Yanks keep heat on Sox
Friday, August 31, 2007
BY ED PRICE
Star-Ledger Staff
NEW YORK --
The stark reality coming into the week was that with anything but a sweep
of the Boston Red Sox, the Yankees would have been at least seven games out
with a month to play.
There was only one way to make the AL East interesting in September. And
the Yankees pulled if off.
Chien-Ming Wang followed Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens in holding down the
Red Sox yesterday, and the Yankees won, 5-0, at Yankee Stadium to keep the
stretch run compelling.
"What can you say about the pitching that we had here?" pitching coach Ron
Guidry said after Wang took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. "Everybody
says, 'Well, the pitching is weak.' I can understand it might be weak
sometimes.
"But when you've got those guys like Andy, like Roger and like 'Wanger,' when
they throw back-to-back-to-back, they feed off one another. This team feeds
off of them."
The Red Sox, held to 13 hits in the series, lead the Yankees by five games in
the American League East. And the Yankees, who had not swept the Red Sox at
home since 2004, had a half-game lead in the AL wild-card race, pending
Seattle's game last night.
"If you concentrate on that," the Yankees' Jason Giambi said, "everything
kind of falls into place."
At 16 games over .500, the Yankees have matched their high-water mark for the
season.
"(The sweep) is important because we need wins," said Derek Jeter, who went
4-for-4. "I'd tell you the same thing if we just beat a high school team
three games in a row. We need victories."
For the series, the Yankees held the Red Sox to a .146 average -- and
0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. It was the first time all year
Boston had seven hits or fewer for three straight games.
Wang (16-6, tied for the major-league lead in wins) was upset with himself
for walking four batters.
But he did not allow a hit until Mike Lowell's grounder through the right
side in the seventh inning.
Wang got out of that inning thanks to a double play that came after the
umpires conferred and said Kevin Youkilis went out of the base line on
his way to third base while avoiding a tag.
"We had a little lack of communication," second-base umpire Derryl Cousins
told a pool reporter. "I had a safe call for no tag. (Third-base umpire Mark)
Carlson was making the call on out of the base line. We just had to get
together to make sure we had it right."
Since a rough patch over the first two weeks of August, Wang has gone 3-0
with a 1.71 ERA. He has incorporated more sliders and changeups to go with
his killer sinker -- and gotten over a mental block from his Aug. 8 shelling
in Toronto.
"I'm pitching like they told me," he said, "don't think too much."
The Yankees trailed the Red Sox by 14 1/2 games after a loss on May 29. They
cut their deficit to four on Aug. 12 but dropped four games further out on
last week's 2-5 trip to Anaheim and Detroit.
The Red Sox and Yankees have one regular-season series left, Sept. 14-16 at
Boston.
If the Yankees, who have 28 games remaining, can win the division, it would
be the second-biggest comeback ever. As a point of comparison, the 1978
Yankees -- who rallied from 14 back in July to win the AL East -- were 5 1/2
games out with 28 to play.
Ed Price may be reached at [email protected]
http://tinyurl.com/2hrpep
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