Kenny Guido
Well-known member
Red-hot Sox cooled off
A-Rod's homer sparks Yankee lineup and Chien-Ming Wang pitched into the seventh inning in a 6-2 win over Boston.
BY KAT O'BRIEN
May 21, 2007, 10:49 PM EDT
The Yankees have gotten their sure thing back. The .offense that was expected to be all-world is dominant again, at least for the time being.
After struggling to score runs for much of a two-week period, the "in dire need" .Yankees have posted at least six runs in three consecutive games. They overcame the Red Sox Monday night with a 6-2 win, after Scott Proctor escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning. It was the first time the Yankees had won back-to-back games since May 8-9 against the Rangers.
Before the game, which the Yankees entered at 19-23 and 101/2 games behind the Red Sox, manager Joe Torre said, "We've got to put something together ... You can't look at the lead, and say, 'Boy, we need to climb a high mountain.' "
The climb must eventually be made if the Yankees are to make the postseason. But if it would be less than ideal to check the standings daily, the ascent must begin somewhere. A solid showing against the Red Sox this week would be a start.
"These are three games in a row that we've really scrapped and gone after some things," Torre said after the game. "This was big, two wins in a row. It's not something we usually trumpet, but lately we haven't done it a lot."
But back to Monday night. Just as notable as the fact that the Yankees are scoring again are the specifics of who is contributing: everybody. This is not a duet of Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada, as it sometimes was earlier this month. Alex Rodriguez is back to his April escapades, and Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi, Robinson Cano and Johnny Damon have all picked up their performance.
Rodriguez began the pounding of knuckleballer Tim Wakefield with a two-run home run to leftfield in the first inning, one that was wildly cheered by the 55,078 fans at Yankee Stadium. He has homered three straight days, bringing back memories of the start of the season, when he hit 14 homers in 18 games.
Rodriguez was quietly part of the team's mid-month slide. His spectacular April numbers helped cover up his dry spell at the plate, but he is back on track. He has four hits, three walks, three homers and four RBIs in the past three games.
"I feel very comfortable right now," Rodriguez said. "It's frustrating because you want me to do something every at-bat."
The Yankees kept up the barrage on Wakefield (4-5) after Rodriguez's 18th homer. Giambi hit a solo home run in the second, and Jeter added an RBI single later that inning. Cano drove in two runs with a fifth-inning triple.
The Yankees scored six earned runs on Wakefield in five innings. He allowed nine hits and walked five.
The Red Sox were not nearly as productive against Chien-Ming Wang, who held them to two earned runs on seven hits and three walks in 6 1/3 innings. Wang (3-3) has had three excellent outings in four starts this month.
Wang was not as in control as in his other two quality starts in May. The Red Sox managed multiple baserunners against him in four innings. In all but the fifth and seventh (after he left the game), he kept the runners on the bases and away from home plate, though.
Things got interesting after Wang's night ended. The Yankees failed to score against the Boston relievers. The Red Sox kept the basepaths crowded late, though.
Mike Myers replaced Wang with runners on second and third and one out in the seventh. David Ortiz hit a sacrifice fly to leftfield to score Julio Lugo, but Brian Bruney struck out Manny Ramirez to end the inning.
Bruney got two quick outs to begin the eighth, then walked Coco Crisp and made a throwing error to put Doug Mirabelli on first. Proctor took the mound and created bigger problems for himself by hitting Alex Cora. He got Lugo to ground into a 4-6 force play, though, and the score remained 6-2.
Kyle Farnsworth worked a scoreless ninth, marred only by a walk to Ortiz.
A-Rod's homer sparks Yankee lineup and Chien-Ming Wang pitched into the seventh inning in a 6-2 win over Boston.
BY KAT O'BRIEN
May 21, 2007, 10:49 PM EDT
The Yankees have gotten their sure thing back. The .offense that was expected to be all-world is dominant again, at least for the time being.
After struggling to score runs for much of a two-week period, the "in dire need" .Yankees have posted at least six runs in three consecutive games. They overcame the Red Sox Monday night with a 6-2 win, after Scott Proctor escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning. It was the first time the Yankees had won back-to-back games since May 8-9 against the Rangers.
Before the game, which the Yankees entered at 19-23 and 101/2 games behind the Red Sox, manager Joe Torre said, "We've got to put something together ... You can't look at the lead, and say, 'Boy, we need to climb a high mountain.' "
The climb must eventually be made if the Yankees are to make the postseason. But if it would be less than ideal to check the standings daily, the ascent must begin somewhere. A solid showing against the Red Sox this week would be a start.
"These are three games in a row that we've really scrapped and gone after some things," Torre said after the game. "This was big, two wins in a row. It's not something we usually trumpet, but lately we haven't done it a lot."
But back to Monday night. Just as notable as the fact that the Yankees are scoring again are the specifics of who is contributing: everybody. This is not a duet of Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada, as it sometimes was earlier this month. Alex Rodriguez is back to his April escapades, and Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi, Robinson Cano and Johnny Damon have all picked up their performance.
Rodriguez began the pounding of knuckleballer Tim Wakefield with a two-run home run to leftfield in the first inning, one that was wildly cheered by the 55,078 fans at Yankee Stadium. He has homered three straight days, bringing back memories of the start of the season, when he hit 14 homers in 18 games.
Rodriguez was quietly part of the team's mid-month slide. His spectacular April numbers helped cover up his dry spell at the plate, but he is back on track. He has four hits, three walks, three homers and four RBIs in the past three games.
"I feel very comfortable right now," Rodriguez said. "It's frustrating because you want me to do something every at-bat."
The Yankees kept up the barrage on Wakefield (4-5) after Rodriguez's 18th homer. Giambi hit a solo home run in the second, and Jeter added an RBI single later that inning. Cano drove in two runs with a fifth-inning triple.
The Yankees scored six earned runs on Wakefield in five innings. He allowed nine hits and walked five.
The Red Sox were not nearly as productive against Chien-Ming Wang, who held them to two earned runs on seven hits and three walks in 6 1/3 innings. Wang (3-3) has had three excellent outings in four starts this month.
Wang was not as in control as in his other two quality starts in May. The Red Sox managed multiple baserunners against him in four innings. In all but the fifth and seventh (after he left the game), he kept the runners on the bases and away from home plate, though.
Things got interesting after Wang's night ended. The Yankees failed to score against the Boston relievers. The Red Sox kept the basepaths crowded late, though.
Mike Myers replaced Wang with runners on second and third and one out in the seventh. David Ortiz hit a sacrifice fly to leftfield to score Julio Lugo, but Brian Bruney struck out Manny Ramirez to end the inning.
Bruney got two quick outs to begin the eighth, then walked Coco Crisp and made a throwing error to put Doug Mirabelli on first. Proctor took the mound and created bigger problems for himself by hitting Alex Cora. He got Lugo to ground into a 4-6 force play, though, and the score remained 6-2.
Kyle Farnsworth worked a scoreless ninth, marred only by a walk to Ortiz.