Cervelli has big night at-bat and behind plate

Francisco Cervelli thumbed the thin, handmade yellow bracelet on his wrist, proudly displaying a gift from one of his newest friends.

"She asked me for a home run, and I said, I don't know if I can do it, but I'll try," he said with a smile.

He gestured to the white piece of paper taped to his locker, the one with sketches of a baseball player in blue marker. The one that read: "Thank you for coming and visiting the zone. Chloe, Cheryl, Jeffrey and Jane."

"I think this night was for all these kids," he said. "They break my heart, you know."

Hours after he and teammate Ramiro Peña visited the Kravis Children's Hospital at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan, Cervelli gave the best performance of his young Yankees career.

He went 3-for-3 in last night's 4-1 win over the Orioles, tying a career high in hits. He also belted his first career triple in the third and dazzled the Stadium crowd with a back-bending, tumbling catch over the Yankees' dugout railing to rob Garrett Atkins of a another at-bat to end the fourth.

"I had no control of the ball and I had to jump a little bit," said Cervelli, who ripped off his catcher's mask, raced toward the dugout steps, steadied himself on one leg and made the catch before toppling over the railing and into manager Joe Girardi's arms.

"I saw a lot of people," the 24-year-old catcher said. "They took care of me."

Cervelli also bunted for a single in the sixth and scored two runs. But when asked to choose his favorite play of the evening, his personal deeds never came to mind.

"The three strikeouts," he said, referring to A.J. Burnett's ability to wiggle out of a third-inning jam with runners on second and third by striking out the next three batters. "That's what I like to do. When you see something like that, you can relax."

Cervelli was just as impressive behind the plate as he was in the batter's box, helping to keep Burnett - and the righty's pitches under control for 71/3 innings.

"He brings a lot of energy," Burnett said of Cervelli. "I think everybody in the Stadium feeds off of it. The thing that's surprised me the most is how much knowledge he has of the game, being so young.''

Said Girardi: "He had a tremendous night. He did all the little things, plus he had some pretty big hits for us, as well."

So which was the manager's favorite Cervelli play of the night? "I'll take the catch over the rail," he said. "Just because he had no regard for his body."