Abreu Slams Door on White Sox

Bobby Abreu was miserable last April. He wasn't completely healed from a spring training oblique muscle pull and it showed in his at-bats. This season Abreu is healthy and he's hitting above .300. Tonight he'd delivered the big blow, a 7th inning grand slam that turned a 3-2 deficit into a 6-3 Yankees lead. They would go on to a 9-5 win over the Chicago White Sox in the first game of a three game series.

Chien-Ming Wang struggled with his location, but unlike his last start against Boston, the Taiwanese native was able to work his way out of jams relatively unscathed. Yankees had built up a 2-0 lead, but Juan Uribe's 2-run double off of Wang tied the game up in the 2nd inning. But Uribe was stranded at 2nd, as was Jermaine Dye an inning later. The White Sox took a 3-2 lead in the 5th on a single by Orlando Cabrera, a walk to Jim Thome, and an RBI double by Paul Konerko. But with 2nd and 3rd and just 1 out, Wang beared down.

With LaTroy Hawkins warming up in the bullpen, Wang struck out Dye on 3 pitches and retired A.J. Pierzynski on a chopper to 2nd Base. Wang also escaped a 2-on, 1-out jam an inning later by striking out Nick Swisher looking and retiring Cabrera on a comebacker.

The Yankees hadn't done much against their former teammate and White Sox starter Jose Contreras. Johnny Damon lead off the ball game with a double and later scored on a Hideki Matsui ground out. Jason Giambi added a solo, non-Mike Timlin, home run in the 2nd inning, but even though they had a base runner in each of the next four innings, the Yankees couldn't plate any of them.

When Contreras (1-2) allowed 1-out walk to Morgan Ensberg and a single to Melky Cabrera, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen sent for left-hander Boone Logan to face Johnny Damon. Damon beat out a well placed grounder to Orlando Cabrera to loaded the bases for Derek Jeter. Guillen again went to his pen for former Yankee Octavio Dotel and the right-hander struck out the Yankees captain with a high, hard fastball. But with another left-hander, Matt Thornton getting up in the pen, Guillen stuck with Dotel and Abreu made him pay.

Abreu's opposite field home run just cleared the left wall for his 3rd home run of the season. One inning later Damon put the game out of reach with his third hit, a 3-run home run, his 3rd of the season.

News and Notes

Chien-Ming Wang (4-0) became the fastest pitcher to reach 50 wins since Dwight Gooden in 1986. The Wanger needed just 87 games and holds a career mark of 50-18. His .735 winning percentage is the highest in Yankees history.

The bullpen didn't fare too well in relief of Wang. Billy Traber walked the only batter he faced, and Brian Bruney gave up a walk and a single to load the bases in the bottom of the 7th. Joba Chamberlain came on and struck out Carlos Quentin, but walked Joe Crede to force in a run, before retiring the side. With the game out of reach in the 9th, Kyle Farnsworth surrendered a solo home run to Pierzynski and walked Quentin. He went on to retire the side, but not before Girardi was forced to get Mariano Rivera up in the pen. This guy has got to go.

Johnny Damon has gone 5-9 over the last two games to raise his average from .197 to .243.

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	5	3	3	3	0	0	0	.243
Jeter, SS	5	0	0	0	0	1	4	.283
Abreu, RF	5	1	2	4	0	0	0	.312
Matsui, DH	2	0	1	1	2	0	1	.328
Posada, C	5	0	1	0	0	0	4	.255
Cano, 2B	4	1	1	0	1	1	3	.173
Giambi, 1B	4	1	1	1	0	1	2	.120
Gonzalez, 3B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Ensberg, 3B-1B	3	1	1	0	1	1	1	.333
Cabrera, CF	4	2	1	0	0	1	3	.279
Totals	37	9	11	9	4	5	18
BATTING 2B: Damon (5, Contreras), Cano (3, Contreras). HR: Giambi (3, 2nd inning off Contreras, 0 on, 0 out), Abreu (3, 7th inning off Dotel, 3 on, 2 out), Damon (3, 8th inning off Thornton, 2 on, 2 out). TB: Damon 7; Abreu 5; Matsui; Posada; Cano 2; Giambi 4; Ensberg; Cabrera. RBI: Matsui (10), Giambi (7), Abreu 4 (14), Damon 3 (10). 2-out RBI: Abreu 4; Damon 3. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cano; Cabrera. GIDP: Posada. Team LOB: 6. FIELDING E: Cabrera (1, throw). DP: (Ensberg-Cano-Giambi).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Wang (W, 4-0)	6.0	10	3	3	2	5	0	3.94
Traber	0.0	0	1	1	1	0	0	3.86
Bruney (H, 3)	0.1	1	0	0	1	1	0	1.59
Chamberlain (H, 4)	1.2	1	0	0	1	1	0	1.13
Farnsworth	1.0	1	1	1	1	0	1	4.82

Chi White Sox	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Swisher, CF	5	0	1	0	0	2	3	.242
Cabrera, SS	5	1	2	0	0	0	4	.250
Thome, DH	2	1	0	0	3	1	1	.215
Konerko, 1B	4	0	2	1	1	0	1	.194
Dye, RF	5	0	1	0	0	2	6	.333
Pierzynski, C	5	1	2	1	0	1	3	.344
Quentin, LF	4	1	1	0	1	1	3	.241
Crede, 3B	4	1	2	1	1	0	1	.299
Uribe, 2B	5	0	2	2	0	0	4	.172
Totals	39	5	13	5	6	7	26
BATTING 2B: Crede (4, Wang), Uribe (4, Wang), Dye (7, Wang), Konerko (3, Wang). HR: Pierzynski (3, 9th inning off Farnsworth, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Swisher; Cabrera 2; Konerko 3; Dye 2; Pierzynski 5; Quentin; Crede 3; Uribe 3. RBI: Uribe 2 (8), Konerko (14), Crede (19), Pierzynski (11). 2-out RBI: Crede. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Dye 2; Cabrera 2; Pierzynski 3; Uribe 3. GIDP: Cabrera. Team LOB: 13. FIELDING DP: (Konerko-Cabrera-Konerko).

Chi White Sox IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Contreras (L, 1-2) 6.1 7 4 4 1 3 1 4.68 Logan 0.0 1 1 1 0 0 0 4.05 Dotel (BS, 1) 0.1 1 1 1 1 1 1 6.75 Thornton 1.0 2 3 3 1 1 1 5.14 MacDougal 1.1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2.16

Traber pitched to 1 batter in the 7th. Logan pitched to 1 batter in the 7th. WP: Farnsworth. HBP: Matsui (by Contreras). Pitches-strikes: Wang 105-66, Traber 6-2, Bruney 15-8, Chamberlain 24-14, Farnsworth 24-14, Contreras 97-56, Logan 5-3, Dotel 14-6, Thornton 31-17, MacDougal 20-9. Ground outs-fly outs: Wang 8-5, Traber 0-0, Bruney 0-0, Chamberlain 0-4, Farnsworth 2-1, Contreras 8-8, Logan 0-0, Dotel 0-0, Thornton 2-0, MacDougal 2-2. Batters faced: Wang 29, Traber 1, Bruney 3, Chamberlain 7, Farnsworth 5, Contreras 27, Logan 1, Dotel 3, Thornton 6, MacDougal 5. Inherited runners-scored: Bruney 1-0, Chamberlain 3-1, Logan 2-0, Dotel 3-3, Thornton 1-0. Umpires: HP: Jerry Meals. 1B: Bill Miller. 2B: Paul Emmel. 3B: Gary Darling. Weather: 71 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 6 mph, R to L. T: 3:44. Att: 25,012.