BALTIMORE -- To hear the Yankees describe the general state of awesomeness that is Robinson Cano in the month of April was like listening to people read aloud the large type you'd find on movie posters.
Amazing! Brilliant! Remarkable!
The way Cano's going now, he deserves two thumbs way up: one for his bat and one for his glove.
His 3-for-4 rampage in a 4-0 victory against the Orioles on Thursday night included a pair of homers, a double and a highlight-reel defensive play. (Check out the
, courtesy of
).
"He's playing as well as I've ever seen him," Yankees captain Derek Jeter said of Cano, who awoke this morning as the major league leader in batting average at .407.
'No chance'
That's what starting pitcher A.J. Burnett thought of Cano's chances of making a play when Nolan Reimold hit his grounder up the middle. Right then, Cano ranged to his right, retrieved the ball, and uncorked a perfect throw, all while his body was off-balance and falling away.
"I was amazed," Burnett said. "He's quick, he's confident, and he's locked in."
Following the game, Yankees manager Girardi listed the things needed to pull off such a play:
1.) Range
Said Girardi: "Robbie goes to the right and makes that play better than anybody I've ever seen. It's incredible. There are some good second baseman in our league but it's hard to say that there are others who could make (that play)."
2.) Arm strength
Said Jeter: "Everyone knows how much arm strength he has. There's not many second baseman that can make that play because it's a long throw. But he works on it and he works extremely hard."
3.) Instincts
Said Cano: "Those kind of things just happen. That's nothing that I practice or anything. They just happen."
4.) Ability to throw accurately without looking
Said Cano: "It's really hard because I didn't turn all the way through. I turned halfway. I was blessed making that play. Good thing I have a good arm."
5.) Practice
Said Girardi: "It's one thing to get to it. It's another thing to throw a strike all the time, which he does."
Know your role
Marcus Thames was brought in for one reason: to pound left-handed pitchers. So far this season he has done one thing particularly well: pound left-handed pitchers.
"He's done everything we've asked him to do at the plate," Girardi said, after Thames went 3-for-3 in his spot start against Orioles lefty Brian Matusz.
All but one of Thames' 17 at-bats this season have come against left-handers. He's 8-for16 against them with a homer, three doubles and two RBI.
"I was beating myself up," said Thames, who struggled badly until the closing days of spring training. "I worked hard in the offseason knowing what they brought me here for. But it's going well now and I've just got to keep it up, keep working hard."
No feel, no curve, no problem
Burnett shut out the Orioles over eight strong innings, even without the benefit of a functional curveball, which so far this season has escaped him.
"Another game without a hook, but that's alright I guess," said Burnett, who only struck out four, but made up for it by generating grounders with his two-seam fastball,
It's a different course of attack for Burnett, whose usually leans on his curveball to generate swings and misses.
According to Pitch F/X data (thanks TexasLeaguers.com), Burnett last season threw his curveball 30.2 percent of the time, generating a whiff rate of 16.8 percent, which is well above the major league average of 11.4 percent.
So far in 2010, those curveball numbers are way down, with Burnett going to his curve at a 23.4 percent clip while getting whiffs on them at a rate of 8.3 percent. Meanwhile, Burnett's use of the two-seam fastball has exploded, going from 2.1 percent last season to 23.6 percent so far this year.
Clearly, he's making it work. Burnett is 3-0 for the first time in his career, though with the season's second month upon him, he'll need to rediscover his curve.
A small adjustment
With Jorge Posada still nursing a sore right leg after being clipped with a Jeremy Guthrie fastball, Burnett worked with backup catcher Francisco Cervelli, whom he praised after the game for being attuned to a small but important adjustment.
Burnett said much of his success was due to working at a crisp tempo, a topic of discussion lately with Girardi and pitching coach Dave Eiland. Said Burnett: "The less I think, the more I'm better off."
Cervelli obliged by getting the ball to the mound quickly.
"Every time I threw the ball it was coming back at me before I could look up," Burnett said. "He gets rid of it pretty quick."
Another day
Speaking of Posada, the catcher will likely miss his second straight game today against the White Sox, though Girardi said there's a chance that he starts on Saturday.