Melky Cabrera leads the way over Boston

On a night when this year's ace, Mike Mussina, clearly didn't have his best stuff, the Yankees treated us to one of the best victories of the year.

Although there were many great moments last night, the best one had to be Melky Cabrera showing the hustle of youth, scoring from first base on a pitch that scampered a few feet away from Jason Varitek.


Newsday Photo / David L. Pokress

After taking off for second and seeing Varitek's throw zoom into right field, Melky continued to third, since the "Giambi shift" had all of the Red Sox infielders on the right side of the field. When Varitek ran up to cover third, Melky took off for home, leaving the sold-out stadium rocking with appreciation.

How great was it to see Andy Phillips and Jason Giambi chase Josh Beckett out of the game with their three-run blasts in the second inning? Andy Phillips is 14 for his last 30 at bats and is proving to be an excellent DH/backup first baseman.

The feel surrounding this group of Yankees is distinctly different than it has been for the past few years. As Joe Torre put it after last night's victory, "This isn't the machinery people are used to around here. There's more of a heartbeat."

- Joshua
InsideTheYankees.com