[外電] Wang-Chamberlain-Rivera a winning formula

看板CMWang (王建民 - 大樹哥)作者pleased時間18年前 (2008/04/07 17:25)推噓2(2推 0噓 0→)

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Wang-Chamberlain-Rivera a winning formula BY ANTHONY RIEBER http://myurl.com.tw/7tmm (newsday.com) The Yankees have won three games this season. The formula has been the same in each. Excellent starting pitching. Joba Chamberlain. Mariano Rivera. A teeny bit of offense. The scores: 3-2, 3-2, 2-0. Yesterday was the 2-0, against the Rays at Yankee Stadium on the day manager Joe Girardi returned from a two-day absence because of an upper respiratory infection. Chien-Ming Wang pitched six innings, Chamberlain two, Rivera one. Hideki Matsui hit a two-run home run. Robinson Cano made a clutch defensive play. That was it. Neat and tidy. Over in 2:53. Drive home safely. "That's our plan," Derek Jeter said. "You're not always going to swing the bats the way you want to. You've got to find a way to win the low-scoring games." That's something the Yankees did not do in 2007. Last season, they were 6-36 when they scored three or fewer runs. They are 3-2 in that situation this year. They are not hitting (2.8 runs per game, 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position yesterday, five regulars batting under .218). But they expect to hit, and history has their backs on that one. "This can't go on forever. At least I don't think so," Johnny Damon said. "Try to just keep enjoying ourselves out there, and it's easy to enjoy ourselves when you have Chien-Ming Wang out there pitching like he does and Joba coming in and doing his thing and then Mo closing it out. We're still not hitting, and that's a good thing, because we will." Matsui's fourth-inning home run into the lower deck in right off James Shields was the extent of the scoring. With Jason Giambi out with a strained left groin, Girardi moved Matsui up to fifth in the order. It also didn't hurt that Matsui was 4-for-7 with two home runs against Shields. Now he's 6-for-10 with three home runs against the righthander. "I might have been hitting well against him perhaps last year, but I really approached the at-bats like any other at-bats," Matsui said through his interpreter. "Nothing was really different for me." Not much was different for Wang (2-0, 1.38 ERA) from his Opening Day start against Toronto, other than he was a little better. Wang allowed two runs in seven innings in the opener; he pitched no-hit ball for 4 1/3 innings yesterday before getting bailed out by a few big plays. After Cano couldn't barehand Jeter's relay to second on a potential double-play ball, putting runners on first and third with one out in the fifth, Jason Bartlett missed a suicide-squeeze bunt and Jorge Posada ran down Willy Aybar to short-circuit the threat. Wang departed after allowing singles to Cliff Floyd and Eric Hinske to put runners on first and third with none out in the seventh. Chamberlain, who warmed up in a hurry after Floyd's hit, struck out Aybar on three pitches: 77-mph curve, 101-mph fastball, 85-mph slider. (An aside: Chamberlain is using his curve more this season. He said he threw three curves total in his big-league stint last season. It's possible that he is getting better.) The next batter, Shawn Riggans, lined one to Cano's right. He speared it in midair, whirled and threw to first on a hop to double off Hinske, with fill-in first baseman Wilson Betemit making a nice pick. "He hit it off the end of the bat a little bit," Chamberlain said. "Robbie took a couple great steps and Wilson made a great play." Chamberlain had a 1-2-3 eighth and Rivera (remember him?) struck out the final two batters - B.J. Upton on a 93-mph fastball and Floyd on a 92-mph fastball - in a perfect ninth for his third save. Rivera didn't get his third save last season until May 3. Starting pitcher to Joba to Mo. A little offense. That's the plan. At least part of it. "The plan is to score more runs," Jeter said. "But you have to find a way to win when you're not scoring runs." Done. -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 163.29.152.210