WANG’S GEM SENDS MESSAGE TO SAWX By GEORGE KING BARELY TOUCHED: Chien-Ming Wang, who improved to 16-6, didn’t allow a hit until the seventh inning yesterday.August 31, 2007 -- The $200 million elephant dressed in Yankees pinstripes is in the room and the Red Sox can’t ignore it. The Yankees might not catch them, but the Red Sox know their blood rivals can beat them. Yesterday’s 5-0 Yankees win at Yankee Stadium completed a three-game sweep that was highlighted by Chien-Ming Wang’s seven one-hit shutout innings, two homers from Robinson Cano, four hits by Derek Jeter and Joba Chamberlain’s initial ejection of his short career that miffed Joe Torre. The sweep moved the Yankees from eight games behind the AL East-leading Red Sox to five with 28 games remaining. It also propelled the Yankees past the Mariners, who lost last night, into the wild-card lead by one game. “We never thought we didn’t have a chance,” said Cano, who homered to left-center in the third and fifth off Curt Schilling. “We are five games back, and we have to keep working hard.” And continue to get sterling efforts from the starters. Since returning home following a disastrous 2-5 road trip, the Yankees watched Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens and Wang smother the Red Sox, who played yesterday without cleanup hitter Manny Ramirez (oblique muscle problem). “Our pitching dominated the three games,” pitching coach Ron Guidry said. “ Hopefully we can keep that up.” In 20 innings, Pettitte, Clemens and Wang allowed nine hits and four earned runs (1.80 ERA). The best performance was Wang’s yesterday, even if he was complaining about walking four. “I walked too much,” said Wang, who gave up his only hit (a ground single to right) to Mike Lowell in the seventh. Wang’s third straight win and sixth in seven decisions, hiked his record to 16-6 and kept him in the Cy Young hunt. http://tinyurl.com/3bmnkv --

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