When Randy Winn hit his three-run home run Monday night he might have been the only one who did not know it was a home run as soon as it left the bat.
"I never know it's gone, I am really, really not a home run hitter," Winn said with a laugh. "So I hit it, I just put my head down and started running, because I never know."
As quiet a guy as Winn is, that's how loud his blast sounded coming off his bat - a clout off Jeremy Guthrie that landed in the bullpen in right-center field and put the Yankees ahead for good in their 4-1 win over the Orioles.
"Soon as Randy hit that it sounded like a shotgun going off his bat," Nick Swisher said. "It was a beautiful stroke. He came up huge for us and I couldn't be more tickled for him."
Obviously, the Yankees are not going to get three-run home runs from Winn every time he is in the lineup. But, Winn and Marcus Thames are going to have to give the Yankees something until Curtis Granderson returns. Monday night was a good start.
- Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News says Monday was a good news/bad news night. Unfortunately, part of the bad news is that Mariano Rivera is hurting.
- The New York Times says the recent rash of injuries suffered by the Yankees is symptomatic of just one thing -- they are showing their age. To me, that is the biggest concern about this team. Will age catch up to them?
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Roberto Alomar has high praise for Robinson Cano.
"He’s one of the best second basemen of his generation," said Alomar in a telephone interview last week. "He can still get better.
"I feel so highly about him," Alomar said. "If he stays healthy and he stays focused, he can be the next Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees."
I don't know about the Jeter comparison. DJ's place in Yankee lore is based on so many things other than his talent with the bat that the two are hard to compare. I think, though, that Cano and Chase Utley are the best two second basemen in the game.
By the way, did you see the clip of the batting practice ball Cano hit over the center field restaurant Monday? Yes, it was batting practice but that is pretty impressive. - ESPN's Buster Olney lists Brett Gardner and former Yankee Austin Jackson among breakout players thus far in 2010.