Mets Sink Wang and Yankees 11-2

Chien-Ming Wang set the first 9 Mets down in order last night as if he were toying with them. One ground out after another. Even when Jose Reyes lead off the 4th inning with a double it seemed like no big deal. Wang got Marlon Anderson to hit a comebacker and Reyes was nailed trying to go to 3rd Base. If Yankee Stadium had a roof over it, it would have collapsed at that moment. The Mets jumped all over Wang (6-2) en route to an 11-2 blow out that sent the Yankees to their 8th loss in the last 11 games.

The Yankees bats continued to make every pitcher, especially left-handers, look like hall of fame candidates. They managed just 3 hits against Oliver Perez (4-3), who channels Sandy Koufax every time he faces the Yankees (4-1, 2.88).

So back to the 4th inning we go, Marlon Anderson on 1st with one out. David Wright singled and Carlos Beltran walked to the load the bases. Inning ending double play coming up, right? Very wrong. Jason Giambi made a beautiful diving stop of Ryan Church's grounder to the right side, but instead of getting the sure out at 1st he made an off-balance, on one knee, throw to 2nd. And we all know how he throws. Derek Jeter's diving stop kept the ball from going into the outfield, but everyone was safe and the Mets were on the board.

Moises Alou tried to check his swing on a hanging Wang pitch, and got an oops punch hit into right field for a 2-run single and a 3-0 Mets lead. The umpires then gave Wang and the Yankees a temporary break. Carlos Delgado drilled a shot to left field that hit the base of the foul pole and ricocheted in the seats in foul territory. 3rd Base ump Mike Reilly wasn't sure what he saw and consulted with the other umpires who ruled a foul ball. Willie Randolph vehemently argued to no avail, and eventually bench Jerry Manuel was tossed from the game by home plate ump Bob Davidson. Delgado ended up singling to right for a 4-0 lead before Wang finally wangled out of the inning.

The Yankees took advantage of the break and got right back in the ball game on Hideki Matsui's 2-run home run in the bottom of the 4th, his 6th of the season. But the Yankees would manage just 1 hit the rest of the game and Wang and reliever Ross Ohlendorf would continue the pitching implosion.

Church extended the lead to 5-2 with a solo home run in the 6th and then the Mets busted the game open in the 8th. Having thrown only 94 pitches after 7 innings, Joe Girardi decided to stick with his starter. It was a mistake. Wright lead off the 8th with a double, moved to 3rd on a ground out and scored on Alou's sacrifice fly after an intentional walk to Church. Girardi finally gave Wang the hook, but Ohlendorf provided no relief. Before the inning was over Brian Schneider and Luis Castillo had stroked RBI singles and Reyes hammered the final nail in the coffin with a 3-run home run.

News and Notes

The Yankees had another Oh-fer with men in scoring position, not that they had many in scoring position last night.

Both Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano stole their first bases of the season.

Chien-Ming Wang is 0-2 with one no decision after starting 6-0. Of course his first loss and the no decision were due to lack of run support.

Jeter and Hideki Matsui were the only Yankees in the lineup with a batting average above .200.

After a very good start, Melky Cabrera is 11-58 (.190); his averaged has dropped 44 points to .255.

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