If the Yankees are going to make anything of this season, they’ve got to beat the Red Sox, and that’s exactly what they did last night:
Hitters usually know just what to expect from the Yankees? Chien-Ming Wang: heavy sinkers begging to be topped into the dirt. David Ortiz, the Boston Red Sox slugger, has faced Wang many times, but he did not quite recognize him last night at Yankee Stadium.
?At the beginning, I thought he was hurting,? Ortiz said. ?He wasn?t trying to be too aggressive, just throwing more off-speed. At one point, I got a double and when I got into second base, I asked Derek Jeter, Is he hurting? and he said, ?No.? But he was very different than what he always used to be.?
Mixing more sliders and changeups among his sinkers, Wang held an early lead and worked six and a third strong innings, guiding the Yankees to a 6-2 victory before 55,078 fans. The crowd gave Wang a standing ovation as he left the mound.
The Yankees are still below .500, at 20-23, and still far behind Boston in the American League East, at nine and a half games back. But for a team that has not won more than three games in a row all season, any kind of winning streak is important.
?We?ve won two in a row,? Manager Joe Torre said. ?It?s not something we usually trumpet, but we haven?t done that in a while.?
Now, they just have to keep winning.
