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StumbleuponCINCINNATI 4, NEW YORK 2
In victory, Reds lose
Another shortstop goes down when Cabrera dislocates index finger after smacking four straight hits.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Extras
Today's game
- Who: Reds (Thompson 0-0) at Yankees (Giese 1-1)
- When: 1:05 p.m.
- Radio: WLW-AM (700); WONE-AM (980)
- TV: FSN Ohio
NEW YORK — To Jolbert Cabrera, there is no New York Yankees mystique, nothing to make his knees turn to jelly and his heart beat like a heavy metal rock band.
To Cabrera, New York is Rochester, Syracuse, Poughkeepsie and Binghamton. New York City? Just another stop on the Hudson River.
Apparently, the New York Yankees weren't that impressed with him, either, even though he had two hits when he stood on deck in the fifth inning.
With the score tied and a runner on second, the Yankees intentionally walked Jay Bruce to face Cabrera with two outs and he made them and pitcher Mike Mussina pay a stiff tariff.
Cabrera broke the tie by pulling a two-run double into the left field corner, launching the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-2 victory in Yankee Stadium Friday night.
Cabrera slapped his fourth hit in the seventh, then dislocated his left index finger sliding head first into second base and left the game, ending up at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center to have it reduced under anesthesia — another Reds player bitten by The Shortstop Curse.
Soon the Reds will have to pay double indemnity to find somebody willing to play shortstop.
Cabrera, 36, and a brother to major-league shortstop Orlando Cabrera, hadn't played in the majors since 2004 when the Reds summoned him from Louisville when Jerry Hairston Jr. fractured his left thumb — uh, sliding head first into second base.
The Yankees, though, were mightily impressed with Edinson Volquez, comparing him to Pedro Martinez. What he did was what he always does and he is making it so routine it is almost ho-hum, but manager Dusty Baker knows: "He is the primary reason we won."
He held the Yankees to two runs and seven hits over seven innings en route to pushing his record to 10-2. He gave up a run in the seventh and the Yankees had the tying runs on base when Volquez froze Milky Cabrera with a change-up for an inning-ending strikeout, his last pitch of the night."I know Milky very well," said Volquez. "We played Little League together in the Dominican when we were 9 and 10 years old. He told me after I struck him out he was going to call me at the hotel tonight and ask me about my change-up."
Of all the good ones, Baker called this one Volquez's best and said, "He was sharp and didn't let the crowd or stadium bother him at all. He was out there as poised as we've always seen him." And Volquez agreed.
"Seven innings? Two runs? One walk? Yeah, I think so," he said. "I hope every time I pitch it is like I did tonight."
Volquez wasn't intimidated by Yankee Stadium, either. Smiling broadly after the game, he said, "Yeah, good stadium, lots of fans (53,421), New York, big city, so I just relaxed and made my pitches."
Baker notices one certainty when Volquez pitches: "We play good defense, he keeps us on our toes, we just play better."
It snapped the Reds' five-game losing streak and halted New York's seven-game winning streak.
"We were freezing cold coming in here, so we were due to win one soon," said Baker. "And they were due to lose one soon. Cabrera is a big loss for us. The bone was sticking through and they had to stitch him up before he went to the hospital. We're talking weeks here. We're happy we won the game, but sad we lost another key player."
Volquez, though, was smiling the broad smile he always wears — in good, bad or indifferent situations and said, "I feel good when anybody compares me to somebody like Pedro Martinez. He is one of the best pitchers in the major leagues."
First baseman Joey Votto got the Reds rolling with a home run in the second inning, his 12th, to go with two other hits.
"Joey came up big tonight," said Baker. "He made some big defensive plays and had three hits, hitting the ball hard all night. He is going to help us for a long, long time."
Baker will be satisfied with another three-hit night tonight when 22-year-old rookie Daryl Patterson tries to mimick and imitate Volquez.
