[Yes Network] Wang's arm, Crosby's bat lift Yankees

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             Wang's arm, Crosby's bat lift Yankees
                   By MIKE FITZPATRICK
                   AP Sports Writer
                   September 19 2005


      NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Yankees got one of their biggest hits all
season from a most unlikely source.

      Rarely used reserve Bubba Crosby led off the bottom of the ninth inning
with his first home run this year, giving New York a 3-2 victory Monday night
over the Baltimore Orioles.

      About 40 minutes later, the rival Red Sox lost 8-7 at Tampa Bay, leaving
the Yankees only a half-game out of first place in the AL East and tied with
Boston in the loss column.

      ``I've never hit a walk-off homer ever, anywhere, even in Little League,
in my life,'' Crosby said. ``And to hit one here at Yankee Stadium, this time
of year, when it counts, it doesn't get any better than that.''

       Chien-Ming Wang pitched eight stellar innings and Alex Rodriguez had
an RBI single for the surging Yankees, who have won seven of eight and 11 of
15. They remained 11/2 games behind Cleveland in the wild-card race.

       Shuttled back and forth from Triple-A Columbus, Crosby served as a
pinch-runner and defensive replacement most of the year. But he has begun
to get semi-regular playing time recently because right fielder Gary
Sheffield's strained thigh has relegated him to DH duty.

      ``When you're in my position, you don't ask questions. You just take
what comes,'' Crosby said. ``I felt a couple of times when I went down, I
might never come back.''

      The diminutive outfielder stepped to the plate in the ninth for his
72nd major league at-bat this season and drove a 1-0 pitch from Eric DuBose
 (1-3) far over the right-center fence.

     ``I pretty much felt it when I hit it. I can't hit it much harder than
that,'' Crosby said.

     He pumped his fist as he rounded first base and was mobbed at the plate
by gleeful teammates. Then he came out for a curtain call to the delight of
51,521 fans.

     It was Crosby's second extra-base hit and fifth RBI all year. It also
was his third hit of the game -- he had a bunt single and an infield single
from the No. 9 spot in the lineup.

     ``The homer was the last thing I thought would happen,'' Orioles interim
manager Sam Perlozzo said.

      Mariano Rivera (7-4) worked a perfect ninth for the win.

      Throwing what scouts call a ``heavy'' sinker, Wang kept the ball down
all night and had Baltimore chopping one weak tapper after another right back
to the mound.

      ``The guys were coming back and saying how much the ball was sinking.
We were almost to the point of checking him,'' Perlozzo said.

      The pitcher did a terrific job fielding his position, too, piling up
nine assists -- including four straight in the seventh and eighth. The
right-hander got 19 groundball outs overall and only one flyout.

      ``He was throwing 95 mph sinkers running four, five feet,'' Baltimore's
Brian Roberts said. ``I don't know how he's doing it.''

      Wang's brilliant performance could go a long way toward keeping the
rookie in the rotation even if Mike Mussina returns from a sore elbow later
this week as planned.

      ``He was great. He's been like that the whole year. It's a win, a win
for the team -- but I wish he had won it,'' Rivera said.

      With two outs in the first, Wang gave up three straight singles to
Melvin Mora, Miguel Tejada and Jay Gibbons as Baltimore went ahead.

      The Orioles scored again in the third on Tejada's RBI groundout, and
starter Erik Bedard got Sheffield to ground into an inning-ending double play
with the bases loaded in the bottom half.

      The Yankees kept coming, though. They loaded the bases with none out
in the fifth, and Rodriguez's RBI single put them on the board.

      With the middle of the lineup coming up, New York figured to take the
lead. But Jason Giambi struck out before Sheffield's RBI groundout tied it
at 2, and Hideki Matsui fanned with runners at second and third to end the
inning.

      Notes: The teams play seven more times this season. ... Giambi started
at 1B after leaving Sunday's game in Toronto because of back spasms. ... Mora
failed to run out a tapper to the left of the plate in the fifth and was
easily thrown out when the ball spun into fair territory. ... Derek Jeter
also had a bunt single for the Yankees. ... Wang threw 68 of his 98 pitches
for strikes in his third start since missing nearly two months with
inflammation in his right shoulder. He allowed seven singles, walked one and
struck out four. ... Bedard yielded two runs and six hits in six innings,
with five strikeouts. He is 0-3 in eight starts since beating Tampa Bay 5-2
on Aug. 9. ... DuBose did not allow a run in his previous six appearances.



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推 cabugino:推
推 adamcha:有沒有高手可幫忙翻譯一下，自己看好累
推 lunya:李維拉真客氣~
推 Dango:MO是好人 :)
推 youngerwu:MO(小聲說):我比較喜歡救援點拉....^_^  雙贏咩
推 derekhsu:Rivera：勝投留給你，有救援點就夠了
推 seimo:裡面那句running 4-5 feet ..是說他的sinker的變化幅度?
推 HEEROYUYWING:那句是不是誇示啊..一英尺約30公分???
推 seimo:我認為左打者來看這種球..的確會有感覺這個球一直往外角跑
→ seimo:但4-5feet實在是太誇張..一個本壘板才多寬.橫移1foot.就很誇
→ seimo:不過能讓MLB打者頻頻打成滾地球..的確他的SINKER有MLB等級
→ adamcha:王建民就是MLB等級，不只他的Sinker
→ skyringcha:seimo妳到現在還在懷疑王有沒有ＭＬＢ等級喔 = =
推 buttery:應該他是要說MLB王牌投手的等級 現在小王慢慢成為KB了
推 lovejeely:要成為前兩號，他的K/9比率要再提升
→ lovejeely:畢竟三振還是投手解決打者最直接的方式
推 seimo:畢竟還有時間讓小王證明他的sinker可以在往mlb神級邁進
推 ZecAhau:MO真的很有風度~~
→ mark0204:4-5 feet 是指打到打者前面 4-5 feet 吧？