推 xiemark:Just talk about life! 06/07 15:29
推 leddy:明天Torre拿2000勝吧 06/07 15:40
推 eric93:這篇很有趣呢，一開頭描繪牛棚的景象 06/07 15:43
Wang keeps Yankees rolling
Thursday, June 07, 2007
BY ED PRICE
Star-Ledger Staff
CHICAGO -- Last night was a quiet one in the visitors' bullpen at
U.S. Cellular Field.
"Relaxing," Mike Myers said. "Just talk about life. It was fine."
Said Chris Britton: "We ran out of stuff to talk about."
With Chien-Ming Wang pitching against the Chicago White Sox, the
Yankees relievers could have turned the ringer on the bullpen
phone to "silent."
Wang threw the team's first nine-inning complete game in nearly 10
months as the Yankees defeated the Chicago White Sox, 5-1, their
fifth win in seven games. It is the Yankees' best stretch since
going 7-2 to start May.
"The more you win," manager Joe Torre said, "the more you have games
like this, the more confidence you're going to have. And that's the
thing we were lacking a week ago."
A victory today would give the Yankees a three-game winning
streak -- matching their season high and their first since
May 1-3 -- and consecutive series wins for the first time
this year.
"We're starting to stack some blocks here," Torre said, "and that's
what we need to do."
Wang (5-4) needed just 104 pitches, throwing more than 12 in an
inning twice -- a 16-pitch sixth and a 16-pitch, 1-2-3 ninth.
"It doesn't come any better than that," Torre said.
"He was in control right from the start," Torre said. "It was easy.
They didn't hit many balls hard."
Taking advantage of the light-hitting White Sox, he allowed five
hits (all singles), got 15 ground-ball outs, struck out four and
walked one.
"His stuff was moving a lot today," catcher Jorge Posada said. "He
was doing a lot of things well. It was fun to see."
Wang said last year when he approached 100 pitches, he found it tougher
to control his pitches. But this year he stays sharper longer.
He has thrown more than 100 pitches in four straight starts, including
104 last night; he had never done that more than two starts in a row until
now.
The last Yankees complete game before last night was by Randy Johnson,
an eight-inning loss at Seattle on Aug. 24. Wang has three career complete
games: last night, against Tampa Bay last July 28 (the last complete-game
win by a Yankee) and at Washington last June 18, when he allowed a
walk-off homer in the ninth.
Wang said complete games aren't important to him and he doesn't try
to get them.
"I try to go deep" in the game, he said.
He did, which was a nice change for the Yankees.
No starter in the previous six games had even pitched into the
seventh inning. The bullpen had thrown 21 2/3 innings over the
first five games in June.
"That (complete game) was a big lift for us," Torre said. "That was
important for us."
No reliever threw a pitch in the bullpen. A call went down for Myers
with one on and two out in the eighth, but before he could get on the
mound, Wang got an lineout to end the inning. And closer Mariano Rivera
played catch in the ninth, in case Wang ran into trouble and Rivera
was needed.
But he wasn't.
The Yankees scored all the runs they needed in a four-run third inning
against former Yankee Javier Vazquez (3-4).
Johnny Damon had an RBI double in the rally, his sixth hit in eight
at-bats, and Alex Rodriguez had a two-run single off the left-field
wall (he was called out at second, although replays indicated he was
safe).
It was the ninth time in seven games the Yankees scored three or
more runs in an inning.
Bobby Abreu hit a solo homer in the eighth inning, his fifth
extra-base hit in six games, to extend a 4-1 lead.
"I feel a lot better at the plate," said Abreu, who has raised his
average from .228 at the end of May to .252. "I'm seeing a lot of
pitches, taking some walks."
The defense was sharp, too. Robinson Cano stabbed Rob Mackowiak's sharp
grounder in the fifth to start a double play, and center fielder Melky
Cabrera threw out former UCLA wide receiver Jerry Owens trying to score
on Tadahito Iguchi's sixth-inning single.
The win was the 1,999th of Joe Torre's managerial career. Only nine
managers have won 2,000 games; Leo Durocher is ninth on the list with
2,009.
Ed Price may be reached at eprice@starledger.com
http://tinyurl.com/yvxofb
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