By PETER ABRAHAM THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: August 26, 2007) DETROIT - Chien-Ming Wang was the only lucky Yankee on Friday night. He left the rain-delayed game at Comerica Park after the fifth inning, took a cab back to the team hotel and was asleep at 3:30 a.m. when the Detroit Tigers finally won it. The right-hander didn't know until he woke up that the Yankees had suffered such a painful loss. "Everybody was tired," he said. "Except for me." That only added to the sense of urgency Wang felt. In addition to the needs of his teammates, he was coming off a string of uncharacteristically shaky performances. Once placid to the point of robotic precision on the mound, Wang had become fidgety with runners on base and was trying to make the perfect pitch. Pitching coach Ron Guidry jokingly told his ace he would get sent back to the minors unless he returned to form. Adjustments both physical and psychological were made, and Wang gave the Yankees what they needed last night, throwing eight strong innings in a 7-2 victory against the Tigers. Wang scattered five singles, struck out six and walked two to improve to 15-6. The eight innings were his most since mid-June. "Important game for me," Wang said. "This was more like me." Joe Torre thought the game important enough to call a brief team meeting. He didn't want the weight of Friday night's loss to hold his team down. "It was more precautionary," the manager said. "It's over with, let's move on. That's all it was; it was two minutes. It was something for me, I didn't want it to linger." Torre's meetings, infrequent as they are, tend to register with his players. The Yankees scored two runs in the first inning and held on. With the Chicago White Sox in full forfeit mode - the Red Sox won 14-2 at U.S. Cellular Field - the Yankees gained no ground in the division race. But they picked up a game in the wild-card chase and now trail Seattle by two games. Melky Cabrera had a three-run triple in the sixth inning when the Yankees broke open a close game. Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon had two RBI each. "Everybody out there understood how important this game was," Torre said. "We need to minimize bad stuff, and the only way you can do that is to win ballgames." Wang is 4-1 in his last six starts. But he had become a concern after allowing 26 hits and 16 runs in his previous 14 2/3 innings. Torre and Guidry told the introverted pitcher to trust his ability and let his pitches go instead of pitching to the corners of the plate. "I have to be more confident," Wang said. "I don't know why, but I wasn't before." Guidry also has been working with Wang to speed up his left leg as he gets into his delivery. The idea is to create more downward momentum and improve his sinking two-seam fastball. "He drove through the zone and stayed down. He really attacked the strike zone," catcher Jorge Posada said. "We needed Wang to throw a good game. We went through a lot (Friday) night and he really stepped up." Matsui gave Wang the lead in the first inning with a two-run double. He was 3 for 5, raising his batting average to .308. Matsui said he would prefer to play left field to stay in the rhythm of the game. But the statistics suggest he enjoys being the designated hitter, as he was last night. In 18 starts as the DH, Matsui is 26 for 75 (.347) with 23 RBI and 11 extra-base hits. Damon also flourishes playing out of position. Knocked out of center field by Cabrera, Damon started in left and homered to lead off the third inning. Damon is 24 for 55 (.436) with 10 extra-base hits and 15 RBI in 13 games as the left fielder. "I don't pay attention to that. I'm not sure what it is," he said. "I just know I feel a lot better physically." --

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