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Rodriguez strikes again, Wang dominant as Yankees sink Mets

Jun 18, 2007 - 5:01 AM BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- Lately when Chien-Ming Wang pitches, little goes wrong. Recently, when Alex Rodriguez swings, the ball rarely stays in the ballpark.

Wang recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts in eight dominant innings and Rodriguez hit his major league-leading 27th home run to lead the New York Yankees to an 8-2 victory over the New York Mets in the rubber game of the "Subway Series" on Sunday night.

The Yankees won for the 14th time in the last 17 games and moved a season-high three games over .500. While several players are hot, Wang (7-4) and Rodriguez have played prominent roles in the most recent resurgence.

Wang has won his last four decisions, a streak that started June 1 in Boston. He was not particularly sharp that night but, in his last three starts, has allowed just four runs and 17 hits in 24 2/3 innings after giving up two runs and six hits Sunday.

"Every time (out), I feel better," Wang said.

Normally, Wang relies on a lot of ground-ball outs - he had nine Sunday - but the strikeouts were something that normally have not been a staple of Wang's outings.

"He's sort of like a knuckleball pitcher," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "You don't know what's coming. But if he locates it, he's going to get people out."

Wang's previous career high had been eight strikeouts, on April 16, 2006, at Minnesota, and he had 31 in 69 2/3 innings through his first 10 starts. But he retired every member of the Mets' starting lineup via strikeout except Paul Lo Duca, who left in the bottom of the fourth with a bruised left elbow.

"Yeah, (I'm surprised at 10 strikeouts)," Wang said. "Today, I changed a lot of speeds (on the) slider (and) changeup."

Wang threw 74 of 113 pitches for strikes and was within an out of his fourth career complete game. The righthander had the most prolific strikeout game by a Yankee since Randy Johnson struck out 11 against Seattle on July 18, 2006, and also did so with a neck that stiffened up when he slept on Saturday.

Wang said that he felt fine during the game in part due to reporting to Yankee Stadium well before the start of the contest for treatment and an ultrasound.

"I wanted to finish (the game)," Wang said. "But (I didn't try to talk Torre out of it) because of the lefthander with the changeup (Mike Myers)."

After getting the treatment, Wang mixed it up, using a fastball, slider and some changeups to go along with his sinker. Among his most impressive strikeouts was when he blew Jose Reyes away with a 96 mile-per-hour fastball to end the eighth.

"It's difficult," Reyes said. "He's got good stuff. We tried to get a good swing but we (couldn't) because he's got good stuff."

"Wang's an incredible talent," Rodriguez said. "To be able to do that against Reyes - a contact hitter - and he blew him away on 3-1 or 3-2 fastball 96 miles per hour, you don't see that everyday."

Rodriguez struggled through most of May but has accelerated his pace for his 500th home run. He hit five homers during the nine-game homestand against Pittsburgh, Arizona and the Mets and has eight blasts in his last 16 games, putting him at 491 for his career.

"The fact that we're 10-1 or 10-2 or whatever it is and you're helping the team win games, that's what counts," Rodriguez said.

Rebounding from Friday's 2-0 loss, the Yankees scored 11 runs Saturday. They continued the offensive onslaught by scoring runs in six of the final seven innings and wasted little time taking a lead against former Yankee Orlando Hernandez (3-3).

Rodriguez, who homered off Tom Glavine on Saturday, staked the Yankees to a two-run lead when he crushed Hernandez's 2-0 fastball well beyond the left field fence and into the Mets' bullpen.

"No," Rodriguez said when asked if he saw where the home run landed. "It all counts for one run or two runs or whatever it is."

That was more than enough for Wang. Before losing his shutout bid in the seventh, the righthander allowed just a single to Jose Reyes that deflected off shortstop Derek Jeter's glove in the fourth and a double to Jose Valentin in the fifth.

Wang's surrendered his first run with two outs in the seventh when David Wright struck out but reached on a wild pitch that bounced at least 30 feet away from catcher Jorge Posada. Carlos Delgado then lined a double to right field but was stranded when Valentin grounded out to second.

Rodriguez finished with three RBI, giving him 17 RBI in his last nine games, 28 for June and 71 on the season. He knocked in the Yankees' fifth run with a sacrifice fly that scored Bobby Abreu.

Johnny Damon, who had not homered since May 30 and only has four on the season, made it 6-0 with a leadoff home run in the fifth. Posada increased the lead to 8-1 with a two-run home run in the eighth off Aaron Heilman.

While Wang and Rodriguez continued pushing the Yankees in the right direction, the Mets continued their distressing slide, falling to 3-12 in their last 15 games.

"Keep playing, keep grinding through this," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "We just have to get back to winning."

After Glavine failed to get past the fifth inning, Hernandez was knocked out early. The veteran righthander lasted just 4 2/3 innings and was tagged for six runs and seven runs.

It was the third straight loss for Hernandez, who before Monday in Los Angeles, had allowed two runs or less in five consecutive starts.

"(I made) a couple of mistakes tonight and they connected very good," Hernandez said. "It was just a rough day."

The eighth inning typified the current rough patch for the Mets. With two outs, Delgado fielded a ball but started heading toward the dugout because he thought the inning was over and then he failed to cover first base on a soft ground ball by Melky Cabrera.

Delgado ended the game by looking at three straight strikes from Myers.