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it rained out so it will be tomorrow for a day and night double header.

Go Rook!

Wang beats Tigers for 16th win!!!
NEW YORK -- Cy Wang? You never know.
Chien-Ming Wang furthered his case on Wednesday, tossing 7 2/3 innings of shutout ball to lead the Yankees to a 2-0 victory over the Tigers in a matchup of the American League's two best teams. The game was the first in a day-night doubleheader.

"I knew he was good. How good? You don't know," pitching coach Ron Guidry said. "When you put a guy capable of pitching like he has with the stuff he has with the team he has here, he can be pretty deadly."

Wang improved to 16-5, tying him with Toronto's Roy Halladay for the Major League lead in wins. The right-hander allowed three hits, walked one and struck out three, getting 13 of his 23 outs via ground balls. The scoreless outing helped Wang lower his ERA from 3.81 to 3.66.

"I never think of that," Wang said of his Cy Young chances. "I don't look at my stats, just my pitches."

"I kept waiting to get a ball hit out to me," center fielder Johnny Damon said. "In the [eighth] inning, I finally got one."

Tigers starter Nate Robertson allowed 10 hits over seven innings, but he limited the Yankees to just a pair of runs. New York went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, leaving 12 men on base.

"We had so many opportunities to do something, but Robertson is very tough," manager Joe Torre said. "He's a gamer; when he gets men in scoring position, he knows how to pitch. He made quality pitches in key situations."

Craig Wilson snapped a scoreless tie in the fifth, leading off the inning with a solo home run, his third since being acquired by the Yankees at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

"It felt good; it got us the lead," Wilson said. "Wang went out there and pitched well and that's all we needed. Offensively, if you give him a couple runs, it seems like enough."

Damon followed with a walk, moved to third on Derek Jeter's single and scored on Jason Giambi's sacrifice fly, boosting the lead to 2-0. Wang, who had given up just one single over the first five innings, took care of the rest.

"You don't see people with his stuff that often," Jeter said. "He's real similar to Halladay in terms of throwing that heavy sinker. He goes after you; it's not like he's nibbling at the strike zone."

Wang used his trademark sinker to frustrate the Tigers, who made five groundball outs during the sixth and seventh innings.

"It looks like a four-seam fastball," Brandon Inge said. "You know it's a sinker, so you go to swing at it and you're swinging low for the four-seam, and the thing just goes plop."

"It's like trying to hit a bowling ball," Guidry said. "The sinker he's throwing is so heavy, and it moves so late that guys just beat it into the ground."

Wang came back out for the eighth, but he found himself in his first and only jam of the game. He walked Neifi Perez with one out and served up a two-out double to Curtis Granderson.

With the tying runs in scoring position, Scott Proctor came in from the bullpen, getting pinch-hitter Magglio Ordonez to fly out to left field on the first pitch, preserving the lead.

"I thought he'd be swinging," Proctor said. "A guy like that, he's looking to drive the guys in, not necessarily to drive the ball out of the park. I executed and thank goodness he swung."

Mariano Rivera closed out the win with a scoreless ninth, earning his 32nd save.

Wang and his sinker have five or six starts remaining this season, giving him a shot at a 20-win season in his second year in the Majors.

"He throws 95 miles per hour, it sinks two feet and it's heavy; when that's your approach and it's that simple, your game plan doesn't have to change," Mike Mussina said. "Throw the heavy sinker and get 15 ground balls a game. It's never seemed as easy as he's made it look."

Wang will face stiff competition in this year's Cy Young race, as Halladay, Johan Santana and Justin Verlander have all posted impressive seasons. But neither Wang nor Torre are concerned with the year-end award; they have a bigger prize in mind.

"He's been very important for us," Torre said. "I think if he had a choice of winning that award or getting to the World Series, he'd choose the World Series. That's our goal right now, and we still have plenty of work ahead of us."

GOOD NEWS FOR YANKEE LOVERS AND BAD NEWS FOR RED SOXS FANS!
NEW YORK -- Hideki Matsui moved one step closer to a September return, taking live batting practice on Wednesday for the first time since fracturing his left wrist nearly four months ago.
Matsui took about 35 swings in the indoor batting cage at Yankee Stadium, reporting no problems following the session. He is expected to take BP every day and could play in Minor League rehab games sometime next week.

"Everything was good; I didn't have any pain, and swing-wise, I felt pretty good," Matsui said through his interpreter. "My swing and my mechanics aren't too bad right now. I think it's more that my timing is a little off."

While the Minor League regular season ends next Monday for most teams, the Yankees will likely have one or two teams playing in the postseason, so Matsui could rehab by playing in those games.

"Live batting practice ... [may] be a little more physical than he's used to doing," manager Joe Torre said. "It's just a matter of how much BP he needs. We'll see what we can do after that."

"If it were to happen today, I'm sure I could play in a game," Matsui said. "I'll follow whatever I'm told to do."

Torre and general manager Brian Cashman haven't decided whether Matsui will play in any Minor League games, as Torre called it "a little premature" to discuss that. However, the manager said that scenario is "not out of the question."

If Matsui isn't ready to play in Minor League games before they are over, he would likely take part in some simulated games before returning to the Yankees.

Neither Torre nor Matsui seem concerned about the possibility of reinjuring the wrist by playing the outfield, but Matsui will likely serve as the Yankees' designated hitter upon his return, leaving Melky Cabrera as the starting left fielder.

"Just to get his feet wet," Torre said. "I think it's the safest thing to do, just so he's not diving for any balls out there."

"I should be fine," Matsui said, "as long as I don't do the same thing I did a couple of months ago."

Now the yanks are winning off a sacrifice fly and now its 3-2!

Game Preview
NEW YORK -- The Yankees needed just one strike to complete a sweep of the Tigers in the day-night doubleheader on Wednesday night. It never came.
Scott Proctor surrendered a three-run homer to Craig Monroe to allow Detroit to pull off a gut-wrenching 5-3 comeback victory in Game 2.

Manager Joe Torre had said Kyle Farnsworth would be the closer for Game 2 after Mariano Rivera got a save in the Yankees' 2-0 win in Game 1. Instead, Proctor came out of the bullpen in search of his first career save.

Proctor got the leadoff batter out, walked the next and retired the third for two outs with a man on first. But he then walked Curtis Granderson before giving up the homer to Monroe on his first pitch.

After being blanked through the first five innings by Tigers starter Wilfredo Ledezma, the Yankees finally broke through in the sixth.

Sal Fasano was plunked to lead off the inning and Melky Cabrera doubled to move the veteran catcher to third with one out to chase Ledezma. Derek Jeter laced a double just past the glove of third baseman Brandon Inge to tie the game at 2. He then stole third without a throw as he caught Detroit napping.

Alex Rodriguez hit a chopper to third, leaving Inge with no option but to concede the run and throw out A-Rod at first. But the damage was done as the Yankees took a 3-2 lead.

Yankees starter Jaret Wright pitched more than six innings for the first time this season, going 6 1/3 while allowing six hits and two earned runs and striking out five.

Carlos Guillen led off the second inning with a solo homer to right-center field. Sean Casey added a two-out single in the fourth to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. But Wright did his job, keeping the Yankees in the game long enough for the bats to warm up.

Brian Bruney relieved Wright with one out in the seventh and induced a two-out pop out to center field with runners on first and second. Bruney allowed a leadoff double in the eighth before Villone struck out the next two batters.

Cano made a diving play on a Casey hit in the hole between first and second and tossed to first to save the game from being tied. Casey ran over Aaron Guiel at first base, but the Yankees' replacement first baseman held on for the out.

Casey also slid hard into Jeter's left ankle in the seventh, but the veteran shortstop remained for the rest of the game.

Heres another good game