Going Four-ward

[BuckFoston]

May 11, 2005 -- Are the Yankees about to escape Baseball Hell? It will take until early June to know for sure, but they are taking advantage of a limp schedule as they attempt to crawl from the flames.
Successful teams make putrid clubs pay, and that's what the Yankees are doing lately. Last night at the Stadium, the Yankees rolled to their season-high fourth straight victory, a 7-4 decision over the toothless Mariners in front of 39,780.

Supported by Tino Martinez's homer-happy bat and productive games from John Flaherty and Robinson Cano, Chien-Ming Wang posted his first big-league victory.

Watching Wang in the first two frames, he figured to be in for a beating since he was missing the plate by wide margins. He gave up a run in each of the initial two innings and then fired blanks.

"He made the adjustment on his own," Flaherty said of the 25-year-old right-hander who allowed three runs and four hits in 71/3innings.

Flaherty, who got the start behind the plate because he wears out Mariners starter Aaron Sele, drove in a run in the second, as did Cano, to tie the score, 2-2.

Five runs (four earned) in the third gave Wang a 7-2 bulge and he knew what to do with it.Martinez' eighth homer came in the third on a two-run clout with two outs off a 1-1 pitch from Sele. Flaherty, who is 8-for-16 (.500) against Sele, and Cano, who started the game in a 0-for-18 funk, drove in one run apiece. Third baseman Adrian Beltre's throwing error allowed the other run to score.

"The two kids were pretty good," Joe Torre said of Wang and Cano, the highest ranked pitcher and position player in the Yankees' minor league system. "Wang gave up two runs and settled in. The kid at second knows his dad is in town and he has to feel pretty good. For a young kid at 22, there is no hesitation. He has a plan."

The plan for Martinez when he signed was to back up Jason Giambi at first base and maybe start a game or two per week. Now, Giambi is in the toilet and when he does make it back to the lineup — possibly Friday in Oakland — it will strictly be as a DH.

"He never stops demanding things from himself," Torre said of Martinez, whose $2.75 million salary can be found in the clubhouse sofa in the form of loose change compared to others in the room.

Lately, Martinez is taxing 37-year-old legs climbing dugout stairs for curtain calls. He has homered in four straight games and has gone deep in six of his last seven. The third run charged to Wang was inherited by Tom Gordon, who gave up a walk and a two-run double to Bret Boone in the eighth that shaved the Yankees' lead to 7-4. Gordon stopped the rally by getting Jeremy Reed on a come-backer to the mound.

Armed with a three-run bulge, Mariano Rivera worked the ninth for his fifth save in seven chances. Rivera, who recorded saves in consecutive games for the first time this year, has 341 career saves and is tied with Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers for seventh on the all-time list.

Today the Yankees go for their first three-game sweep of the year against a team that has dropped nine of 11. Then it's three in Oakland and three in Seattle. Time always tells the real story, and holes remain, but the Yankees are putting themselves in position to escape the inferno that was April.

http://www.nypost.com/sports/yankees/23910.htm

[BuckFoston]

[RLA68]

I think the Yankees really need to play with urgency and put together a streak. Put the fear back into the pretenders in the league and make the contenders hesitate a bit when they face the juggernaut.

Confidence is a disease. Even a sub par team can play like champions if they catch too big of a dose of it. It is best to cure with a dose of reality.

[nyjunc]

I think the Yankees really need to play with urgency and put together a streak. Put the fear back into the pretenders in the league and make the contenders hesitate a bit when they face the juggernaut.

Confidence is a disease. Even a sub par team can play like champions if they catch too big of a dose of it. It is best to cure with a dose of reality.

I think the contending teams are already getting nervous as I'm sure they were hopeful we'd continue to struggle but they knew it was only a matter of time before the yanks started to play well.

[joek]

And all you could hear in the distance, was the din of the YANKEE haters scurrying to get under their rocks.

[RLA68]

We are getting there with the confidence and swagger but Seattle and Oakland are not Baltimore and the Chicago Whitesox.

One game a time is a good way to look at it. I am for the first time all year forward when those teams come up on the calendar but for now Oakland Friday.

[joek]

Hers's another baseball FACT.
When a team is playing their best, they are not that good...and when a team is playing their worst, they are not that bad.
Take all streaks, good and bad, with a grain of salt.
In the end, only the best WIN.