Wang's 17th extends Wild Card lead

Wang's 17th extends Wild Card lead

Yankees righty pushes Mariners two back with 7 1/3 innings

By Anthony DiComo / MLB.com

NEW YORK -- There's no denying how much the Yankees need strong pitching performances every night, and there's no cheapening how valuable an ace like Chien-Ming Wang can be.

But when the Yankees' offense is clicking, it's hard to imagine any of that mattering.

Wang allowed one run in 7 1/3 innings against the Mariners, guiding the Yankees to a 12-3 win and pushing their American League Wild Card edge back to two games. And while the Yankees needed that dominance early, they weren't quite as dependent on it later, after the offense awoke for three runs in the sixth inning and seven more in the seventh to blast open the game.

The Yankees drilled four home runs in all -- one each from Alex Rodriguez and Bobby Abreu, and two from Jorge Posada -- and tallied up 19 hits. Eight of those came in the seventh, when the Yankees sent 12 batters to the plate and scored more than half of them. By the time that rally was complete, every Yankees starter other than Hideki Matsui had collected at least one hit and one RBI, and Matsui reached base twice himself.

Abreu and Robinson Cano had four hits apiece, while A-Rod, Posada and Wilson Betemit also chipped in with multi-hit games. By the time Wang left the game in the eighth, the Yankees had already taken a 10-run lead and replaced a third of their regulars with reserves.

And in the end, all of that overshadowed Wang's brilliance. The right-hander needed only 86 pitches to cruise into the eighth, allowing just five hits and an isolated Adrian Beltre home run. He struck out only on7 but induced 17 ground-ball outs, leaving to a standing ovation.

The Yankees survived a scare in the seventh inning, when Rodriguez, attempting to go from first to third base on a Posada single, slid headfirst into the third-base bag. A-Rod rolled over and clutched his right knee in pain, but after a short delay and a visit from the training staff, he remained in the game. Alberto Gonzalez replaced him for his second at-bat of the inning, with the Yankees having already built a 10-run lead.

Yanks expect Clemens to miss start

Yanks expect Clemens to miss start

Veteran out after four innings with elbow pain; MRI pending

By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com

NEW YORK -- Roger Clemens was lifted from his start against the Mariners on Monday with right elbow discomfort that will likely force him to miss at least one start.

Clemens told Yankees manager Joe Torre that his elbow was troubling him during the fourth inning of a 7-1 loss to Seattle in which he allowed three runs, including a two-run double to Yuniesky Betancourt.

"It didn't start bothering him until the fourth," Torre said. "In Roger's case, there are a lot of things that he deals with on a regular basis. I know we checked with him twice today before he went out."

The 45-year-old right-hander was sent for a MRI exam at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. In 16 starts plus one relief appearance for the Yankees, Clemens is 6-6 with a 4.45 ERA. He did not speak to reporters before leaving Yankee Stadium.

The elbow ailment, a grabbing sensation, is something that has bothered Clemens on and off this season, Torre said. Clemens dealt with the issue last season while pitching for the Astros, and Torre speculated that the pain could date as far back as Clemens' first go-round in pinstripes, which ended in 2003.

"It's happened earlier this year, too, the same type of thing," Torre said. "He's dealt with it and come back and pitched some gems. ... It's something that comes and goes. It doesn't mean it's debilitating. It just means it's muscular stuff."

Catcher Jorge Posada said that he did not have any conversations on Monday about Clemens' discomfort, though he acknowledged that the Yankees have known about the current condition for at least one start. Clemens limited the Red Sox to one run and two hits over six innings in his last effort.

"He had no limitations at all," Posada said. "I called every pitch like nothing was wrong. I didn't see anything wrong."

Because Clemens had been dealing with a variety of physical issues in the week following his start against Boston, including blisters on his right foot and general arm weariness, the Yankees were not even sure if he would make his scheduled start on Monday. Mike Mussina was dispatched to the bullpen for Clemens' warmup session just in case the Rocket had to be scratched, but Clemens insisted that he was ready for the ball.

"Roger certainly knows his body better than anybody else," Torre said. "Just from my experience, I don't think there's a pitcher around that doesn't take some kind of baggage to the mound. The guy has been around for a long time. I have to really trust him to the point of what he has to deal with. It's not uncharted waters for him."

Torre said that the Yankees are likely to pass over Clemens' next turn in the rotation, which could line up for Friday or Saturday at Kansas City, depending on how the Yankees deal with Thursday's off-day.

"I think for safety's sake, we're probably going to want to skip [Clemens] one time," Torre said. "Hopefully, that's all it is."

That start could go to Mussina, who pitched 3 2/3 innings of two-run ball in relief on Monday in his first appearance since being lifted from the Yankees rotation following three ineffective starting performances.

"I'll prepare for whenever it's going to be," Mussina said. "When you send somebody for a MRI, they tend to miss a turn. I might be pitching in Roger's turn the next time around. We'll wait and see."