Wang Again
Posted on Jun 4, 2009 12:24 pm
By Cliff Corcoran
Late spring mid-week matinee against the Rangers, not so terribly exciting, right? Wrong. Not only is this afternoon’s game the rubber game of the series, but the Yankees enter the day tied with the Red Sox atop the AL East and a half game behind Texas for the best record in the American League. Though it would surely be a temporary condition, a win today could put them alone in first place with the best record in the league. A loss could drop them to second place with the league’s third-best record.
That’s fun, but even more important is the return of Chien-Ming Wang to the rotation. To recap quickly, Wang broke his foot running the bases in Houston last June, missed the rest of the season, then opened 2009 by giving up 23 runs in six innings across his first three starts (34.50 ERA). He was placed on the disabled list with what the Yankees claimed was weakness in his hips stemming from the foot injury. After working out in Tampa, Wang threw 13 scoreless innings across two rehab starts for Triple-A Tampa, but the Yankees weren’t thrilled with the velocity or drop on his sinker and decided to keep him on the farm. Then, on May 21, Joba Chamberlain got hit with a comebacker and had to leave his start in the first inning. The resultant strain on the bullpen motivated the Yankees to activate Wang immediately and stick him in the pen. He pitched three moderately effective innings the next day, but in his two outings since then, he’s been excellent, throwing two perfect frames against the Rangers on May 27 and three scoreless against the Indians on Sunday, striking out five in those five innings.
With Phil Hughes having stumbled in his last start, the Yankees have swapped the two, starting Wang today and putting Hughes in the bullpen (count me among those glad to see them keep Hughes in the majors). The Rangers bats will tell us all we need to know about how well Wang is pitching, but I also go back to this great video analysis from the MLB Network’s Dan Plesac for a an idea of what to look for in Wang’s mechanics: balance on that right foot, a high leg kick, hands in close to the body, getting on top of his pitches, particularly the sinker, and throwing on that downward plain.
The Rangers counter Wang with former White Sox prospect Brandon McCarthy, who is finally healthy and pitching well. McCarthy has allowed more than four runs in a start just once this year and pitched fewer than five frames only in that same start. Last week, he shut out the Astros. In his last start, he held the A’s to one run on three hits over six innings.
Mark Teixeira, who sat out last night’s game having bruised his ankle on that take-out slide on Tuesday night, is back in the lineup. Francisco Cervelli gets the start behind the plate after Jorge Posada got hit with a variety of bats and balls in last night’s game. Derek Jeter also gets a game off, with slick-fielding Ramiro Peña starting behind the groundballer Wang and Nick Swisher moving up to bat behind Johnny Damon in the two-hole.
In other news, A.J. Burnett was suspended six games for throwing at Nelson Cruz the other night, so maybe Hughes will get another start anyway. Vicente Padilla, who has reportedly been placed on waivers by the Rangers, was merely fined.
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Burnett ought to get out of it, if Beckett got out of his.
Sit down, Ian!
Well, that was good. That was good.
well, that was an encouraging inning.
[3] I take it this is your Wang?
How’s the family, Cliff. You getting enough sleep at night?
Wang’s ERA now down to 15.
The inconsistency with the way suspensions and fines are handed down is asinine. The entire “warning” issue is a joke, because it allows the initial aggressors to get in multiple plunks, while the plunk-ee just has to take it. The 2nd HBP of Teix that night warranted something further, and if the Yanks had been secure in the knowledge that punishment was coming down, then Burnett would not have had to handle it himself.
Launching pad?
That was also good (Damon’s dinger).
So far, so good.
have a shot of JD!
[3] Oh, uh. Well.
Sure, what the hell.
[10] Take that, John Stirling…
That’s my Nick!
well, looks like the dial on Swisher has turned back to ‘en fuego’
I dunno, tough call.
oops, ain’t pretty, but i’ll take it (and not look back)
Oh, not it’s not. Bad call, from that angle it’s clearly an out.
Jesus.
This team is maybe the worst base running team I’ve ever seen.
I’m listening on the radio, and that didn’t sound good.
ugh. well, that went interesting places …
that’s the 2nd base running oopsie by Teix in the last couple of games.
[18] Well, Tex should have been out on his fly (the drop was really in the transfer to the throwing hand), and then on his base running blunder he should have been called safe sliding back to first, but they blew that call too. So I guess the terrible calls canceled out.
Rob hit a blistering drive up the 1B line, caught.
TERROR OF WORMS!
Wow, what a blunder by Teixeira. Is he friends with the guy that “dropped” the ball?
You gotta love my Wang today, cult.
If Wang can work his way back to being his old self, he could be the perfect pitcher for the Bandbox in the Bronx. Ground balls, b****es.
[23] Not gonna touch that one.
Following on gamechannel, so is Wormkiller’s sinker looking sharp?
[20] did you see a replay that showed he should have been safe at 1st? i thought he was tagged when it happened, but it was hard to see.
Kay on Wang: “He’s been perfect through two”.
I laughed out loud.
Couple first pitch strikes have gotten more of the plate than I would like, and a few uncorked 55′-ers, but Wang looking real real nice.
[25] Yes, sharp, and esp. when he’s missing, he’s missing low or outside, not over the plate. (He’s bounced three pitches, I think.)
[26] Yeah, I thought the main shot, the one that seems to be looking from behind the pitcher’s mound, showed it pretty clearly. He was tagged, but he already had both hands on the bag.
Yeesh, that half inning was not so good.
Bad pitch. But, a little lucky on that hit, too.
[29] Thanks, good to hear.
[28] velocity’s been good (at least according to the YES gun).
[23]
Generally the guy has to buy me dinner first …
(ba-dum-bum)
[29] also the sinker’s been moving a lot, and late … he’s had Frankie Brains reaching a couple times.
whoopsies.
Sigh.
What I hate most about that is that the bunt was a stupid move, and now it’s paid off.
Uh.
Kinsler gets an RBI on that walk/wild pitch? That’s interesting.
DAMMIT.
Anyone but Damon…
Should have gone to first, Mr. Rod.
[38] he shouldn’t.
that was a terrible play by arod.
CMW’s slider has been pretty sharp today as well.
That’s better.
But, dang it, that mistake by A-Rod cost two runs and probably also an inning of Wang.
The inning could and should have been over with the ground ball to third. Not for nothing, but Wang doesn’t need those kind of shenanigans at this juncture in his comeback.
Still not terrible for Wang – one well hit ball, then some bleeders and bad infielding.
I question the wisdom of having Posada and Jeter sit today. One or the other, fine but come on.
Yanks seem a bit listless … again. somethingsomethingsomethingARodsomethingsomething
Apparently the fans on the wall need to get preflight briefings on not interfering with balls in the field of play.
Cripes.
Maybe Damon could play forty feet behind third base?
I know Wang has caught a bad break or two but he needs to pull it together here.