推 mmss33:Nothing really fazes him. He's our No. 1 05/06 12:05
NEW YORK (AP) -- Always unflappable, Chien-Ming Wang was nearly unhittable
Saturday. Perfect, in fact, before one misplaced changeup.
Wang carried his bid for a perfect game into the eighth inning before Ben
Broussard hit the only changeup he threw all day for a one-out homer, and
the New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners 8-1.
Catcher Jorge Posada knew the changeup was in trouble from the start.
"As soon as he threw it," Posada said, "I was just hoping the guy didn't swing
at it."
Facing a Mariners team that got season highs of 15 runs and 20 hits the
previous night, Wang (1-2) was in control the whole way. Seattle struggled to
do anything with Wang's heavy sinker, one of the best pitches in the majors.
One simple changeup did him in.
Wang said he left the ball "high."
He got Richie Sexson to roll back to him for the first out of the eighth, but
Broussard followed with a home run to right-center field.
"It'd feel better if we had won," Broussard said. "But, definitely, I think
everybody's a competitor. Nobody wants to get no-hit. I think everybody was
going up just trying to have a good at-bat, maybe see some pitches and see
what happens."
The Yankee Stadium crowd saluted Wang with a long, standing ovation. The
right-hander from Taiwan stood behind the mound for a moment with his hat off,
briefly clenched his jaw and wiped sweat from his brow. Posada went to the
mound to talk to him.
Jose Guillen was up next, and he singled. Kenji Johjima then bounced into a
double play to end the inning. Wang walked slowly to the dugout as some of his
teammates ran past him, giving him a pat on the back on their way to the bench.
"You're disappointed, naturally," shortstop Derek Jeter said. "You're
disappointed for him because you don't know when you're going to get the
opportunity again."
Wang was trying for the 16th perfect game since 1900, including Don Larsen's
gem for the Yankees in the 1956 World Series.
The last two perfect games in the AL have occurred at Yankee Stadium, by New
York's David Cone (1999) and David Wells (1998). Larsen also pitched his at
the ballpark.
Randy Johnson has the last perfect game in the majors, for Arizona at Atlanta
on May 18, 2004.
Brian Bruney took over for Wang to begin the ninth and finished off the
two-hitter.
On Tuesday night, Yankees rookie Phil Hughes took a no-hitter into the seventh
inning at Texas, but was forced to leave because of a hamstring injury.
If Wang was at all fazed by the growing tension in the Bronx, he didn't show it
. After the seventh inning, he sat all by himself at the far end of the dugout
with a white towel draped over his right shoulder.
"He's really calm," Posada said. "Nothing really fazes him. He's our No. 1.
We need him every five days."
This was certainly an unlikely situation for a perfect game. Wang, who finished
second in the AL Cy Young voting last year, went on the disabled list in
spring training with a strained right hamstring and struggled in his first two
starts of the season.
"First two starts, I felt not so strong," Wang said.
He cruised through the first two innings, striking out two in the second. Third
baseman Alex Rodriguez backhanded Jose Lopez's hard one-hopper and threw him
out to end the third.
Rodriguez also made a great play to retire Lopez for the final out of the sixth
. He charged a slow roller up the line and made a strong throw to nip Lopez at
first as the crowd roared.
"He threw the ball so well today," Rodriguez said. "It was exciting. I don't
get to appreciate how well his ball moves from where I play. I'm just consumed
with the thought that I'm going to be busy."
Ichiro Suzuki hit a grounder off Wang's left shin in the fourth but the
right-hander threw him out at first. The trainer came out to check on him but
Wang was fine.
Suzuki led off the seventh with a deep drive into the gap, but left fielder
Hideki Matsui caught it on the run.
"He wasn't leaving a whole lot over the middle of the plate," said Willie
Bloomquist, who went 0-for-3 against Wang. "It's deceptive because when you're
up there it looks like it's going to be down the heart of the plate but then
that late movement kind of gets in on you, or jams you a little bit, or makes
you hit it off the end."
New York broke open the game in the sixth when Jeff Weaver (0-5) started
struggling with his control. Weaver, a former Yankee, hit Matsui with a pitch
with the bases loaded and also walked Melky Cabrera to force in another run.
Posada also had a run-scoring single and Jeter a two-run double in the
five-run inning.
Weaver, who recorded just one out in his previous start, went 5 2-3 innings
against the Yankees, allowing six runs and nine hits. He has given up 29 runs
and 40 hits in 17 innings over five starts this season.
"He threw the ball well," said Mariners manager Mike Hargrove, who added Weaver
will take his next turn in the rotation. "If he throws like that the rest of
the year we're going to be all right."
--
~在逆境下創造契機
在挑戰下寫下榮耀~
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 219.86.101.36