Aug 16, 2006

Wang Works Wonders

What a roll this guy's on. Another dominating performance. He's clearly our #2 pitcher, after Mussina. He got squeezed in the 2nd inning and even stared at the home plate ump (which he never does), but escaped with (what else?) a ground ball. With electric stuff like his, how did he not hit the show until he was 25? And then it was only because of injuries and ineffectiveness. I know he had some injury problems, but isn't it odd that he's been pretty damn healthy since joining the club last year? Hopefully with Cashman in full control now, we wont rely so much on FAs & trades and try to build more through the system (it's worked wonders the last 1.5 years, e.g. Wang, Cano, Melky, Proctor).

The turning point was Posada's 2-run shot. What strikes me is that he kinda stood there admiring it, which he never does. Anyway, it's amazing that his bomb (and it was) would have been a likely double or triple in the old Stadium. I'm 25, so I have a hard time imagining how hard it must've been to take one out to left center. It makes you really appreciate Joltin' Joe. He hit 361 HRs with a 461 ft. left center field. What if he played today? He'd certainly eclipe 500.

Arod has looked great the last 2 games: good defense, timely hitting, everything we came to expect. He just looks comfortable out there. It seems his swing is a bit longer (in a good way). He's starting it early enough to hit the fastball yet keeping it in the zone long enough to still drive an offspeed pitch. I dont know if it's his usual August streak, or if it's a newfound Arod, or if it's because the acquisition of Abreu has taken some of the spotlight off him. Whatever it is, just keep it up.

Too bad we didn't gain a game on Boston. I want to choke this Indians closer - if you can even use that term to describe him. Tonight & the other night, he serves up gopher balls down the heart of the plate. Boston scored twice on 1 freaking hit! What a gift for them.

Anyway, fortunately the other Sox lost (to the lowly Royals) so that gives the Yanks more room in the Wild Card.

It'll be interesting to see Lidle go tomorrow. I always get a bit hesitant when a NL pitcher comes over to the AL. Look at RJ & Beckett: they've had rude awakenings coming over. And Clemens never seems to do so well in interleague matchups.

I had tix to tonight's game, but I had to look at a possible house to buy so I gave them to a friend. He's a SF Giants fan, but enjoys going to The Stadium too.

7-2 Yanks

3 stars: Wang, 8 ip, 0 er
2: Posada, 2-4, HR, 2 rbi
1: Arod, 3-5, 2 rbi, 1 2b
1: Jeter, 3-4, HR, 2 rbi

PS: Phil Hughes went tonight. 5 ip, 0 r, 8 ks. :)

Thursday August 3, 2006 - 01:44am (EDT)

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