From Newsday

Cano shows signs of breaking out of slump

BY KAT O'BRIEN | kat.obrien@newsday.com

May 5, 2008

Article tools

E-mail

Share
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
- Facebook
- Fark
- Google
- Newsvine
- Reddit
- Yahoo

Joe Girardi keeps hoping, day after day, that today will be the day Robinson Cano gets on track. His homer in the third yesterday again gave Girardi reason to think he might be on the verge of regaining his stroke: "Maybe today gets him going, I'm not sure."

Cano is hitting only .154. Because of that, he has mostly been talking to reporters either to explain his offensive doldrums or to translate for close buddy Melky Cabrera, who happens to be leading the team in homers with six. So Cano was happy to have something else to talk about.

"It's a good feeling," Cano said of hitting the home run, which came six pitches after Cabrera's two-run homer. "It doesn't have to be home runs, though. I just want to get on base and help the team."

Cano said he was even more frustrated by a slump he went through last year. From April 26 to May 17, a span of 19 games, he batted .157 (11-for-70) with 18 strikeouts. This year he is 18- for-117 with three homers, eight RBIs and 15 strikeouts. "I would say last year was worse than this," Cano said.

Hearing tomorrow

The appeal of Kyle Farnsworth's three-game suspension is scheduled to be heard tomorrow. Farnsworth was suspended for throwing a pitch behind Manny Ramirez's head April 17. Ramirez had hit two home runs off Mike Mussina in that game.

Extra bases

In the past two games, the top four hitters in the Yankees' lineup - Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu and Hideki Matsui - have gone 21-for-37 with two walks, nine RBIs and 11 runs ... Matsui went 2-for-4 and matched his career-high single-season hitting streak at 14 games ... Damon has reached base in 19 consecutive games, the top active streak in the American League ... The Yankees are 15-1 when their starter pitches at least six innings ... Mussina, who started Saturday, was excused from yesterday's game after pregame workouts to take care of a personal matter ... Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner plans to be in New York for this week's series against the Indians.