By DAN MARTIN
Posted: 5:00 am
June 28, 2008
The Rangers' decision to be disciplinarians with Sidney Ponson paid considerable dividends for the Yankees last night.
The portly right-hander, who has a history of rowdy behavior that has landed him in trouble in the past, saved the Yankees in the second game of their cross-town doubleheader against the Mets.
Ponson pitched six shutout innings for the Bombers in a 9-0 win to salvage a split last night, just over a week after the team picked him up. He gave up five hits and four walks, while striking out four.
"I got another chance and I want to make the most of it," said Ponson, who knew a bad start could have ended his second bit of time with the Yanks quickly. "That stuff is in the past. I knew I had to pitch well."
Manager Joe Girardi didn't guarantee another start, but his spot in the rotation appears safe for at least another turn.
"He came here with a clean slate," Girardi said. "I am not going to make any judgments. He gave us what we needed."
Of all the unlikely sights during yesterday's day/night twinbill, perhaps the most surprising was Ponson batting in the top of the sixth, out-dueling Pedro Martinez in the process.
The Yankees couldn't have expected Ponson to last that long, not only because he just got released by the struggling Rangers, but also after the shaky beginning to last night start.
Ponson let a pair of base-runners get on in the first and then followed that by loading the bases with no one out in the second and then again with one out in the third. He worked out of all of those jams without giving up a run.
"He was great getting out of those jams," Girardi said.
Ponson was 4-1 with a 3.88 ERA before Texas designated him for assignment after he was out in a bar the night before a start and had problems with manager Ron Washington.
Ponson also had a short stint with the Yankees in 2006 that ended with him being released with a 10.47 ERA.
