Wang Dominates, Yanks Win

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Tampa Bay	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	4	0
N.Y. Yankees	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	X		2	9	1

After dropping the first two of this series to the Rays, the Yankees won Sunday behind a great pitching performance from Chien-Ming Wang. Wang threw 6+ innings, allowed no runs on four hits and two walks, while striking out six. I think we're seeing the evolution of Chien-Ming Wang here. He's throwing more sliders and changeups and both pitches looked very good today. He threw 95 pitched on the day, 56 of them for strikes. Wang left the game in the 7th when he seemed to tire and allowed the first two men to get on.

Joba Chamberlain then came in and got the job done - With first and third and nobody out he struck out Willy Aybar and got Shawn Riggans to line into a double play. Robinson Cano made a great play on the liner, making a leaping catch and a jump throw to double-up Eric Hinske off first. Wilson Betemit also made a great scoop on the play. Batters are now 0-for-19 against Chamberlain with RISP. Chamberlain then easily retired the Rays 1-2-3 in the 8th. In two innings of work Chamberlain threw 16 pitches, 13 of them for strikes.

Mariano Rivera came in to get the save, and was vintage Mo, retiring the Rays in order, and striking out two of the three batters he faced.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Wang (W, 2-0)	6.0	4	0	0	2	6	0	1.38
Chamberlain (H, 2)	2.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.00
Rivera (S, 3)	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0.00

RAYS PITCHING

The Yankees offense still isn't quite there yet, the only runs they scored today came off the bat of Hideki Matsui (3-for-4, HR, 2 RBI), who hit a two-run home run off Rays starter James Shields in the 4th. Alex Rodriguez (1-for-3, R) had previously golfed a doubled and scored on the homer. Robinson Cano had two hits today and may be coming out of his slump. Johnny Damon also picked up a broken bat bloop single, and after reaching first gave coach Tony Pena a big hug. It was pretty funny.

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.136
Jeter, SS	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.217
Abreu, RF	4	0	0	0	0	3	2	.318
Rodriguez, 3B	3	1	1	0	1	0	0	.333
Matsui, DH	4	1	3	2	0	1	3	.350
Cano, 2B	4	0	2	0	0	0	2	.174
Posada, C	4	0	0	0	0	2	4	.143
Betemit, 1B	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	.200
Cabrera, CF	3	0	1	0	0	1	1	.364
Totals	32	2	9	2	1	7	16
BATTING 2B: Rodriguez (3, Shields), Cano (1, Shields). HR: Matsui (2, 4th inning off Shields, 1 on, 1 out). TB: Damon; Jeter; Rodriguez 2; Matsui 6; Cano 3; Cabrera. RBI: Matsui 2 (4). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Jeter; Matsui 2; Cabrera. Team LOB: 8.

RAYS HITTING

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Chien-Ming Wang - 6IP, 0R, 4H, 2BB, 6K

The Yankees are still not doing the little things; they're not moving runners along (Cano doubled to lead off the 6th and didn't even reach third), they're making mental mistakes (Betemit got thrown out trying to go from first to third on a single with nobody out - you never make the 1st or 3rd out at 3rd), and they're not hitting with runners in scoring position. To start the year they're 6-for-41 with RISP, that's a .146 BA, and they were 1-for-9 with RISP today. They could have easily scored 5 or 6 runs today, but a win is a win.

The Yankees look to even up the series tomorrow night at Yankee Stadium. Mike Mussina gets the start for the Yanks, and Jason Hammel goes for the Rays. First pitch is set for 7:05 PM, and the game can be seen on YES and ESPN, and heard on WCBS 880.