Sweet dreams are made of Robinson Cano in the box at the Stadium, and who are the Yankees to disagree following Saturday’s display, in which the One Who Got Away twice went deep with a man on base for the Mariners in their 4-3 victory?
It was a flashback to what once was and what could still be if the Yankees had only been willing to invest $240 million in December 2013 to keep their uncommonly talented second baseman in pinstripes for life.
“No hard feelings,” said Cano, mired in the muck of a miserable season. “Not at all. I’m happy where I’m at.”
And despite this day on which the home team could get next to nothing going against Hisashi Iwakuma or a stable of five relief pitchers who cobbled together the final 10 outs, the Yankees were pretty happy with where they were at, too.
Which was first place in the AL East by four games in the loss column pending the outcome of the Orioles’ game in Detroit on Saturday night.
The Yankees were in first place largely because of the presence of the guys at whom the organization did throw money the winter they ultimately closed their wallet to Cano. They would be Masahiro Tanaka ($155 million), who won on Friday; Brian McCann ($85 million), who slugged a two-run homer of his own on Saturday; and Jacoby Ellsbury ($153 million). Carlos Beltran ($45 million) also is in the mix, due back off the disabled list on Sunday.
There is a hole at second base the Yankees might attempt to patch via a deal before the July 31 non-waivers trade deadline if management isn’t swayed that Rob Refsnyder — who made a nice pick and tag on Austin Jackson’s attempted stolen base try in the fourth inning — is ready for the daily grind, but there would most certainly be other holes within the roster had Cano remained in The Bronx for the $175 million dowry that was on the table.
Still, though, Cano sure looked at home from the left side of the plate at the Stadium. Looked like a man at peace with his surroundings, even if he’d previously gone 3-for-16 in The Bronx wearing a Seattle uniform, and 9-for-40 overall against the Yankees.
“This is a ballpark anyone would love to hit in,” Cano said after rounding the bases for the 80th and 81st times in this latest incarnation of the Stadium. “It’s a great place.”
Once, Cano was a conquering hero. Once, the heir to the Core Four as a homegrown legend in the making. That was then. That was before Cano eschewed a hometown discount in order to get his fortune and plant his brand in the Pacific Northwest.
Now, choruses of boos routinely accompany Cano to the batter’s box, though not with the same malicious full throat as last year in which you’d have thought he was David Ortiz (or maybe Randy Johnson).
For fans, the morality of sports is simple. If you leave your old team and come to ours for more money, you’re a hero. If you leave ours and go somewhere else to make more, you’re a traitor.
So there were boos for Cano when he stepped into the box against Micheal Pineda with a man on first and one out in the first, and there were more boos as he rounded the bases after slugging a first-pitch 94 mph fastball over the fence in left center. There were boos when he poked a single to left in the third. And there were boos in the sixth when Cano sent a 0-1, 95 mph fastball into the second deck in right to break a 2-2 tie and give the Mariners a 4-2 lead.
“I hear it, but I don’t pay any attention to it,” said Cano, whose last month has been somewhat representative following an abysmal getaway compromised by an illness. “I honestly don’t really care.”
Cano is at .333 for the month with four home runs and 10 RBIs, albeit still with an overall .254/.292/.387 slash line with eight homers and 34 RBIs. No one can doubt, however, the best is yet to come.
“He’s born to hit,” Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon said. “He’s different from me and a lot of guys who have stepped on the diamond.
“Robbie’s Robbie. Robbie’s going to hit.”
Robbie on Saturday as a Mariner was Robbie for his entire career as a Yankee.
“Today he looked exactly like we remember,” Brett Gardner said. “Driving the ball all over the place.”
He looked like a sweet dream.
Or maybe a nightmare.
