Yankees Sweep Red Sox Behind Wang and Cano Chien-Ming Wang held Boston to one hit. It was the third strong starting pitching performance in a row for the Yankees. http://myurl.com.tw/jmpp (New York Times) The sweep was more emphatic last August, when the Yankees rampaged into Fenway Park and won five games to bury the Boston Red Sox. The best the Yankees could do this time was to win three at Yankee Stadium and chisel a chunk from Boston’s sizable lead in the American League East. They have done that now, finishing off the Red Sox, 5-0, yesterday behind Chien-Ming Wang, who carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. The Red Sox are not quaking, not with a five-game lead, but the Yankees are rolling again. “It was good, because as a team, we’re behind,” said Robinson Cano', who smashed two opposite-field home runs against Curt Schilling. “We need to start winning some games if we want to make the playoffs. We’re a half-game up for the wild card, but we’re not worried about the wild card. We’re just trying to win games.” The Yankees took that half-game lead over Seattle before the Mariners’ game in Cleveland last night. The Mariners come to the Bronx on Monday for a series that could have more direct impact on the Yankees’ playoff chances than the one they just completed. But nothing quite matches the atmosphere of a Yankees-Red Sox series, where history is always a backdrop. Consider the ninth inning, when the Yankees’ rookie phenom Joba Chamberlain was ejected by the plate umpire, Angel Hernandez, for throwing two consecutive 98 mile-an-hour fastballs over the head of Boston’s Kevin Youkilis. Chamberlain said he was not trying to throw at Youkilis, and if that is true, he became a victim of past Yankees-Red Sox scuffles. Derryl Cousins, the crew chief, said as much after the game. “There is more than a little bit of history between these clubs,” Cousins said. “Those were two pretty nasty pitches the young man threw. Up here, you need to be a little better throwing strikes, and we just had to put a lid on it before there was a problem.” Manager Joe Torre called Hernandez’s action stupid, and General Manager Brian Cashman said he was convinced Chamberlain was not throwing at Youkilis. “There’s no issue,” Cashman said. “You saw the game.” Youkilis had an eventful day, but there was nothing obvious that would have incited Chamberlain. He walked twice against Wang and was ruled out in the seventh inning for running out of the baseline to avoid Alex Rodriguez’s tag on a double play, a call that earned an ejection for Red Sox Manager Terry Francona. The ejections and confusion brought a wild end to a series that was dominated by the Yankees’ starting pitching. Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens and Wang beat the Red Sox in succession, allowing a combined four runs and nine hits in 20 innings. Wang, who missed four starts in April with a hamstring strain and did not win until May 5, is tied for the major league lead in victories, with 16. He has 34 victories since May 7, 2006, the most in the majors in that stretch, and he has learned to tame a Red Sox team that used to hit him well. “He was great today,” Torre said. “I told him at the end of the dugout, ‘ Nice going.’ He said, ‘Too many walks.’ ” Wang walked four, but his stuff was terrific. He has thrown harder since the pitching coach Ron Guidry urged him to speed up his delivery, and he complemented his trademark sinker with changeups and sliders. He struck out David Ortiz twice, including a dazzling sequence in the sixth. Wang threw a changeup on the first pitch and mixed fastballs and sliders for the next six pitches, getting Ortiz to miss at a slider to end the inning. Ortiz had been 12 for 24 against Wang entering the game. Wang did not allow a hit until Mike Lowell rolled a single through the right side in the seventh. That was Wang’s 94th pitch, and he still had nine outs to go. Guidry sounded relieved, because a no-hit bid might have taxed Wang’s arm. “You almost have to give him a shot,” Guidry said. “But you worry about him, and you worry about pitch count. He’s more important to this team than throwing a no-hitter. If he continues to pitch for another 10 years, he might get one later on.” INSIDE PITCH When the Yankees added three runs in the eighth, they rested Mariano Rivera and sent Joba Chamberlain for a second inning of work. It was surprising, because Chamberlain pitched Tuesday, and Torre had said he would not use Chamberlain for two innings unless he had two days’ rest. Torre said he could bend that rule depending on pitch counts and feedback from Chamberlain, but he said he still would not use Chamberlain on consecutive days. --

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