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DUST OFF ROBBIE’S MANTELPIECE
With apologies to Alex Rios, Josh Hamilton, Paul Konerko, and Vernon Wells, the line for the AL MVP award starts here:

For those not hip to the jargon, “VORP”

VICTORIOUS DEFEAT, DEFEATED VICTORY

Talk about your mixed outcomes. Josh Beckett hit the pitcher’s mound throwing bolts of lightning at the outset of Friday night’s game, and one felt certain that it was going to be a difficult night for the Yankees at Fenway Park. But the thunderstorm proved to be short-lived, Beckett giving up a three-run smash to Nick Swisher (or maybe a three-run swish to Nick Smasher), and then completely losing the plot in the sixth inning.

Simultaneously, Phil Hughes provided more evidence of his arrival as a man among men. Hughes has now thrown 224.2 Major-League innings, enough that we can pretend that he’s just completed his rookie year, even though it took him parts of three seasons and 77 games to compile the totals, which show 192 hits,

WELCOME TO LEFTY MANSION
Tonight, the Yankees face Orioles southpaw Brian Matusz. If Matusz seems like the 98th lefty the Yankees have faced this year, you’re not far off. The Yankees have been running into portsiders at a crazy-high rate. Through Monday, the Yankees have played in 10 games started by a left-hander, compared to 15 started by a right-hander. That equates to two out of five games, or 40 percent, have been started by southpaws. Last year, opposing teams started lefties in 54 games, or one-third.

I have no idea if this lefty-centric trend will keep up -- it seems unlikely given that only 31 percent of games have been started by left-handers league-wide -- but if it does, the Yankees will face close to 70 lefties this year. Suddenly, a player like Marcus Thames goes from

Robinson Cano is now hitting .407/.444/.790 with eight home runs. It’s as if he has been possessed by the ghost of Rogers Hornsby, albeit a smiling, likeable Rogers Hornsby whose time in the afterworld has taught him that should he receive a second chance it would probably be more fun if he just got on with the hitting and stopped being so mean to everyone. As we discussed in a previous entry, Cano has had hot openings before—last year in fact—before losing the thread. That said this is a whole other flavor of hot. Cano has been more disciplined, and the results have been unworldly, or afterworldly, or any other –ly you’d like to use, and if he maintains his disdain for first pitches and pitcher’s pitches and trans-fat pitches and all the other bad-for-you

THE MOON IS MADE OF GREEN CHEESE OR TITANIUM
Back when Joe Girardi proposed that Robinson Cano bat fifth, I raised a holler, saying that in order for Cano to provide value in that spot he couldn’t slip at all from last season’s level of production, and perhaps even raise his on-base percentage. He’s done that (and how!) hitting .395/.400/.816 in his first nine games. He’s hit four home runs, including two on Thursday night and has yet to ground into a double play. Now 27 years old, it seems very much as if Cano is peaking.

And yet, just as some have prematurely celebrated Jeff Francoeur’s newfound patience, it is too early to say if the Cano we’re seeing now is the same one we’re going to be seeing all season long. He’s drawn but one walk,

AND OTHER DISCONTENTS
But what is he a monument to? He had a solid inning on Thursday, but it’s still not obvious why he’s on the team, other than to provide depth for its own sake. Depth is a valid concern, but the Yankees would be better off in the long term getting Mark Melancon established.

…Why hasn’t Jesus Montero been cut yet? Shouldn’t he be allowed to go to the Minor League camp and start playing every day? He’s not making the team unless Nick Johnson joins Grant Desme in religious seclusion. You’d like to see him unlimber, if only so that if there’s an injury to Johnson or one of the catchers, the Yankees can give him honest consideration for the spot.

TO THE MATS WITH READER MAIL
ON “ELITE” PROSPECTS
Reader Rob takes issue

1: BUT I WAS HIGH ON JOHN-FORD GRIFFIN…
"he’s not a top offensive performer and almost certainly isn’t going to be one."

This is your most typical description of almost all young Yankee players, irrespective of position. Cano's OBP and his penchant for not coming up clutch have been widely discussed and over-analyzed. However, to come out and say that a player will never attain what is within his potential is crazy. Cano might never have a .400 OBP and a RISP Avg. that matches his career Avg., but to write him off at 27 when he is entering his prime is foolish. The Yankees want to give Cano the chance to succeed in the 5 spot because he is a huge part of their future. The Yankees can't rely on the potential of Montero, Posada's age-defying consistency and Swisher's career-ambiguity.

In 1989, Rangers manager Bobby Valentine employed an unorthodox batting order. He led off centerfielder Cecil Espy, whose main skill was being fast. His second hitter was usually shortstop Scott Fletcher, who was an exemplar of the traditional number-two type. He didn’t hit much, but he drew a few walks, was tough to strike out, and if he wasn’t fast, he wasn’t slow either. Rafael Palmiero, not yet a power-hitter (he would hit eight home runs that year) batted third until Harold Baines came over at the trade deadline. Ruben Sierra, then 23, batted fourth every day and had the best season of his career.

In the fifth spot, you might have expected that Valentine would have used Pete Incaviglia, his 25-year-old, slugging leftfielder. Sure, Pete struck out like crazy; having

I’M NOT LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE
Steven Goldman would like to say that he has not seen “Avatar” and doesn’t feel all that bad about it. At first I was bummed out because I can no longer perceive 3-D and felt like I must be missing something special, but the more I hear about the film the less special it seems. As such, I will muddle on, Avatar-free but happy.

TO THE MATS WITH READER MAIL
After the Robinson Cano post, I got an interesting email from reader JP:

Regarding Cano, the numbers speak for themselves, and confirm what we all have seen watching him. You seem to conclude -- and I can't disagree -- that, with the statistics being what they are over a significant sample size (unlike, say, A-Rod's tiny postseason history pre-2009), clutch hitting is a skill that Cano does