Bronx, N.Y., May 2, 2008 — For the third straight game the Yankees jumped out to an early lead Friday night, 1-0 over the Mariners after one, and 3-0 after two. There were two glaring differences, however. First, although Hideki Matsui and Melky Cabrera came up with huge base hits with runners in scoring condition, the quick lead this time was a gift courtesy of sloppy Seattle fielding. Second, and far more important, they hung on to win this one.

The Bombers fought their way back in the loss to the Tigers last night but the pitching failed. But the loss to righty Jeremy Bonderman of Detroit 6-2 Wednesday was eerily similar to this one, because Seattle lefty Eric Bedard was untouchable after the Yanks took the lead, as the Detroit righty had been two nights before. Even with staff ace Chien-Ming Wang on the mound, there was an eery feeling that this was yet another early lead that could still be lost.

We got 2008 Wang this time. He pounded the hard two-seamer, yes, but he was mixing in sliders and changes almost from the outset. He coaxed but one ground ball the first two frames, and Mariners batters lined out hard to the outfield three times in the same time span. But the wily Wang that has reinvented himself relies on strike outs to neutraliize some of the opposition now, and he whiffed two straight to close the second after allowing DH Jeff Clement a one-out walk.

By then he was working with a 3-0 lead, largely thanks to frankly laughable Seattle defense. Derek Jeter reached in the first with one down on a ground ball to short that Yuniesky Betnacourt did not handle. Bobby Abreu singled him to second, but cleanup hitter and first baseman Shelley Duncan went down swinging to a big slow curve. But if it’s early ’08 and you need a two-out Yankee hit, even against an All Star lefthander, Hideki Matsui is your man. He poked a 1-2 single the other way over short, and the Yankees had a 1-0 lead.

Morgan Ensberg smacked Bedard’s first pitch of the second hard toward third. It took no wild bounces, however; Adrian Beltre simply did not get his glove down enough long enough, and Ensberg was on. Adding further insult, Enberg was clearly out on a strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out double play against Jose Molina, but second baseman Jose Lopez dropped the ball, putting the Yankee third baseman in scoring position. He pulled up at third when Alberto Gonzalez, giving Robbie Cano a day off at second base against a tough lefty, singled hard over the second-base bag, and both scored when Melky Cabrera directed an outside pitch right down the left field line on Bedard’s next pitch. The Seattle lefty retired the next two, but he was in quick trouble yet again in the third too once he walked Duncan leading off. Matsui lined out and Jason Giambi lifted an 0-2 foul popup in front of the visiting dugout, but catcher Jamie Burke struggled to track the ball in the constant driving (and cold) wind, and the ball glanced off his glove for another error. When Bedard’s next pitch glanced off Jason’s elbow, two were on with one out, and the crowd was screaming for the Yanks to take advantage yet again.

It was not to be, however. Not only did Bedard retire the next two, he set down 14 straight on 51 pitches, a number that becomes more impressive when the four strike outs (and five on the night) are taken into account. Perhaps it was something he learned when he served as a teammate in Baltimore of slowpoke starter Streve Trachsel, or maybe he was just being extra careful after the hole in which his defense put him, but Bedard was painfully deliberate all night. It did not endear him to the frozen crowd.

But though it seemed likely that Yankee bats would follow recent practice and score early and then no more, Wang seemingly had the situation well in hand. He pitched around a one-out third inning single with a fly to center and two of his signature ground outs, then pinned Raul Ibanez to second base after a leadoff fourth-inning double with two more grounders and his third strike out. He coaxed a fly to left to start the fifth, and battled Burke to a 3-2 count when he came up asking for help after the Mariners catcher fouled off his sixth throw. Molina came out, then Girardi and the training staff, poring over Wang’s right hand. He has had blister problems before and difficulty with a fingernail, but it later turned out that his thumb had cramped a little in the frigid temps.

It was 12 years ago this day that Yankee righty David Cone came back with a complete-game win, ironically by the same final score as this one, one game after he had to leave a start with numbness in his fingers. Cone would need aneurysm surgery shortly so Wang should be closely monitored, though it is likely that this problem was weather-driven. The Yankees simply do not play in decent weather this year, at least so far. Wang stayed in and threw awkwardly, walking Burke on the net pitch, but he coaxed a 4-6-3 double play from Betancourt on the next pitch, and things returned to normal.

Wang had handled Ichiro Suzuki well to this point, retiring him twice on outfield flies, but Ichiro served a 1-2 change over second leading off the sixth. He stole second base while Lopez went down swinging, then third one pitch before Ibanez bounced out to second, and scored a Mariners run. But Wang was fine, and he struck out Beltre on his 89th pitch to close the sixth inning, and his work for the night. Chien-Ming misses the zone a bit more than might be ideal, though this night it was probably the cold wind. Still, even though the 12 of 22 first-pitch strikes was a few less than you would like, the 53/36 strikes/balls ratio would be hard to quibble with. As a former master of hitting bats, the 10 swings and misses he coaxed in notching the five strike outs, four swinging, were telling. He walked just one, allowed three hits through six, and would have escaped unscored upon but for Ichiro’s relentless persistence on the basepaths.

Wang often lasts seven innings, or even more, and the Stadium grew nervous and restless when righty hard thrower Kyle Farnsworth came out to replace him. Kyle has been inconsistent at best, and the Stadium crowd greeted him with a smattering of boos. But with the twin weapons of Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera available to close out games, the seventh inning becomes a key turning point. Farnsworth allowed a single and a long home run that put Thursday’s game out of reach, but he was excellent this time out. Pounding impressive heat and mixing in an effective slider, he sandwiched swinging strike outs of Clement and right fielder Wladimir Balentien around a ground out, and Chamberlain and Rivera came on and wrapped it up.

Mo’s visit was unnecessary as it turned out, because the Bombers extended the lead to 5-1 on an Ensberg rbi single and a Molina sac fly against the Seattle pen once hard-luck Bedard exited after seven, thus rendering the game one where no save would be awarded. But Mariano warmed, and he finished, in his usual overpowering manner. On the other side of the ledger, the crafty Mariners southpaw was superb though. He pounded the occasional fastball to keep Yankee hitters honest, but he dominated their lineup through seven, and in particular during his last five innings, throwing slow changes and even slower curves. It is to his credit that he could get these “feel” pitches working so well under the frozen conditions.

When Jeter scored in the first, the Scoreboard revealed, he crossed yet another of those milestones he seems to routinely reach all the time now. His 1,391st run scored moved him out of a tie with Joe DiMaggio and into fourth place in Yankee hits all-time. Just Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth lead the Captain in this regard, but it will be some time before he catches third-place Mantle. Also, during this entire night the Stadium and the huge crowd engaged in a love affair with recovering ex-player and broadcaster Bobby Murcer, who continues to suffer from some complications following his surgery to stem brain cancer a few years ago. It was Bobby’s first night broadcasting this year, and he pushed the lever that moved the remaining regular-season Yankee Stadium home game counter from 69 to 68. Signs in support of the retired Pinstriped outfielder were much in evidence throughout the Stadium all evening.

But the feel-good moments for Murcer and Jeter notwithstanding, this was a big game for one reason: The reeling Yankees needed a win, and they got one. They did not hit as much as we would have liked, though they took what was given and did not waste it, and they pounced on a visiting bullpen once an ace was removed, something they may have to resort to again Saturday against “King” Felix Hernandez.

Injuries to two lineup stalwarts, and to a starting pitcher and a reliever as well, have blunted attempts for the Yanks to get this season moving forward. And the cold and wet weather the team has experienced through almost five weeks has played a part in the early-season stumbles as well. Add in that they have been on the road much of the time and that they still have had just one day off, and the spotty win/loss record and the team batting slump become less of a mystery.

Fifty-four years ago this month, the classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller Dial M for Murder starring Raymond Milland, Grace Kelly and Robert Cummings was released. Great detective work was required to uncover all the mysteries in that story, but the solution to the Yankees’ woes, at least temporarily, was much more easily found. All that the team needed to do was,

Dial W(ang) for [a] Win

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!