Nice comeback.

The Yankees bounced back from an uninspired performance on Monday afternoon with a 12-3 thrashing of Seattle on Tuesday night.  Chien-Ming Wang earned his 17th victory of the year, Jorge Posada collected four hits and went deep twice and Alex Rodriguez hit one of the longest homers you'll ever see from a right-handed batter at Yankee Stadium.  In all, the Bombers belted four home runs and increased their lead over the Mariners to two games in the wild card race.

The Good:

Chien-Ming Wang.  The Wanger sailed through the first four innings and then turned into a double play producing machine.  OK, maybe not a machine, but Wang induced two double plays in the fifth and sixth innings to preserve a slim 1-0 Yankee advantage.  He was also helped out when Hideki Matsui gunned out Adrian Beltre at the plate in the fifth.  The only downer was that Wang came out of the game with one out in the eighth after throwing only 86 pitches and the Yanks up 11-1.  I'm not sure if it was injury-related or not (I didn't watch the postgame with the lovely Kim Jones).  Ignorance is bliss as far as I'm concerned right now.  I'll worry about it on Wednesday.  Wang improved to 17-6 with this: 7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3, BB, 1 K, 1 HR.

Jorge Posada.  Posada continued his charmed season.  His laser beam dinger in the second gave the Yankees an early 1-0 lead.  The final score doesn't indicate it, but this game was nip and tuck until the seventh and Jorgie's home run was huge at the time.  The Yanks blew this bad boy open with seven runs in the seventh and Posada  put the capper on it with another homer in the eighth.  Posada finished 4 for 4 with 4 runs scored, a walk and 2 RBI.  

Alex Rodriguez.  A-Rod blasted a gargantuan shot into the upper deck in left field in the sixth to give the Bombers a 2-0 lead.  Hitting a ball into the left field upper deck is a rare feat at Yankee Stadium and Rodriguez has done it twice this season.  It was round-tripper number 46 for A-Rod and he also picked up RBI number 131 on the year.  There was a scary moment though when Seattle third baseman Adrian Beltre rolled up on A-Rod's leg on a play at third base.  But it looks like nothing outside of a gunshot wound is going to keep Rodriguez out of the lineup.  A-Rod finished 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and an RBI.

The Bad:

Luis Vizcaino.  Vizcaino entered the game with one out in the eighth and the Yanks up 11-1 and couldn't get out of the inning.  Not a huge deal, but it was the second straight crappy outing for Vizcaino.  These things have a way of snowballing.  Shake it off, Luis.  Vizcaino's outing: .1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K.

The Ugly:

A shot in the arm.  Roger Clemens is headed to Texas to have a cortisone shot in his right elbow.  The Rocket says he won't miss much time (if any), but this isn't good news.  The old wizard is also suffering from blisters on his right foot.  Geez, what's next?  Hemorrhoids?  The pitching staff has been sagging lately and even if Clemens doesn't miss his next start, how much can the Yanks expect to get from him now?  Stay tuned.

The rubber game will feature Phil Hughes for the Yanks and Jarrod Washburn for the M's.  Washburn is 1-1 this season against the Yanks with a 2.06 ERA.  The veteran lefty is 9-12 overall with a 4.37 ERA in 2007.  The 21-year-old Hughes is 2-3 this season with a 5.65 ERA and hasn't won since Aug. 10 at Cleveland.  The Yankee rookie has yet to post a "W" at The Stadium.

The Yanks need a good performance from Hughes on "W"ednesday.