Daily Archives: June 10, 2009

Chien-Ming Wang’s start in Boston Wednesday night was a set-back for both the pitcher and the team. Wang had velocity, frequently hitting 95 miles per hour on the YES gun, and movement, but much like A.J. Burnett the night before, he had no control. It was almost as if the Red Sox had ball-repelling magnets installed under home plate.

Wang look good striking out Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay to end the second inning, but by then he’d already given up three runs on three hits and three walks and thrown 58 pitches. He tried to start the third with a gimme strike to Mike Lowell, but Lowell parked it on top of the Green Monster to give the Red Sox a 4-1 lead (the Yankee run came on a Jorge Posada homer off Tim Wakefield leading off the second). David Ortiz followed by lifting a 400-foot fly out to center, and Mark Kotsay hit a hard single up the middle on Wang’s next pitch. A batter later, Wang was out of the game having thrown just 57 percent of his 69 pitches for strikes.

Phil Hughes pitched admirably over 3 2/3 innings in relief of Wang, striking out five men along the way, but he got into some bad counts in the fourth and wound up throwing two very hittable fastballs to J.D. Drew and Kevin Youkilis, resulting in a triple and an opposite-field homer, giving the Sox two crucial insurance runs.

The Yankee offense chipped away. A pair of walks set up a Melky Cabrera RBI single in the fourth. Mark Teixeira hit right-handed against Wakefield and went 3-for-3 against the knuckleballer with a single and a double off the Monster and another double down the left field line. That last came leading off the fifth and two groundouts plated Tex with the third Yankee run. Switched back to the left side against Ramon Ramirez in the seventh, Teixeira followed a Johnny Damon lead-off homer with a solo shot of his own to bring the Yankees within 6-5.

Unfortunately, that’s as close as they’d get. Nick Swisher worked a walk off Hideki Okajima to start the eighth, Brett Gardner ran for him, and Melky Cabrera bunted Gardner to second, but Derek Jeter (an ugly 0-for-5) struck out, as did Damon, stranding Gardner, who never attempted a steal.

In the ninth, Alex Rodriguez ignored the Fenway crowd’s “You Did Ste-Roids!” chant to work a one-out walk against Jonathan Papelbon, and pinch-runner Ramiro Peña stole second in his place, but Robinson Cano struck out and Jorge Posada flied out to the warning track in left to end the game.

After the game, Posada seemed more fed up with Wang’s struggles than frustrated by them, Wang said he would understand if the Yankees wanted to move him back into the bullpen, and Joe Girardi uncharacteristically refused to say that Wang would make his next start, or even to say “he’s in the rotation right now” (his typical code for “but won’t be five days from now”). Given how well Hughes pitched by comparison, I’d expect the two to swap roles next time around.

Barring injury, last night’s series opener couldn’t have gone much worse for the Yankees. Now their remaining hopes of winning this series rest on tonight’s starter, Chien-Ming Wang, who hasn’t thrown more than 4 2/3 innings in a major league game this year and hasn’t been good for more than three frames in a single outing.

Wang returned to the rotation on Thursday and looked great for two innings, showing the velocity and drop on his sinker the Yankees had been waiting to see, but things flattened out after that, and he left with two outs in the fifth having surrendered five runs to the Rangers. Still, he got all but one of his 14 outs via groundball or strikeout, which was encouraging. Wang will be on a 90-pitch limit tonight, which could mean another short outing even if he pitches well (though Wang at his best could make those 90 pitches last into the eighth).

Also encouraging is that, after a strong April, Tim Wakefield, who starts tonight for Boston, has posted a 6.37 ERA over his last seven starts with opponents hitting .307/.393/.452 against him. Wakefield is 5-2 over that stretch as the Sox have scored an average of 7.14 runs per game for him. As much as I’m thinking good thoughts for Wang, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a slugfest like that break out again tonight.  At the very least, the Yankees should do better than the two measly singles they managed last night.

The lineup returns to normal tonight (Damon in left, Swisher in right, Matsui to DH, though Matsui has hit just .170/.264/.319 lifetime against Wakefield), while rookie George Kottaras catches Wakefield for Boston.

I’ve been fishing twice in my life–once on a lake, another time in the Long Island sound. A long time ago. I don’t recall much other than being bored. Fishing was something kids were supposed to enjoy–like flying a kite or building model airplaines–but I never took to it. Too much patience for a blabbermouth like me. Still, I appreciate why certain men love to fish. Y’all have any good fishing stories?

Also, has anyone read A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean? I have not, but from what I hear it is a wonderfully written book. Here is an excerpt:

After my brother and I became good fishermen, we realized that our father was not a great fly caster, but he was accurate and stylish and wore a glove on his casting hand. As he buttoned his glove in preparation to giving us a lesson, he would say, “It is an art that is performed on a four-count rhythm between ten and two o’clock.”

As a Scot and a Presbyterian, my father believed that man by nature was a mess and had fallen from an original state of grace. Somehow, I early developed the notion that he had done this by falling from a tree. As for my father, I never knew whether he believed God was a mathematician but he certainly believed God could count and that only by picking up God’s rhythms were we able to regain power and beauty. Unlike many Presbyterians, he often used the word “beautiful.”

After he buttoned his glove, he would hold his rod straight out in front of him, where it trembled with the beating of his heart. Although it was eight and a half feet long, it weighed only four and a half ounces. It was made of split bamboo cane from the far-off Bay of Tonkin. It was wrapped with red and blue silk thread, and the wrappings were carefully spaced to make the delicate rod powerful but not so stiff it could not tremble.

Killer job by the BA crew live-blogging the draft yesterday. Here is what Rich Lederer and Marc Hulet have to say about Slade Heathcott:

Rich: Heathcott wouldn’t have been available had he not been injured or had personal issues. He might ask for more than slot but the Yankees can afford to give it to him. Don’t see New York losing its first-round pick two years in a row.

Marc: Nice, nice pick by the Yankees. Definitely fell because of makeup issues and he has the talent to be a monster.

Rich: I saw Heathcott hit and pitch at the Area Code Games last August. I also watched how he carried himself after the game. The kid seemed a little cocky to me and has enough hot dog in him that he did a cartwheel and back flip before the Aflac Classic in honor of Ozzie Smith, who was the honorary chairman. But there is no doubting his talent. Hit 91 on the gun and struck out the side (although not in order). He hit a groundball single up the middle in one of the two ABs I witnessed. Grounded out to shortstop in the other. In the Aflac game, he went with a pitch on the outside corner and singled in a run against Zack Wheeler in the first inning that gave the West an early 1-0 lead. He also pitched the ninth inning and was saddled with the loss after giving up four runs. I wrote down “most athletic player” next to his name on my scoresheet even though I didn’t care for his attitude.

Today’s (brief) news is powered by a dog-tired day-after-birthday girl who has a sore throat (too much rain, and insomnia).

• Teixeira takes over lead at 1B in the All Star balloting.
• Nady may be able to return late next week?
• Why all the homers? Its not the wind, but the height and curvature of the walls.
• A fan planted Yankee grass seed in Fenway Park last month.
• Mo gets a judge’s robe for his next Kangaroo Court.
• OF Slade Heathcott is Yanks’ 1st round amateur draft pick.
• A father and son are trying to see the Yankees win in all 30 parks.
• Tyler Hepner wonders what the Yankees should do with Hughes.

Back with a more-normal report tomorrow.