Wang, Cano lead Yankees past Red Sox By PETER ABRAHAM THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: August 31, 2007) NEW YORK - The players' parking lot across the street from Yankee Stadium was empty when Chien-Ming Wang pulled in at 9:30 yesterday morning. The starting pitcher has the right to show up whenever he wants. But Wang likes to arrive early on game days, sit at his locker and open fan mail. He finds it relaxing. So between spits of tobacco juice into a paper cup, Wang autographed cards for an hour and stuffed them into envelopes. Those cards nearly increased in value a few hours later as Wang dominated a team that has troubled him, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Boston Red Sox as the Yankees finished off a sweep with a 5-0 victory. "That was one of my best games," Wang said. "In a long time." Robinson Cano homered twice off Curt Schilling as the Yankees took a full-game lead over Seattle in the American League wild-card race after Cleveland beat the Mariners 6-5 last night. "Now we have a chance," said Derek Jeter, who had four hits. "This is what we wanted. The sweep was big because we need wins." It also was another eventful game in the rivalry between the two teams as the Yankees closed to within five games of the first-place Red Sox in the American League East with a month to play. A day after Roger Clemens lost a no-hitter in the sixth inning, Wang was nine outs away from his first no-hitter at any level of baseball when he got Kevin Youkilis to ground to shortstop to start the seventh inning. But Jeter made a poor throw and Youkilis ducked under the tag of Jason Giambi. Mike Lowell followed with a clean single into right field. "I never think of (a no-hitter)," Wang said. "I just wanted to win the game." Wang got J.D. Drew to ground to third. Alex Rodriguez tried to swipe Youkilis as he went by, then threw to first. Youkilis was initially called safe at third. But when the Yankees complained, the umpires conferred and called him out for going out of the base line. Crew chief Derryl Cousins said the call was correct initially but some miscommunication left Youkilis at third. Third-base umpire Mark Carlson saw Youkilis run on the grass to evade Rodriguez. Boston manager Terry Francona was ejected. A silent spectator during the various discussions, Wang got back on the mound and struck out Jason Varitek. Wang (16-6) walked four and struck out five in seven innings. He came into the game 4-4 with 4.78 ERA in nine career starts against the Red Sox. But as he did when he beat Boston in June, he mixed more sliders and changeups in with his signature sinking fastball. "The Red Sox have had pretty good luck with him, but he was great," manager Joe Torre said. "I told him, 'Nice going' and he said, 'Too many walks.' " Wang, Clemens and Andy Pettitte held the Red Sox to four runs over 20 innings in the series. The Yankees intended to have Joba Chamberlain pitch the final two innings. But he was ejected in the ninth after throwing two fastballs over the head of Youkilis. "I was shocked," said Chamberlain, who extended his scoreless streak to 11 1/3 innings. "There was nothing intentional." It's sure to add more fire to the next meeting between the teams on Sept. 14. By then, the Yankees could be even closer. They finished 12-8 in a stretch of difficult games against the Indians, Orioles, Tigers, Angels and Red Sox. Now comes opportunity. Of the 28 games remaining on the schedule, only six are against playoff contenders. "I think we can win the division," Wang said. "We're playing good again." Reach Peter Abraham at [email protected] and read his Yankees blog at yankees.lohudblogs.com. http://tinyurl.com/2b6cye --

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