Robinson Cano

The New York Yankees accomplished a rare feature in their 4-2 loss against the Oakland Athletics on Thursday afternoon. Pitcher CC Sabathia was pitching very well, but did not get enough run support to top the A's.

Sabathia pitched to Kurt Suzuki. The ball was chopped to Alex Rodriguez, who rushed to third and stepped on the bag to get Daric Barton out.

Rodriguez then beamed the ball nicely to Robinson Cano awaiting at second base to force Ryan Sweeney out.

The Yankees may have lost by 2 runs against the Oakland A's, but this afternoon's game will be remembered for one defensive play.

In the bottom of the 6th inning of today's game, Kurt Suzuki stepped to the plate with  Ryan Sweeney on 1st and Daric Barton on 2nd base and nobody out. Suzuki, in the first inning, drilled a 3-R Run home run against CC Sabathia to give Oakland the early lead.

One of the best Clint Eastwood movies from his Western days was "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." Fantastic. Rent it if you have not seen it. In fact, get a bunch of Clint movies one rainy day and park yourself on the couch.

This movie title is going to be the same as this Yankee theme. It will be a bi-weekly segment on the most recent Yankee two week stretch of games.

If there has been one thing that has plagued the New York Yankees the past few years, it has been their slow starts to the season. The Yanks then have to finish the season strong to be in contention.

However, 2010 is starting off great for the reigning World Series Champions.

The Yankees are 7-3 entering Saturday's afternoon game against the visiting Texas Rangers. The Yankees are a half-game in front of Tampa Bay and Toronto, and two-and-a-half games ahead of the Red Sox.

It was important for the Yankees to get off to a fast start for a few reasons.

If you were a fan of the Yankees or Red Sox in the mid to late 90's, you no doubt took a side in the Nomar Garciaparra/Derek Jeter debate.

Jeter and Garciaparra were two of the new breed of shortstop. Shortstops were no longer defensive specialists and merely adequate with the bat—Jeter and Garciaparra were two of the premier hitters in baseball.

Both won Rookie of the Year awards, Jeter in 1996 and Garciaparra one year later.

Is Robinson Cano hot? SCALDIN'!

In last night's 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim Cano hit two home runs, had three RBI, and finished the night hitting .395.

In the first nine games Cano has four home runs and nine RBI and is a major reason the Yanks have won three straight series and sport a 6-3 record. 

From the time he was introduced at the major league level, Robinson Cano has drawn comparisons to great hitters. Former Yankee manager Joe Torre compared Cano to the great Rod Carew.

Minutes after an emotional ring ceremony, the Yankees took the field against the Angels. World Series MVP Hideki Matsui hopped out of the visitors dugout to receive his ring, prompting a sight some will never forget. This could have been a distraction, but the Yankees got right down to business.

Pettitte took the mound in the first inning, let up a lead-off single to Eric Aybar, but proceeded to sit the rest down in order.

That was more than enough for Pettitte.

We all knew what to expect when the New York Yankees headed up to Boston to face the Red Sox in the Opening Series of 2010.

The games would be long, exciting, hard-fought battles.

Those expectations were met.

Along the way, the Yankees taught us a few things.

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I know it's only two games into the season, and just like Red Sox DH David Ortiz said during his tirade last night: "There's a 160 games left, relax." But, I'm still very impressed with what I have seen from Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano, thus far.

Cano has wasted no time in reassuring the Yankees that they made the correct decision placing him behind Alex Rodriguez in the lineup.

Through his first eight at-bats, Cano has picked up four hits. Two of them for extra bases including the ninth-inning, solo-shot blast during last night's 6-4 victory over Boston.

Through five innings, CC Sabathia appeared on his way to an Opening Night victory over the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

But the Yankees' ace quickly ran into trouble in the sixth, issuing a walk to Dustin Pedroia before Victor Martinez doubled and Kevin Youkilis brought them both home with a triple to cut Boston's deficit to 5-4.

After the Sox tied the game at 5, New York once again jumped ahead at 7-5, only to see the lead disappear another time thanks to poor middle relief by newly acquired Chan Ho Park and always erratic Damaso Marte.