Yankees Take Over AL Wild-Card Lead

NEW YORK (AP) _ Following 4 1/2 months of struggles, the New York Yankees are back in a playoff position, sweeping the Boston Red Sox to take over the AL wild-card lead. <br/><br/>Chien-Ming Wang pitched

Friday, August 31st 2007, 7:28 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Following 4 1/2 months of struggles, the New York Yankees are back in a playoff position, sweeping the Boston Red Sox to take over the AL wild-card lead.

Chien-Ming Wang pitched seven innings of one-hit ball and Robinson Cano hit a pair of opposite-field home runs off Curt Schilling in a 5-0 victory Thursday that cut New York's AL deficit to five games and boosted the Yankees (75-59) one game ahead of Seattle (73-59) in the wild-card race.

New York was 9 1/2 games back in the wild card through games of July 7 and hadn't been in a playoff position since it was 4-3 after play on April 10.

``We need wins. I'd tell you the same thing if we just beat a high-school team three games in a row,'' said Derek Jeter, who went 4-for-4. ``Now we have to play well against Tampa. Otherwise these games don't mean anything.''

Boston manager Terry Francona was ejected following a disputed play involving Alex Rodriguez, and Yankees rookie sensation Joba Chamberlain was tossed following a pair of pitches over Kevin Youkilis' head.

Edwar Ramirez, another rookie, completed a two-hitter and the Yankees' first shutout of Boston since Sept. 11, 2005.

Last year, the Yankees swept a five-game series at Boston from Aug. 18-21, opening a 6 1/2-game lead in the AL East.

It's so different this season. The Yankees, who outscored the Red Sox 14-6 in the three games and outhit them 30-13, closed within five games of the division leaders and moved one game ahead of Seattle in the wild-card race. They had not finished a day in a playoff position since April 10, when the Yankees were 4-3.

``If we play well enough, we'll be where we want to be,'' Jeter said.

In other games it was Cleveland 6, Seattle 5; Detroit 6, Kansas City 1; Tampa Bay 8, Baltimore 6; and Texas 5, Chicago 1.

Chamberlain's ejection left bad feelings all around. Throwing 98-99 mph, he pumped a pitch over Youkilis' head with one out in the ninth. The next pitch went to nearly the same spot, and Youkilis stared as plate umpire Angel Hernandez ejected the pitcher.

``If that young man is trying to get our attention, he did a very good job,'' Francona said.

Chamberlain, his palms out, was shocked. He said both pitches slipped and he intended nothing nefarious.

``That's absolutely ridiculous,'' Yankees manager Joe Torre said about the ejection. ``Unfortunately, in a lot of situations, the umpires do not apply common sense.''

Youkilis was angry. On June 1, five batters were hit when the Yankees played at Fenway Park.

``There's more than a little bit of history between these clubs,'' crew chief Derryl 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.''

Francona was ejected in the seventh after umpires ruled Youkilis out for running out on the basepath to elude a tag by Rodriguez on J.D. Drew's sharp grounder to third with two on. After Youkilis veered onto the infield grass, A-Rod threw to first for one out as Cousins, the second-base ump, signaled safe while third-base ump Mark Carlson called Youkilis out.

``We had a little lack of communication,'' Cousins said. ``We just had to get together to make sure we had it right. Basically, I think Francona wanted to get run there. He just persisted in the discussion long after it was finished.''

Boston trailed 2-0 at the time, and the decision gave the Yankees a key double play. Wang (16-6) struck out Jason Varitek to end the inning and went on to tie for the major league lead in wins. He allowed his only hit on Mike Lowell's seventh-inning single to right and defeating Schilling (8-6).

The teams have one more series, at Fenway Park from Sept. 14-16.

``It will be interesting to see how that series plays out,'' Youkilis said.

Indians 6, Mariners 5

Kenny Lofton drew a bases-loaded walk from Rick White that forced home the winning run in the ninth, giving Cleveland its sixth straight victory.

The Indians maintained their 4 1/2-game lead over Detroit in the AL Central, while the Mariners lost their sixth straight as they opened a 10-game trip. They dropped 5 1/2 back of the AL-West leading Angels.

Joe Borowski (3-5) won after giving up Yuniesky Betancourt's RBI groundout in the ninth. Victor Martinez singled off Eric O'Flaherty (7-1) with one out in the bottom half, starting the winning rally.

Tigers 6, Royals 1

Curtis Granderson and Magglio Ordonez homered off Leo Nunez (2-2) and got three hits apiece. Jeremy Bonderman (11-7) halted his six-game losing streak by allowing six hits in seven innings as visiting Detroit avoided a sweep,

Bonderman (11-7) went seven innings and gave up six hits and one run, his best outing since beating Seattle on July 13. The Tigers had won 14 of 15 at Kauffman Stadium before dropping the first two games of this series.

Rangers 5, White Sox 1

Sammy Sosa hit his 606th home run as Texas completed a three-game sweep and sent visiting Chicago to its 16th loss in 19 games. Kevin Millwood (9-11) allowed one run in seven innings to beat John Danks. Before the game, the Rangers exercised their 2009 option on rookie manager Ron Washington's contract.

Devil Rays 8, Orioles 6

Tampa Bay completed its first road sweep in more than two years, getting a three-run homer from B.J. Upton to extend Baltimore's losing streak to nine games. Scott Kazmir (11-8) got the win, and Jeremy Guthrie (7-5) the loss.