Wang is clearly ace of staff

When the Yankees signed Roger Clemens last month, it was under the premise he'd be only part of the solution and not carry the team. Over his last two starts, it appears that Chien-Ming Wang has assumed the role of staff ace.
Runs were at an expected premium against reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb, who shook off a three-run first inning to limit the Yankees to three singles over the next six. A runner-up to Johan Santana in last season's AL Cy Young voting, Wang continued to build another case when he neutralized the Diamondbacks and paced the Yankees to a 4-1 win. Though Tuesday was the first time D-Backs manager Bob Melvin had seen Wang in person, it was enough for him to put Wang in place with Webb and Toronto's Roy Halladay as the game's premier sinkerball pitchers.
"He's outstanding," Melvin said. "Similar to Webby you know what's coming but there are times where there's very little you can do with it, except hit it on the ground."
The funny thing is, Wang thought he was only "so-so." He complained about leaving too many balls up, which deviated from his strength. Out of his 24 batters retired, just seven were via the ground ball, but it was still enough to hold Arizona to one run over seven innings that followed a complete game last Wednesday in Chicago. In his last six starts, Wang has allowed three earned runs or fewer, good for a 2.30 ERA during that stretch.
By Jon Lane / YESNetwork.com

A-Rod, Sheffield share weekly honor

Last season, Tigers designated hitter Gary Sheffield and Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez shared the same field in New York. This week, they're taking home the same American League award.
On Monday, Sheffield and Rodriguez were named the Bank of America Presents the AL Co-Players of the Week for the period of June 4-10, 2007.
Sheffield was Rodriguez's teammate last season in New York but signed with the Tigers as a free agent during the offseason. So far this year, he has been everything Detroit was hoping for. The 39-year-old is hitting .281 and ranks third in the AL in home runs (17) and 10th in RBIs (43).

Clemens earns "W" in return

Making his first start with the Yankees since 2003, Roger Clemens encountered little trouble, holding the Pirates to three runs and striking out seven batters in six innings to pick up the win and extend the Yankees' win streak to a season-high five games.

All the Yankees desired, as Clemens journeyed to the big leagues and clicked the meter on a lucrative contract, was for him to slot as a productive member of their rotation, promising them a stable effort every fifth day.

Mission accomplished. Clemens' Bronx relaunch was a success, as The Rocket notched a win in his first start of the season, pitching six innings in the Yankees' 9-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday.

Clemens threw 108 pitches in the start, limiting the Pirates to three runs and five hits in helping the Yankees extend their winning streak to a season-high five games. New York is now two games under .500 at 29-31 and had been showing signs of renewal even before Clemens jazzed things up. The Rocket also achieved a milestone of sorts, earning career strikeout No. 4,606 to pass Randy Johnson for second on the all-time list with his second punchout in the top of the first inning.

By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com

Too Easy for Wang

I like the title.Chien-Ming Wang's best game of the season was probably last month in Seattle, when he lost a perfect game in the eighth after retiring the first 22 hitters.
"That game was pretty good," Yankees manager Joe Torre said, shaking his head. "Why do you have to remind me about those things?"
Maybe Wang's stuff was a touch off his Seattle best on Wednesday in Chicago, but his performance was more meaningful and just as dominating. Wang threw the Yankees' first complete-game victory since, well, his last one on July 28, 2006, against Tampa Bay (a 6-0 win), as the Yankees backed him up with a four-run third inning en route to a 5-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox for their second straight win.
The 27-year-old Wang notched his third complete game, using all of his pitches -- slider, curveball and sinker especially -- to shut down an occasionally potent White Sox lineup. Wang, who won for the fourth time in five starts to improve to 5-4, gave up five hits and one walk, while striking out four. He needed only 104 pitches. To put that number in perspective, he threw 112 pitches in 5 2/3 innings in his last start.

By Jon Greenberg / MLB.com

Goodbye April Hello May

Mr. April: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees. Rodriguez tied for the Major League record with 14 homers in April. Rodriguez, who leads the Major Leagues in both home runs and RBIs with 34, wrapped his historic month by batting .355. He equaled the 14 home runs hit by St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, who accomplished the feat last April. Rodriguez finished one RBI shy of Juan Gonzalez's Major League record for most RBIs hit in April, set in 1998 with the Texas Rangers.

May pick to click: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins. The AL batting champ hit .369 in April, fifth best in baseball, and look for Mauer to continue that torrid hitting in May, traditionally Mauer's best month (career .355 average, including .386 last season). The May schedule also includes several opponents the catcher has fared well against in the past, including Tampa Bay (.415 career average against), the Chicago White Sox (.300), Detroit (.348) and Milwaukee (.327).

F1

The car is belong to Mercedes Benz F1 Team. It's call Mp4-21. Now Mercedes Benz leads every team such as Ferrari ,BMW . I have not seen the race after I graguated from junior high school.
At that time, Ferrari was the King of the race. But after M.Schumacher retired, Ferrari never get the first place. I was so sad.

Clemens to make Triple-A start Monday

Roger Clemens will make a third and likely final Minor League start as he works toward duty in the Yankees rotation, tuning up on Monday with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Clemens will be supervised every step of the way by Yankees executives Billy Connors and Gene Michael, who will accompany Clemens to PNC Field in Moosic, Pa., for the start.

Following the start for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the seven-time Cy Young Award winner would have his fifth day align for Saturday against the Red Sox, a start that is presently lined up for Mike Mussina.

We'll just take it one start at a time, and we'll evaluate him after that," Cashman said. "We want him when he's ready, and it's our job obviously to determine that. I do believe he's going in the right direction."

Manager Joe Torre did not want to shy away from the idea of having Clemens pitch at Boston, but said that it was not necessary for Clemens to make his re-entry in such a dramatic fashion.