Melky Cabrera hit for the cycle today. I have a question: How many other players on the Yankees can you reasonably assume could hit for a cycle? Who's got the combination of speed and power to be a legit cycle threat?
Jeter doesn't hit that many home runs and isn't a speedster anymore. Damon, Tex, A-Rod, Matsui, and Posada don't have that much speed either. Maybe Cano, though he's not a base stealer. Swisher? Gardner?
Melky is the guy you think of when you think "who's the most likely Yankee to hit for a cycle?"
Melky's cycle was special because of the way he did it. As he does once in a while, Melky dominated the game. He had a spectacular catch in center field, pictured above (and with the video here). And with two on in the second he started his cycle in style, with a 3 run home run to put the Yankees up 3-0.
Later in the game, Melky chased Mr. Perfect, Mark Buehrle, with an RBI single. On the day he accounted for 4 RBIs and 3 runs, (7 of the 8 runs the Yankees got).
And in the ninth, in especially dramatic fashion, as the announcers surely reminded audiences that Melky "needs a triple for the cycle", he delivered just that, a triple over a confused Jermain Dye.
Maybe we can call a cycle + a game-changing play in the field a "Melky cycle" from now on.
By the way, Melky hit for the cycle and played his most dominant game of the season today. (More video analysis of the feat here) Almost exactly one year ago, he was slumping and destined for the minors, to which he was sent in the middle of August. Undoubtably, Melky brought a little extra to this game today, perhaps spurred on, consciously or unconsciously, by last year's memories. And you could see it, too. When he slid into third in the top of the ninth, he turned to the dugout, not with a smile of jubilation but a roar of ferocity at the Yankee bench, as if to say, "told you so...".
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