A day off was just what the doctor ordered for the Bomber offense.
Chien-Ming Wang battled through six, Bobby Abreu belted a grand slam in the seventh and Johnny Damon followed with a three-run bomb in the eighth as the
Yanks pounded the White Sox 9-5 on a seemingly never-ending night in the Windy City. Even Jason Giambi went deep off someone other than Boston's Mike Timlin in this one. The pen wasn't exactly stellar, but they got the job done as the Yanks won their second straight.
The Good:Bobby Abreu. This game was an ugly pitcher's duel until The Candy Man stepped up to the plate in the seventh. The Sox held a 3-2 lead and were poised to wiggle out of a bases loaded, one out jam, but Bobby had other ideas. With two outs and up 2-0 in the count, Abreu blasted an opposite field homer off of former Yank Octavio Dotel to give the Yanks a 6-3 advantage. And to think I said to myself "take this pitch, Bobby." Shows how much I know. Abreu finished 2 for 5 with a run scored and 4 RBIs.
Johnny Damon. Johnny D got the Yanks off and running as he led off the game with a double and came around to score on a Hideki Matsui ground out. But Damon put the game away when he cracked his third homer of the year in the eighth to give the Yanks a more comfortable 9-4 lead. It's been said before, but it can't be stressed enough -- when Damon starts hitting, the Yanks score runs. Johnny finished a triple short of the cycle as he went 3 for 5 with 3 runs scored and 3 ribbies.
Chien-Ming Wang. You could tell from the get-go that Wang didn't have his "A" game as he worked a slew of three ball counts and tossed a ton of pitches. Usually that means an early exit for the sinkerballer, but The Wanger was able to grind through six tough innings. This was actually a good sign for Wang and the Yanks. It showed that Wang can keep the Yankees in the game even when he doesn't have his good stuff. At least, that's how I'm going to look at it. It wasn't the prettiest pitching performance, but Wang moved his record to 4-0 with this: 6 IP, 10 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 K.
The Bad:Derek Jeter. The Captain stepped up to the plate in the seventh inning with the bases loaded with one out and the Bombers down one and didn't get the job done. DJ went down swinging, but Abreu picked him up with his grand slam. Jeter was also the only Yankee regular who didn't record a hit on Tuesday. No. 2's modest 7-game hitting streak came to an end as he finished 0 for 5.
The Ugly:Missing: one MVP.
Alex Rodriguez missed this game with a strained right quad and to be with his wife who gave birth to the couple's second child Monday night. The Yankee third baseman won't play until Thursday, at the earliest. I heard John and Suzy while I was coming home say that the Bombers have used 19 different lineups in 21 games this year. A-Rod was the only mainstay before Tuesday. Morgan Ensberg will keep third warm for the time being. Ensberg went 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored against Chicago.
Mike Mussina (1-3) will try and rebound from a horrid outing against the Red Sox and will go against another former Yank Javier Vazquez (3-1). The Moose has been roughed up by Manny Ramirez lately and should also stay away from Jermaine Dye, A.J. Pierzynski and Jim Thome. Dye has a .377 career average against Mussina, A.J. is not far behind at .371 and Thome has six career homers against the Yankee hurler. Vazquez has ripped off three wins in a row after losing his first outing of the year and has a solid 3.20 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 25.1 innings this year. But he's 1-3 with a 5.25 ERA in four career starts against the Bombers.
A win on Wednesday will give the Yanks their third straight win -- matching a season high.
Sometimes you have to start small, people.
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