Yankees Taiwan On

Bad puns aside, the Yankees bounced back nicely from Friday night's defeat to win a slugfest on Saturday. Last night was an even more complete game. Pitching, offense, and defense each took their turn in the Yankees 8-2 drubbing of the Mets before a nationally televised audience. The win was the Yankees 11th in their last 12 games, while the Mets have now droppped 7 of 8.

Chien-Ming Wang got the start for the Yankees and was completely dominant. My boy (I'm proud to say I correctly predicted that Wang would have a major impact for the Yankees during spring training in 2005. It's nice to be right now and then.) mixed in his ever more reliable change up with a slider, a great fastball, and his bring-you-to-your-knees hard sinker to strike out a career high 10 batters. And of course he had his ground ball game going as well.

Once The Wanger has the lead he rarely gives it back and Alex Rodriguez gave it to him early last night. Having already allowed a single to Derek Jeter (extending his hitting streak to 12 games), El Duque left a two-out hanger over the plate for A-Rod, who destroys them like a dry cleaners. The blast, his 27th, landed in the back left corners of the visitors bullpen. It was career HR #490 for A-Rod, who has been hitting one tape measure shot after another these days.

The Yankees added two more off of Duque in the 2nd. Miguel Cairo's two-out double to left scored Hideki Matsui, and Cairo came home on Johnny Damon's single. In the 3rd, the Bombers made it 5-0. Bobby Abreu hit a shot into the left field corner that eluded Carlos Gomez for a lead off triple. A-Rod brought him home with a deep sacrifice fly for RBI #73.

Meanwhile, Wang was breezing through the Mets lineup. He didn't allow a hit until Jose Reyes' single in the 4th. But the Yankees quickly erased that one, correctly calling a pitch- Jorge Posada's throw arriving well ahead of a sliding Reyes.

A solo HR by Damon, an Abreu HBP, and a walk to A-Rod finally drove El Duque from the game. An appreciative Yankee Stadium crowd has never forgotten how Orlando Hernandez contributed to 3 World Series championships and gave the fan favorite a nice round of applause.

The Mets finally reached Wang in the 7th when his strike 3 pitch to David Wright bounced well in front of Posada. Instead of the side being retired, Wright reached safely and scored on Carlos Delgado's double to right. With the lead cut to 6-1, Wang retired Jose Valentin on a ground out to quickly snuff out any idea of a rally.

Wang looked even stronger in the 8th, striking out the side. That included a strike 2 swing and miss by Reyes, on a Wang change up, that nearly screwed him into the ground.

The Yankees made sure there would be no doubt about the outcome, when in the 8th A-Rod lined a double to left-center and Posada followed with a line drive home run off of Aaron Heilman into the right field seats. It was Posada's 9th of the season and his 207th as a Yankee.

Wang came within 1 out of a complete game in the 9th before Joe Torre decided that 113 pitches was enough. Ramon Castro doubled and Carlos Beltran singled him home for the Mets 2nd run of the night. But David Wright grounded sharply to A-Rod who started an around the horn double play. That's when Torre opted for Mike Myers. The lefty specialist struck out Delgado looking to end a very enjoyable Sunday night.

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Defense is always an important part of the game, but especially when you have a ground ball pitcher like Wang going. After homering in the 2nd, A-Rod dove to his left on a sharply hit ball by Delgado and threw him out to take away a base hit. In the 6th the Yankees doubled up the lightning fast Reyes as Miguel Cairo turned a sweet 3-6-3 double play, scooping out Jeter's throw as he got back to the 1st Base bag.

Speaking of A-Rod's defense, its been completely overlooked because of the tremendous offensive season he is having. But in case you have noticed, he's been playing an outstanding 3rd Base.

Jeter has gone 19-45 (.422) during his 12 game hitting streak, raising his average from .326 to .342.

Wang is now 6-1 in his last 7 starts with a 2.25 ERA. He's averaged more than 7 innings in those starts.