Yankees 7, Mariners 4
Bronx Renaissance for Martinez and Yanks 紐約時報
By TYLER KEPNER
Published: May 11, 2005
Whenever Tino Martinez hits at Yankee Stadium, the fans transport themselves
to a time when championships seemed assured. Martinez was fiery, dependable
and occasionally transcendent, and the fans still revere him.
The man who replaced him at first base, Jason Giambi, has decayed before
their eyes.
Martinez does not need Giambi to wilt for the fans to love him. But
as Giambi's status becomes cloudier and cloudier, Martinez is standing ever
taller in the Bronx. His home run tear continued last night as the Yankees
beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-4, in Chien-Ming Wang's first major league
victory.
In spring training, Giambi looked sturdy and Martinez sometimes looked
finished. Now, it is the other way around. Giambi, for the moment, is a
bench player batting .195, and the Yankees have at least considered asking
him to go to the minors. Martinez, always a more agile first baseman, is
having a renaissance at the plate.
Martinez, 37, has eight home runs this season, including six in his last
seven starts. He doubled in a two-run rally in the second inning last night,
and his two-run homer off Aaron Sele broke a 2-2 tie in the third.
Wang took over from there, allowing three runs in seven and a third innings
and helping the Yankees (15-19) to their fourth consecutive victory.
In 2001, while the Yankees were eyeing Giambi from a distance, Martinez
had 34 homers and 113 runs batted in. But his on-base percentage was low,
at .329, and Giambi's was .477 for the Oakland Athletics.
Martinez is three years older than Giambi, and perhaps predictably,
Martinez's productivity declined in his three years away from the Yankees.
In two seasons with St. Louis and another with Tampa Bay,
Martinez averaged 20 homers and 73 R.B.I.
"I always expect to have a big year," he said before last night's game.
"There were some years I didn't have a big year, but that doesn't mean
I didn't expect to have a solid season."
When Martinez accepted a one-year contract from the Yankees for more than
$2.5 million last winter, he was told he would start four or five times a
week. He has played his way into more time so far, crediting the hitting
coach Don Mattingly with helping his swing.
"I wanted him to get to the ball faster," Mattingly said. "He was letting
the back hand do too much work, so if he got a ball in on the inner half,
he fouled it off."
Martinez was at a loss to explain his recent surge.
"I wish I could say I've changed my hands or moved my stance and it'd be easy
to figure out," he said. "But for the last 10 days I just feel like I've been
on the ball. I've been staying aggressive. I wish I could explain it better.
I don't have the answer."
Martinez and his teammates, or at least those not named Giambi, left Yankee
Stadium on Monday feeling good about themselves. They had won three games
in a row for the first time this season, and there was no better opponent
to sustain those vibes than Sele.
Sele was a minor contributor to the Yankees' championship era. He faced the
Yankees in four postseason series from 1996 to 2001, losing all five of his
starts and compiling a 5.00 earned run average. The Yankees won each series,
and have also handled Sele in the regular season,
beating him in 10 of 16 decisions before last night's.
Sele was working with a lead last night, after Ichiro Suzuki led off with a
triple and scored, and Wilson Valdez singled in a run in the second.
But the 2-0 lead quickly disappeared, with the bottom of the Yankees' order
tying the score in the second inning.
Alex Rodriguez led off with a walk, and Martinez sliced a ground-rule double
to left. John Flaherty, who is 8 for 16 off Sele in his career, lined a
single up the middle to score Rodriguez, and Robinson Cano's deep sacrifice
fly to center scored Martinez.
Another leadoff walk, to Gary Sheffield, doomed Sele in the third. Suzuki
then helped him with a diving catch to rob Hideki Matsui, but with two outs,
Martinez lined a 1-1 pitch down the right-field line and into the seats.
It was Martinez's fourth consecutive game with a home run. Last night's
vintage showing put the Yankees ahead, 4-2, and they added to that lead
in a hurry.
Bernie Williams singled, and Flaherty doubled him home. Cano snapped
an 0-for-18 slump with a single into the right-field corner, scoring
Flaherty. That was it for Sele, but the ugliness continued for the Mariners.
The struggling third baseman Adrian Beltre seemed to get Derek Jeter's slow
roller trapped in his glove, and he gave up on the play at first.
But when he noticed Cano straying past second base, Beltre fired an
off-balance throw into the outfield.
The throw got past center fielder Jeremy Reed, and Cano scampered in to put
the Yankees ahead by 7-2.
The five-run inning was the Yankees' biggest in two weeks, since a blowout
victory over the Angels in which Rodriguez hit three home runs.
The outburst made it even easier for Wang, who was following three victories
instead of two defeats, as he was when he lost at Tampa Bay last week.
He lasted seven and a third innings, the longest of his three outings,
allowing four hits with three walks and three strikeouts
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歷史人物跟我們一樣,他們也不知道他們的未來為何?
我們比他們強的只在於,我們知道他們的結果是如何?
所以當我們想瞭解他們的時候,也請站在一樣的未知
去思考,當我們面臨他們的狀況時,會如何去判斷
也許會從他們身上學到更多.
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