Robbie Cano, don’t ya know

The Yanks beat the O’s 4-0 Thursday to move to 14-7 on the year and 6-1 in series. AJ pitched a phenomenal game (8 IP, 3H, 4 K, 1BB), Marcus Thames proved his worth as a DH (3-for-3, an RBI, drew the team’s only walk and is hitting .588) and the Yanks dominated, but all that was overshadowed by Robinson Cano.

AJ, who moved to 3-0 for the first time in his career:

"I don’t think they’re ever struggling. Every team up in the big leagues can hit, these guys can hit. I did have a lot of confidence in my fastball tonight. You don’t take anything for granted against any team…especially these guys.I’m learning more and more how to throw the ball to both sides of the plate with movement…I felt unbelievable. I don’t feel like I threw a pitch tonight. I wish I could feel that good all the time."

Girardi:

"AJ was tremendous too. Eight strong innings, a lot of ground ball outs tonight and his defense played very well behind him. He threw the ball exceptionally well tonight; he’s been really good in the month of April."

Robbie, who has been as hot as can be, went 3-for-4 with two dingers (sixth career multi-homer game), a double, three runs scored and two RBI, and is now 17 for his last 32 riding an eight-game hitting streak. He is hitting .407 (ML-best)/.444/.790 for an OPS of 1.235…in other words: this kid can hit.

"It’s good, we always go out there with the same mentality — just go out there and win the games.It feels good…because I get on base for my teammates. The motto here is just win the game."

Jeet:

"He’s in one of those zones right now. Every player wants to be in it, but they come few and far between. It seems like everything he’s doing right now is perfect and he’s playing as well as I’ve ever seen him."

Not only is he crushing it at the plate, but he’s also been stellar on D. On Thursday he made a fantastic play, going hard to his right, throwing across his body and robbing Nolan Reimold of a base hit in the third. Wow, that was a thing of beauty. I know it’s very early in the season, but if Cano’s production doesn’t drop off a cliff (though it’s obviously bound to decline) he’s a shoo-in for MVP.

Girardi:

"It’s (Cano’s play) as good as it gets. Whether it’s at the plate, defensively, he’s playing as good as you can play…He is just a very, very good hitter; he’s locked in right now and he is dangerous. Even his outs are hard, every at-bat is a good at-bat. It’s been quite an April."

"There’s some good second baseman in our league, but it’s hard to say that anyone else makes it (Reimold play)."

Keep in mind this is all coming from a “lazy” second baseman.

The scary thing is that if it wasn’t for Liriano the Yanks would have the AL pitcher AND hitter of the month. Holy shit I love this team.

The Yanks now head back to The Stadium for three against the ChiSox and three against these O’s. Pettitte will be on the bump against Freddy Garcia (yeah, that Freddy Garcia) on Friday. On that note, Girardi said Posada will not be available to play on Friday, but he MIGHT be able to go Saturday.