From MLB.com
ARLINGTON -- Lest the rest of the season speed on by them, the Yankees have no choice but to look ahead. There's no use in looking back at Joba Chamberlain, a pitcher who might not return to the team this season. No use in looking back at Chien-Ming Wang or Phil Hughes or Jorge Posada. Call it bad luck; call it baseball. The Yankees call it an excuse.
And they won't taint their season by relying on excuses.
So the Yankees made none on Wednesday, and wound up needing none. Their 5-3 win over the Rangers was complete and comprehensive, drawing from a patched-up rotation and a taxed bullpen and a cyclical offense. The Yankees showcased the finest traits of all three areas on Wednesday, and so they left Rangers Ballpark with a win.
They did not escape with a win, but they earned one instead.
"It was good to win," shortstop Derek Jeter said. "I don't really care who was pitching, to be honest with you."
But he knew it was Sidney Ponson, a former rotation stopgap who has bullied his way into a regular job with the Yankees. Despite allowing a two-run single to Chris Davis in the second inning Wednesday, and despite serving up a solo homer to Michael Young in the sixth, Ponson handled his former team as efficiently as the Yankees might have hoped.
His final line wasn't quite as sparkling as the one he produced against the Angels last week, but his process was perhaps even more impressive. Ponson recorded eight ground-ball outs and only five flyouts -- one-third the amount he had against the Angels. That's no small detail, considering how fly balls tend to rocket over walls in this Texas heat. Ponson knew that coming in, so he took extra care to throw a sharp sinker.
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/wrap.jsp?ymd=20080806&content_id=3266059&vkey=wrapup2005&fext=.jsp&team=away
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