Game 87 Wrap-Up: NYY 5 LAA 3

(Robbie and Curtis practice their "Hey Arnold" handshake.  Courtesy of The AP)

It was a little MVP mano y mano yesterday at The Stadium as Mike Trout and Robinson Cano put on displays showing why they should be considered the top 2 contenders for the award right now.  Trout went 3-5 with a double, a run scored, and 2 stolen bases, and Cano went 2-4 with a home run, a run scored, and 3 RBI.  In the end, Cano's hits ended up being a bit more timely and he carried his team to the win and put them in position for a sweep today.

Game Notes:

- More 1st-inning fun for both teams.  The Angels plated 2 in the top half after stringing some singles together off of Yankees' starter Freddy Garcia, and the Yankees followed up with 2 of their own in the bottom half on Cano's 2-out, 2-run HR.

- The Yankees took a 4-2 lead on their second 2-run homer of the game in the bottom of the 3rd, this one by Curtis Granderson.  Certified rally starter Chris Stewart scored after leading off the inning with a single.

- Garcia settled down a bit after the 1st, but he still had to battle his way through 5 innings.  He put one runner on base in each inning, but managed to work out of trouble most of the time.

- The only other run Garcia allowed came in the 4th inning, and it was more due to the Angels manufacturing it than Garcia giving it up.  His biggest out of the game came at the end of the inning, when he got Albert Pujols to ground out with 2 runners on.

- Alex Rodriguez doubled to lead off the bottom of the 6th, and he was quickly driven in by a Cano single for an insurance run, and that was more than enough for the Yankee bullpen, who pitched 4 scoreless innings in relief of Garcia.

- The Yankees only managed to pitch 2 1-2-3 innings on the day.  Good thing one of them was the 9th, where Rafael Soriano struck out Trout and Pujols swinging for his 22nd save of the season.

F*ck Yeahs:

- Cano: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 K, 1 LOB.  He'll definitely never get the "C," but this is Cano's team now and if you don't believe that, you're just foolish.

- C-Grand: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K, 1 LOB.  Made his only hit count.  Drove in what turned out to be the game-winning run.

- Cody Eppley: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K.  Give a call to Eppley for his 2 big innings of work.  Garcia wasn't as good as he had been in his previous starts, and Eppley did a great job of keeping the Angels down and getting the game to the late-inning lockdown guys.

Oh Nos:

- Mark Teixeira & Eric Chavez: Combined 0-6, 1 K, 2 LOB.  Teix must have decided to take a day off after his big night on Friday, and I can't remember the last time Chavez didn't at least get 1 hit on a day where he was starting.

Next Up:

The Yanks can start the second half off right with a sweep at home if they can win today.  It's another afternoon game and one I plan on watching because the pitching matchup of Ivan Nova and Jered Weaver could be a dandy.