Yanks of Future Offer Help in Present

Yankees 6, Indians 1

CLEVELAND, Aug. 10 — Joba Chamberlain has a ritual before his first pitch of a game. He stands behind the mound, his back to the catcher, his glove on the grass, his hat in his hand and his head bowed. Then he points to the sky, climbs up the dirt slope and starts to terrorize opposing hitters.

ritual n. 儀式；習慣
terrorize v. 恐嚇，脅迫


Chamberlain faced six Cleveland Indians on Friday and retired them all, four on strikeouts with his slider. He entered the game after six impressive innings by starter Phil Hughes, who held the Indians to one run and four hits, with six strikeouts.

The Yankees won for the ninth time in 11 games, pushing aside the Indians, 6-1, at Jacobs Field. Hughes and Chamberlain offered a delicious glimpse of the future for the Yankees, who are conceding nothing about the present.

“How good can they be?” Andy Pettitte said of Hughes and Chamberlain. “Stay healthy, don't get too much in your head, and their stuff is incredible. It's exciting to see them come up here, throwing strikes and being very aggressive. You don't only like their stuff, you like their makeup, too. And we’re going to need them.”

On a night when the Boston Red Sox' new setup man, Eric Gagné, blew a four-run lead in a loss in Baltimore, Chamberlain helped the Yankees move within five games of first place in the American League East. They are in a virtual tie with Seattle atop the wild-card standings.

The Yankees added no help for their bullpen at the trading deadline, but by promoting Chamberlain, they might have found the power arm they had sought to set up closer Mariano Rivera. Pettitte said that Chamberlain had him thinking of 1996, when Rivera would throw two innings to set up John Wetteland.

Hughes was making his fourth career start, and Chamberlain his second career relief appearance. They are two of the four youngest pitchers in the majors, each 21 years old but seemingly unfazed by a pennant race.

unfazed a. 【美】【口】不膽怯的

“I think age is just a number,” Chamberlain said. “You have to keep that mind frame. Being 21 years old is part of it. They're having confidence to give us the ball, and that’s all we can ask. We have to go out and prove ourselves every time.”

Hughes and Chamberlain are injecting the Yankees with youthful vigor, but that would be meaningless without winning results. Teammates are comparing their influence to that of Robinson Canó and Melky Cabrera.

vigor n. 精力，活力

“Hopefully, they are the pitching, American version of Melky and Robby,” Alex Rodriguez said. “Those are guys you can build on for the present and the future.”

Chamberlain threw at recorded speeds up to 99 miles an hour, but the slider was his finisher. He has six strikeouts in four shutout innings this week. Hughes worked efficiently through the Indians’ order, walking one to win for the first time since his abbreviated no-hit bid in Texas on May 1, when he strained his hamstring.

“I'm not sitting here talking about any kind of injury,” Hughes said. “It's definitely a good feeling. It's a big series for us.”

It also was a big series for the Indians and their fans. Cleveland (65-50) ranks near the bottom of the A.L. in attendance, but every seat was taken Friday — including one by the Cavaliers star LeBron James — and the team shop sold commemorative pins for the series.

commemorative v. 紀念的

The Yankees did not give fans much to cheer. Only one Cleveland hitter advanced past second base, when Josh Barfield homered in the fifth, and the Yankees led after the second inning.

The lead helped Hughes pitch aggressively, and he threw 66 strikes in 95 pitches. He allowed six runs in four and two-thirds innings in his previous start, but he moved to the center of the rubber this time to command both sides of the plate.

His curveball and changeup were sharp, and he kept the Indians guessing. When Kenny Lofton batted in the third, he was fooled badly by an off-speed pitch, lunging early to chop a foul ball off the dugout fence behind him. He would strike out, looking, on a 94-m.p.h. fastball.

lunge v. 衝，撞

“He really pitched tonight,” said the bench coach Don Mattingly, who was the manager while Joe Torre served a one-game suspension. “He kept changing speeds and kept them off balance.”

The Yankees went ahead in the second on a leadoff home run by Rodriguez, who ripped Fausto Carmona’s 94-m.p.h. fastball to center field. Derek Jeter later added three hits, contributing to three scoring rallies.

Seventeen of Rodriguez's previous 18 homers have come in Yankees victories, and this one was the 501st of his career. Rodriguez has still not pried his 500th home run ball from the fan who caught it last Saturday.

“I finally got it,” he joked, holding Friday's home run ball aloft. “Five-oh-one.”

aloft adv. 在高處