Robinson Cano hit a pair of opposite field home runs and
Chien-Ming Wang dominated the
Boston Red Sox for 7 innings as the
Yankees completed a 3-game sweep with a 5-0 win this afternoon. One day after
Roger Clemens threw 5 1-3 innings of no-hit ball,
Wang tossed 6 innings of no-hit ball in front of a packed Yankee Stadium crowd.
Mike Lowell finally broke it up with a single back up the middle. It came one batter after
Derek Jeter committed his 16th error of the season on a ball hit by
Kevin Youkillis. That would be the only true jam got into all day, despite walking 4 batters.
Meanwhile,
Cano showed big time power, hitting a
Curt Schilling deliver over the 399-ft. sign in left-center in the 3rd and repeating the feat in the 5th. His 2nd blast landed on the netting in front of the Yankees retired numbers, and was his career high, 16th HR of the season.
While Schilling seemed to be getting by on guts and guile all afternoon,
Wang innings. When and his hard biting sinker dazzled the Red Sox. Twice he walked batters to start an inning, but got out of it easily, once with the help of a double play. He struck out
David Ortiz twice, ending the 1st and 6th innings. Jeter's error and the Sox 1st hit of the day got him in trouble, but Wang relied on his friend, "the ground ball" to get him out of it.
J.D. Drew hit a bouncer to 3rd that
Alex Rodriguez fielded, made a tag at
Youkillis going by, and then fired to 1st to get Drew. But 3rd Base umpire
Mark Carlson ruled Youkillis safe, saying that A-Rod missed the tag. Youkillis clearly ran out of the base path, on to the infield grass, sending
Joe Torre out out to argue. The umpires finally gathered in an impromptu conference. The result - Youkillis was called out, sending him into a rage and resulting in
Terry Francona's ejection from the ball game. Wang then struck out his final batter,
Jason Varitek, to end the inning.
After
Joba Chamberlain threw a scoreless 8th, that included a
Dustin Pedroia double and no strikeouts, the Yankees busted the game open in the bottom of the inning against
Hideki Okijima.
Derek Jeter singled with 1 away, his 4th hit in 4 trips to the plate.
Bobby Abreu ripped one up the alley in right-center for a double, with Jeter scoring all the way from 1st.
After an intentional walk to
A-Rod, the 2 runners pulled off a double steal and both scored as
Varitek's throw sailed into left field. With a 5-0 lead,
Torre decided to leave
Chamberlain in the game to finish, but that's when things got even more interesting.
After retiring
David Ortiz on a fly out to start the 9th, Chamberlain buzzed a pair of 98 mph fastballs up high and tight on Youkillis. The 2nd one prompted home plate umpire
Angel Hernandez to toss Chamberlain from the game. Torre was beside himself and nearly went ballistic. He was still fired up after the game, vehemently protesting Hernandez's decision and the thought processes that lead up to it.
Edwar Ramirez had to come out of the pen, and despite walking Youkillis (charged to Chamberlain) and throwing a pair of wild pitches, he escaped from the 9th unscathed. The Yankees had themselves a sweep that pulled them to within 5 games of Boston in the AL East, and maybe, just maybe, sent a message for the future via a pair of Joba Chamberlain fastballs.
...
As you would expect,
Youkillis felt that
Chamberlain was throwing at him considering how good the kid's control is. And as you would expect, Chamberlain denied it, complimented the type of player Youkillis is and was upset that he had let the team down by having to use another reliever. Perhaps Youkillis yelled "HA" as he ran past A-Rod. Nah.
Chien-Ming Wang has allowed just 15 hits and 4 earned runs in his last 21 innings pitched. It resulted in 3 wins, 2 against the Tigers and today's victory.
In addition to setting a career high in home runs,
Robinson Cano is now just 2 RBI shy of the 78 he drove in last year.
With his 4-4 performance,
Derek Jeter went 7-11 (with a walk) in the series. And that came after starting 0-2 in the 1st game.
Alex Rodriguez had his 1st non-successful series against the Sox this season, going 2-9 with 2 walks. Of course he didn't see many good pitches either.
This was the 1st game that
Joba Chamberlain entered a 2nd inning without having 2 days off prior to it.
The latest in rally caps?
photos courtesy of AP
The writing was on the wall. The Yankees had just completed a 3 game sweep of the Red Sox and now had to face the cellar dwelling Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Sure enough, they were flat and mailed it in, and Phil Hughes was awful. Hughes (2-3, 5.65), looking more like Roger Rabbit than Roger Clemens, allowed 3 straight base runners reach to start the game and the Yankees were in the hole for good. The final outcome was a 9-1 Devil Rays victory. Luckily for the Bombers, both the Red Sox and Mariners both lost, so the Yankees still sit atop the Wild Card lead, and remain 5 back of Boston.
Hughes pitched scoreless 2nd and 4th innings, but the odd number innings bit on the behind. Carlos Pena lead off the 5th with his 1st of 2 home runs on the night (numbers 32, 33). B.J. Upton followed with a walk and Delmon Young singled. When Brendan Harris sacrificed the pair into scoring position, Joe Torre sent for Chris Britton. Greg Norton's sac fly upped the score to 5-1 before Britton got the final 2 outs of the inning.
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