{"id":634,"date":"2009-05-25T12:37:08","date_gmt":"2009-05-25T17:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/?p=634"},"modified":"2009-05-25T12:37:08","modified_gmt":"2009-05-25T17:37:08","slug":"phillies-vs-yankees-game-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/?p=634","title":{"rendered":"Phillies vs Yankees game 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Rodriguez(notes) is batting .204\u2014and making his hits count.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez hit a tying homer off Brad Lidge(notes) in the ninth inning and Melky Cabrera(notes) capped the three-run rally with an RBI single, giving the New York Yankees a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.<\/p>\n

In 15 games since returning from hip surgery, Rodriguez has 10 hits. Seven are home runs, however, and the Yankees are 12-3 during that span.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, I\u2019m probably the happiest .200 hitter in baseball,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

John Mayberry(notes) Jr. hit a three-run homer in his major league debut and Raul Ibanez(notes) also connected, helping the Phillies build a 4-2 lead for new starter J.A. Happ(notes).<\/p>\n

Lidge (0-2) came on in the ninth and immediately got in trouble. Johnny Damon(notes) drew a leadoff walk and stole second. After Mark Teixeira(notes) struck out, Rodriguez smacked a full-count pitch over the short porch in right.
\n\u201cWe went fastball away after throwing six sliders in a row,\u201d Lidge said. \u201cIt was pretty impressive that he was able to do what he did. We didn\u2019t expect him to hit it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robinson Cano(notes) followed with a single, stole second and scored without a play on Cabrera\u2019s single to right-center.<\/p>\n

It was the third game-ending hit of the year for Cabrera, who has won back his center-field job after losing it last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s doing great,\u201d Cano said. \u201cLast year he was really down, but he has worked hard to bring himself back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cabrera raised his arms as he rounded first and dashed with glee all the way across the diamond as jubilant teammates chased him down to celebrate.<\/p>\n

The Yankees have won 10 of 11 and are making a habit of these walk-off victories. They had three straight against Minnesota last weekend, and capped this one the same way: pitcher A.J. Burnett(notes) pelted Cano and Cabrera with a pie in the face as they waited to do an on-field interview\u2014even getting some whipped cream on radio broadcaster Suzyn Waldman.<\/p>\n

For Rodriguez, it was his sixth homer in eight games and No. 560 of his career, three shy of Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson for 11th place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had the last punch,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cWe\u2019re at home and we feel very comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Rodriguez, Yankees captain Derek Jeter(notes) homered for the second straight day.<\/p>\n

Lidge, who converted all 48 save chances in 2008\u2014including the postseason \u2014 during his first year in Philadelphia, has blown three of 11 opportunities this season. His ERA climbed to 9.16.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis stuff\u2019s good and his breaking ball\u2019s good. Give them credit. He made some pitches and they hit \u2018em,\u201d Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.<\/p>\n

Jose Veras(notes) (3-1) got one out in the ninth for the win.<\/p>\n

The series finale is Sunday, with World Series MVP Cole Hamels(notes) on the mound against New York\u2019s CC Sabathia(notes) in a marquee matchup of ace left-handers.<\/p>\n

In his second career at-bat, Mayberry lined a rocket to left field against Andy Pettitte(notes) in the fifth to snap a 1-all tie. Smiling in the stands and wearing a Phillies cap was Mayberry\u2019s father, John, a two-time All-Star who hit 255 homers in 15 big league seasons.<\/p>\n

In a neat twist, Mayberry Sr.\u2019s final home run came for New York at the old Yankee Stadium on Aug. 8, 1982, against Texas. It also was a three-run shot, off lefty Jon Matlack.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know that,\u201d said Mayberry Jr., who planned to have dinner with his dad after the game. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

After this homer, the Phillies had some fun with the younger Mayberry, giving him the silent treatment in the dugout for a moment. He cracked a big smile, and they finally jumped off the bench to congratulate him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredibly exciting\u2014more than I ever imagined,\u201d Mayberry Jr. said. \u201cYou can\u2019t draw it up any better than this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The homer led to some confusion on television for Fox, however. The network thought it had a shot showing Mayberry Sr. cheering in the stands, but it turned out to be some other Phillies fan.<\/p>\n

Fox acknowledged its gaffe on the air, then later found Mayberry\u2019s dad. -yahoo.com<\/em><\/p>\n

Was nice to see Mayberry stroke one at his first at bat. \u00a0A sign of good things to come. \u00a0Regardless though… Lidge, really what the heck is going on here?! \u00a0I mean really wow…. a blown save, what the heck. \u00a0You need to go back to the drawing board and check out tapes of last year an compare them to this year. \u00a0Maybe your windup is wrong, maybe your releasing a bit high, I don’t know but what I do know is your pitching the same speed, and all this speculation that your hurt is bull-crap and you know it. \u00a0Get your arse back on those tapes and figure it out NOW! \u00a0We need you brother. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alex Rodriguez(notes) is batting .204\u2014and making his hits count. Rodriguez hit a tying homer off Brad Lidge(notes) in the ninth inning and Melky Cabrera(notes) capped the three-run… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philadelphia_phillies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=634"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":635,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions\/635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}