[外電] Wang and Rivera Right Themselves in Oakland
Wang and Rivera Right Themselves in Oakland
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/sports/baseball/11yankees.html?ref=baseball
OAKLAND, Calif. — As his latest setup man tried to navigate the eighth
inning Tuesday, Mariano Rivera rose from the bench in the right field
bullpen. Rivera stood near the foul line with his warm-up jacket on, jangling
his arms to get loose.
That was an encouraging sign to Manager Joe Girardi. He wanted to use Rivera
for the fourth game in a row, and he said he was glad to have a sign that
Rivera understood. Still, after José Veras survived two walks with an
inning-ending grounder, Girardi had to check with Rivera to make sure.
“I wanted him to tell me,” Girardi said, so he talked personally to a
reliever over the bullpen phone for the first time this season. The
conversation was brief, said Rivera, who came on to save the Yankees’ 3-1
victory against the Oakland Athletics at the Coliseum.
“When games like that happen, you want to participate,” Rivera said.
It was the 17th save this season for Rivera, who was touched for two
bases-empty homers in his last three games against Kansas City. The best the
Athletics could manage was a two-out bloop single, followed by Kurt Suzuki’s
game-ending fly to right.
Chien-Ming Wang (7-2) won for the first time in seven starts as the Yankees
crept above .500, at 33-32. They have not been two games above .500 since
April 23, when Wang was winning consistently.
Wang worked seven and a third innings Tuesday, giving up a run, seven hits
and two walks. Girardi removed him after Jack Hannahan drove his 83rd pitch
to the left field warning track to lead off the eighth.
At least Hannahan was out. In each of his first seven innings, Wang had
allowed a leadoff base runner but used four double plays to escape. It was a
sure sign for the Yankees that Wang was back to normal.
Wang’s previous four starts represented probably the roughest regular-season
stretch of his career. After starting the season 6-1 with a 2.90 earned run
average, he slumped to 0-1, 8.75 in those games.
Wang sustained a mild calf injury in the first start of that stretch, but the
Yankees believed his problems were not physical. Wang had simply been
dropping his arm angle, the theory goes, because his arm speed was too slow.
That caused his sinker to sweep across the strike zone, not sharply downward.
The pitching coach Dave Eiland said Wang watched video and noticed that he
was lifting his left leg too slowly in his delivery. That caused his arm to
lag and his pitches to flatten. It was not a consistent problem Tuesday.
“There were a couple of pitches where he didn’t get to that slot — his arm
was slowing down — and he self-corrected himself in the middle of the inning,
” Eiland said. “That’s huge, when a guy can do that.”
Wang said he trusted his sinker more, aiming it down the middle so it would
dive to the corner for a strike. Recently, he had been aiming it to the
corner and watching it end up off the plate for a ball.
“Trust my pitches,” Wang said, explaining his success Tuesday. “Let the
ball be a strike.”
Wang’s very first pitch hit Hannahan’s foot, and the next three Athletics
hitters elevated the ball. But all of the hits went for fly outs, and Wang
continued to survive.
He allowed his only run in the fourth, when Mark Ellis doubled in Jack Cust,
who had led off with a single off Wilson Betemit’s glove at first base.
Wang had a 2-1 lead then, but the Yankees could have gotten more off the
left-hander Dana Eveland. He walked six in six innings, but the Yankees
scored only in the first off him, on singles by Alex Rodriguez and Jason
Giambi.
As feeble as the Yankees’ hitters were — especially Betemit, who was 0 for
4 and stranded three runners in scoring position — the Athletics had more
reason to be frustrated.
Ellis led off the seventh with a single, and a one-out walk and single loaded
the bases for Suzuki. Eiland came to the mound, and Wang produced just the
right result: a ground ball to Rodriguez, who started the fourth double play
of the game and the last the Yankees needed.
INSIDE PITCH
The Yankees released infielder Morgan Ensberg, who was designated for
assignment June 2, and first baseman Ben Broussard, who played briefly for
their Class AAA team.
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