Yankees just keep on winning
It's very rare for a team to win a game when the final linescore shows the same number in both the runs and errors columns.
But that's how good life is for the Yankees right now.
New York continued its post-All-Star streak on Monday night, winning for the fourth consecutive day with a 4-2 victory over the Mariners.
Chien-Ming Wang bailed out his team on several occasions after it tied a season high with four errors, three of them committed by Alex Rodriguez at third base.
"He got everybody out of a lot of jams tonight," said manager Joe Torre. "The kid is special -- he doesn't panic. He came right back and got some huge outs for us. We need to play better defense than that, but with the ground-ball possibility when he pitches, we played well when we needed to."
"Wang kept getting ground ball after ground ball. He's unbelievable," A-Rod said. "He pitched a great game today."
New York has now won eight of its last nine games, having swept the White Sox over the weekend. The Yankees used a three-run second inning on Monday to take a lead they would never relinquish.
Wang (10-4) allowed two runs over seven innings, earning his 10th win of the season. Mike Myers and Scott Proctor combined for a scoreless eighth, then Mariano Rivera escaped a jam of his own, notching his 22nd save of the season.
The Yankees are the first team in the Majors with three 10-game winners on their staff, with Wang joining Mike Mussina (11-3) and Randy Johnson (10-7).
Wang gave up a rare first-inning run, just the first time in his last 14 starts and third time in 20 starts this season that the opposition had struck against him in the opening frame. Ichiro Suzuki singled and eventually scored on Raul Ibanez's sacrifice fly, giving the Mariners an early lead.
"The pitching coach told me [I was] going too quickly and throwing out my front shoulder," Wang said. "I tried to throw so hard, and it opened too quickly."
Seattle starter Jarrod Washburn (4-10) didn't hold that lead for long. The Yankees scored three runs in the second inning, with Miguel Cairo's two-run single giving New York the lead. Johnny Damon added an RBI single, making it a 3-1 game.
Jason Giambi crushed a 2-1 pitch from Washburn with two outs in the fifth, parking his 28th home run of the season into the upper deck to put the Yankees ahead, 4-1.
"Jarrod threw a great game," Giambi said. "We got some big hits when we needed them, pushed some runs across. I got a slider that hung in the strike zone, put it in play, hit it well, and it went into the upper deck. I'm getting my pitch and not missing it."
Wang retired the side in order in the second and third innings, but A-Rod's first error of the night put the leadoff man on in the fourth. Wang quickly induced a double play off the bat of Ibanez, helping him put another zero on the scoreboard.
"It's worse if it causes runs," Torre said of the error. "It didn't cause any runs tonight. We dodged a bullet."
Rodriguez's second error came in the fifth, turning a potential inning-ending double play into first and second with one out for Seattle. Wang worked his way out of the jam with a pair of ground balls, stranding the bases loaded.
"I just try to not give them too much," Wang said. "Nobody's perfect."
"The thing that Wang does so great is that you can make some mistakes behind him and he gets the double play," Giambi said. "He can constantly work himself out of big situations. He came up with some big outs after we made some mistakes."
Seattle countered with a run in the sixth, but Wang got his second double-play ball of the night to end the inning, foiling yet another potential rally.
"We had our chances but just didn't capitalize," said Seattle manager Mike Hargrove. "He's got a very good sinker. When guys get in trouble, guys go with their go-to pitch. He used his sinker and got a lot of ground balls."
As if Rodriguez's night wasn't bad enough with the career-high three errors, he was removed from the game after the seventh inning with a bruised left big toe, the result of a foul ball off his foot in the fifth. He will have X-rays taken on Tuesday morning, and is questionable for Tuesday night's game.
"He was favoring it a lot," Torre said. "After he struck out, I went over to talk to him and sent him inside to ice it. In a close game, if he loses his mobility, it's not going to help us."
The Yankees remain a half-game behind the Red Sox in the American League East, as Boston came from behind to defeat Kansas City, 5-4, at Fenway Park. Sidney Ponson, making his first start in pinstripes, will try to extend the Yankees' streak to five games on Tuesday.
The Yankees hope to play a cleaner game than it did on Monday, but if the final result is the same, they won't be complaining.
"Sometimes you're going to win ugly," Derek Jeter said of Monday's victory. "As long as you win, that's the key."
Mark Feinsand is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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