home run, at least within the scheme of one game, on Sunday night. But the more I think about it, the more impressive it seems.
Not just because it ended up being the difference-maker after an amazing ninth-inning rally, which was helped along by a Cano RBI double. But there are also a few things about the home run itself that stand out.
1) Cano took a well-spotted, down-and-away fastball from a tough lefty in George Sherrill and hit a home run to left-center field. Think about that. Sherrill made the pitch he wanted to make, and Cano drove it 409 feet over the wall to the opposite field! At Dodger Stadium, no less, which, especially at night, is not an easy place to hit home runs. AMAZING!
2) If you think home runs overall are down in baseball (you are right, of course), watch for home runs hit the other way and see how long it takes to see another one. With the game getting back to something close to normal, the guys who can drive the ball out of the park to the opposite field, especially in a night game at a place like Dodger Stadium, are very few and very far between.
3) While righties hit Sherrill very well, lefties do not. In fact, coming into last night’s appearance, lefties were hitting .188 (6-for-32) against Sherrill this season with only two extra-base hits, both of them doubles. More impressive still, Cano’s is only the second homer to a lefty Sherrill has allowed since the start of the 2008 season. Sherrill allowed no homers to lefties in 2009.
What else can you say? It was an amazing hit by an amazing player, one who is having an amazing season.
Into Monday’s Off Day: Robbie Cano now leads all Yankees in hits (106 to 91 over Derek Jeter), in runs (55 to 51 over Mark Teixeira), in doubles (22 to 18 over Alex Rodriguez), in home runs (15 to 13 over Teixeira), in total bases (175 to 133 over Jeter), in slugging percentage (.593 to .503 over Jorge Posada), in batting average (.359 to .321 over Brett Gardner), and in OPS (1.002 to .880 over Posada).
“M-V-P!… M-V-P!… M-V-P!… M-V-P!…”
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com