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Damon, Cano lead Yankees over Orioles

Sep 20, 2008 - 3:41 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- The New York Yankees are celebrating their final homestand by performing the way they wanted to a month ago.

Johnny Damon scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fifth inning as the Yankees began their final series at Yankee Stadium with a 3-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday.

In what almost certainly was his final home start for the Yankees, Carl Pavano allowed two runs and six hits in five innings for his second straight win and ninth career win with New York.

Robinson Cano hit a solo home run while Brett Gardner added an RBI double and made two good defensive plays in center field.

"That's what you expect," New York manager Joe Girardi said. "That's your job. Your job is to play hard no matter what time of year it is. If it's one game, 10 games left or if there's 162, that's your job and our guys are professional and that's what they're going to do."

Those performances enabled the Yankees to improve to 6-2 on the last homestand before they relocate across East 161st Street from the 85-year-old building.

"I think they understand what's going on," Girardi said. "They have two more regular-season games and the place has been the house of numerous, numerous, numerous championships. This place has meant a lot to the history of baseball and the history of this country. I think the people appreciate it and everybody wants to be here."

The current version of the stadium they are celebrating is the second look for Yankee Stadium, which was renovated from 1974-1975. The Yankees won six more World Championships to up their total to 26, but this year will see them miss the playoffs for the first time since 1993 when they snapped a streak of four straight losing seasons.

"Obviously it's a very exciting weekend and I know this stadium means a lot to a lot of guys," Gardner said. "It's definitely going to be an exciting two games."

The Yankees virtually ensured they would not playing in October by playing poorly in August and during parts of their 10-game road trip to open this month.

Like Mike Mussina on Thursday and Phil Hughes the night before, Pavano ran into trouble in the opening inning. He had runners at second and third with one out and allowed Aubrey Huff's RBI single, but got help from Gardner, whose perfect throw nailed Nick Markakis.

Pavano also had two on to start the second and gave up a sacrifice fly to Luis Montanez and then allowed two more runners. Pavano often put the ball in play, and the highlight of the game was Gardner's running catch that took away a home run from Luke Scott in the fourth.

"The guy made a great play," Scott said. "God must be a Yankee fan."

That came after the Yankees started their rally off Radhames Liz, who allowed three runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings.

"It's a good feeling," Gardner said of his performance. "Any way I could help out and try to keep a couple of runs off the board (is good). I've always said defense is my game and I'll just continue to work on my hitting."

Cano led off the third with his 14th home run, and two batters later, Gardner drove in Ivan Rodriguez with a double to left-center field.

The Yankees took the lead in the fifth when Damon stole second and moved to third on Derek Jeter's single. After Bobby Abreu was retired, Liz's pitch bounced past catcher Ramon Hernandez, allowing Damon to race home.

"I thought (Liz) did well," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "He kept the ball down and improved. It was good for the club and good for him. He pitched well enough to win."

After that, the bullpen continued to perform well as five relievers combined on four scoreless innings, highlighted by Joba Chamberlain striking out the side in the eighth.

Mariano Rivera put the tying and winning runs on base with two outs in the ninth, allowing singles to Montanez and an infield base hit to pinch hitter Oscar Salazar. Rivera needed one pitch to get out of it as Brian Roberts popped out, giving the closer his 480th career save.