[外電] Wang Quiets the Red Sox With His Sto …

看板CMWang作者pokawang (深海魚類)時間16年前 (2008/04/12 11:35)推噓7(7推 0噓 0→)

留言7則, 7人參與討論串1/4 (看更多)

出處:NY TIMES BOSTON — He has never thrown a no-hitter, like Clay Buchholz, or had a shutdown performance in the World Series, like Josh Beckett. He never captured the imaginations of Yankees fans as an electrifying rookie, like Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain. He is not as accomplished as Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte or Curt Schilling. But there is no pitcher in the majors with as many victories as Chien-Ming Wang since the start of the 2006 season. He is efficient and dependable for the Yankees, a quiet, stoic and steady presence in their rivalry with the Boston Red Sox. When the teams met at Fenway Park on Friday for the first time this season, it was Wang who took over. Wang pitched a two-hitter in a 4-1 victory before 37,624 fans, the largest crowd at Fenway Park since World War II. Jason Giambi homered for the Yankees, and Jose Molina doubled twice. Wang used 93 pitches to silence the Red Sox, who saw 212 pitches one night earlier against Detroit. He faced two batters over the minimum, and for eight and two-thirds innings, Boston’s only hit was a fifth-inning homer by J. D. Drew that just eluded Bobby Abreu at the wall in right-center field. Coco Crisp added a bunt single with two outs in the ninth, but Dustin Pedroia lined out to left to end the game. It was the fourth career complete game for Wang, who is 3-0 this season and 41-13 over the past three seasons. The Yankees and the Red Sox are known for playing long games, with pitchers nibbling at the corners, hitters swatting fouls and managers churning through bullpens. On Friday, though, they sped through the early innings, the pitchers hitting their spots and the hitters looking helpless. It was Buchholz’s first start at Fenway since Sept. 1, when he baffled the Baltimore Orioles in a no-hitter. Shortly thereafter, he was shut down for the season as the Red Sox tried to limit his innings. Buchholz, 23, is an elite prospect whose workload is monitored closely, the Boston version of Hughes or Chamberlain. Through four innings, he held the Yankees to one base runner — Hideki Matsui, who singled in the second — and kept the hitters off-balance with curveballs. But his mastery of the Yankees, who had never faced him before, waned in the middle innings. Buchholz walked Matsui to lead off the fifth, and then walked Jorge Posada. After a strikeout, Molina drilled a double for the third game in a row, this one to left center, and it scored Matsui to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Troubling for the Yankees, though, was their inability to push across more. Alberto Gonzalez looked overmatched when he struck out in the third inning, but Buchholz walked him in the fifth to load the bases. Melky Cabrera followed with a liner to first, but Sean Casey speared it and doubled Gonzalez off first to end the inning. Buchholz left the field pumping his fist and survived another jam in the sixth. With two out, Alex Rodriguez singled but was held up by the third-base coach, Bobby Meacham, after Matsui doubled. Posada then bounced to second to end the inning. The score was tied, 1-1, because of Drew’s home run in the fifth. But that was the only real blemish to that point for Wang, who came into the game with a 6.17 earned run average at Fenway and awful results against Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, who had combined for a .538 average off him. None of that seemed to matter this time. Wang struck out both sluggers the first time through the order. In the fourth, Pedroia reached first on a hard smash to third baseman Rodriguez, whose high throw pulled Giambi off first for an error. Ortiz swung at the next pitch and hit into a double play. Wang lost command of his sinker in the fifth — after a long top of the inning — and left it high enough for the Red Sox to bash four fly balls. Drew’s carried into the home bullpen, although it probably could have been caught. Abreu, who is rarely smooth around outfield walls, backed up all the way but hit the wall with his backside as he jumped, just missing the ball. The homer ended Wang’s no-hitter and shutout, but his pitch count was so low that a complete game seemed likely. Through six innings, he had thrown only 56 pitches, and by the seventh he had another lead. Mike Timlin, just off the disabled list for a lacerated right ring finger, faced Giambi to lead off the seventh. Giambi was 1 for 20 for the season and 2 for 17 against Timlin in his career. But he battled to a full count, and then launched a fastball onto a platform next to the center-field cameras. That made the score 2-1, and Molina’s fifth double of the season led to another run, on a sacrifice fly by Cabrera. With a two-run lead, Wang calmly dispatched the Red Sox’ 2-3-4 hitters in the seventh, fanning Ramirez with a slider, a pitch he worked all spring to refine. -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 61.225.0.195 ※ 編輯: pokawang 來自: 61.225.0.195 (04/12 11:36)

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