Wang does just enough to leave Tigers stranded
BY ROGER RUBIN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Monday, August 20th 2007, 4:00 AM
It wasn't spectacular. And it certainly wasn't what Chien Ming-Wang has made
Yankee fans accustomed to. But after a pair of supbar starts in which he'd
allowed 13 runs over 8-2/3 innings, Wang yesterday turned in six innings that
were just good enough to earn him his 14th win of the season and ease a few
concerns over the ace of the Yankees' staff.
Wang was bashed for eight runs without escaping the third inning on Aug. 8
in Toronto, then labored through six innings, giving up five runs, against
Baltimore a week ago. Yesterday, he had to work out of jams in most of his
innings, but he did a good job keeping the damage to a minimum, allowing
three runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out six.
"This was much better," Wang said. "Today my (pitch) motion was good."
Wang (14-6) stranded eight runners - six in scoring position - over his
last five innings and strikeouts figured prominently in those escapes.
He struck out Brandon Inge with a sinker in the second inning to leave
runners at first and second. He wiffed Inge again, this time with a slider,
and got a Cameron Maybin groundout to maroon runners on second and third in
the fourth.
In the fifth, he got Sean Casey to ground out to Robinson Cano at second
to strand runners at second and third and keep it tied at 3-3.
Joe Torre said that during the previous two outings, Wang became overly
concerned with runners that reached base. "He gets too much on his plate,"
Torre said. "He gets concerned about holding runners on. Not that he
shouldn't be, but it shouldn't take away from the main objective of
making good pitches."
Catcher Jorge Posada said Wang didn't need to be as concerned against the
Tigers because his sinker had good action and was being complemented by
an especially sharp slider.
"That's two pitches going in two different directions," Posada said. "We
could use them a lot to make those guys swing and miss."
In recent days Torre and pitching coach Ron Guidry have tried to steer Wang's
attention back toward the hitter, even when pitching from the stretch.
"I was thinking about the runners too much," Wang said. "It was, 'Don't
think too much - throw the sinker' today."
"He's not as comfortable as he has been or as he will be," Torre said. "He's
fighting himself a little. ... He's got a good head and he's not afraid of
pitching, so I think he'll get better with those situations."
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