→ xiemark:From NYtimes 06/18 12:33
With Every Sinker From Wang, Yankees’ Expectations Rise a Little Higher
By BEN SHPIGEL
For a team that is having trouble scoring, the most welcomed sight is a
grooved fastball or a hanging curve. The Mets are as good at pummeling
those pitches as anyone. But you cannot hit those pitches if they do not
exist. And last night they were few and far between.
Chien-Ming Wang, sinkerballer extraordinaire, compounded the Mets’
frustration by inducing ground ball after ground ball over eight and
two-thirds innings in the Yankees’ 8-2 victory at Yankee Stadium. When
he was not throwing his sinker, he was firing 95-mile-an-hour fastballs
on his way to recording a career-high 10 strikeouts.
Alex Rodriguez drove in three runs, including a two-run homer, and Jorge
Posada and Johnny Damon each homered and knocked in two. Wang allowed
one run and six hits in winning his fourth consecutive start, and all
four victories have come during the Yankees’ surge in June.
They have won 13 of 16 games this month, which is more or less the
opposite of how the Mets have fared. The Mets fell to 3-12 in June. They
have not scored more than three runs in five of their last six games,
though they retained their two-game lead over the Atlanta Braves in the
National League East.
The Yankees scored five runs in the first three innings off Orlando Hern
ández, who allowed six over all before being removed in the fifth
inning. In contrast, Wang did not allow his first hit until José Reyes
led off the fourth with a single.
Wang’s delivery may be slow and deliberate, but what comes out of his
right hand is not. He consistently threw his fastball in the mid-90s and
his sinker tailed in or darted away and generally bewildered the Mets
all night. Wang’s sinker had so much movement that it fooled David
Wright and his catcher, Posada, on the same play. Wright flailed at a
two-strike pitch in the seventh, and Posada could not block it. Wright
ran to first and scored on Carlos Delgado’s double.
Whenever Hernández sees pinstripes, he is reminded of the three World
Series rings he won with the Yankees. His allure still resonates here,
and he received a warm ovation from partisans of both teams when he was
announced before the game.
“You can’t allow the reminiscing about how much he meant to us when he
was here,” Yankees Manager Joe Torre said before the game.
Hernández means more to the Mets now, much more, because he is a
pitcher who, in the absence of Pedro Martínez, is apt to take a losing
streak personally and almost single-handedly win a game. Since returning
May 25 after missing about a month with shoulder bursitis, Hernández
allowed two earned runs over his first three starts (20 innings) before
giving up four runs in a loss to Los Angeles last Monday, his first in
two months.
“He’s not fun to face,” Derek Jeter said before the game, referring
to Hernández. “The guy likes pitching when the spotlight is on.
Hopefully, he’s not as good as he usually is.”
The Mets were wishing the same of Rodriguez, who already has 8 home runs
and 28 runs batted in this month. No one else has more than 17 R.B.I. in
June. When Rodriguez is on a streak like this, there is seemingly not a
pitcher in baseball who can fool him.
That includes Hernández and his many breaking balls and arm angles. On
the first two pitches to Rodriguez in the first inning, Hernández tried
establishing the inner portion of the plate, but the balls barely
missed. Rodriguez did not bite. Needing a strike to avoid falling behind
3-0, Hernández threw a belt-high fastball that caught the inside
corner, and Rodriguez crushed it beyond the Mets’ bullpen for a two-run
homer.
As Rodriguez circled the bases, Hernández stood with his hands at his
side and watched a replay of the home run on the video screen in
right-center field. No matter how many times it played, the Yankees
still led, 2-0.
With Hernández one pitch away from getting out of the second untouched,
the Yankees doubled their lead with two outs. Miguel Cairo lashed a
two-out double into the left-field corner, scoring Hideki Matsui, and
Damon followed by ripping a single through the right side. The throw
home from Shawn Green was wide, but Delgado, given a chance to cut the
ball off and try to nab Damon at second, let it go past, Damon
advancing.
Hernández struck out Jeter to end the inning, but the Yankees again
threatened in the third. Bobby Abreu led off the inning with a liner
over Wright’s head that sliced into the left-field corner. Carlos G
ómez, a 21-year-old rookie, made an outstanding catch there Friday
night, but he is not familiar with how the ball caroms off the wall. The
ball kicked past him, allowing Abreu to slide into third with a triple.
Rodriguez then knocked him in with a sacrifice fly to deep center,
extending the Yankees’ lead to 5-0.
Damon hit his homer, a solo shot, in the fifth, and Hernández did not
make it through the inning.
INSIDE PITCH
Paul Lo Duca left in the bottom of the fourth inning with a contusion of
his left triceps and was replaced by Ramón Castro. Lo Duca sustained
the injury when he was hit by a Chien-Ming Wang pitch in the first
inning.
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