[外電] SHOT IN ARM FROM MING OF HILL

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SHOT IN ARM FROM MING OF HILL
May 6, 2007 --

CHIEN-MING Wang did something hardly anyone has seen, pitch well for
the Yankees in 2007. Oh yeah, he also nearly pitched a perfect game.
That it was the perfect time made this all the more pleasurable for the
Yankees.

At a moment when the Yankees were hungering for both quantity and quality
from a starter, Wang gave the best of both yesterday in an 8-1 Yankees
rout of Seattle. It was a wonderful marriage of desperate team to grandiose
performance.

No Yankees starter had pitched beyond the seventh inning through
27 games, and then Wang carried a perfect game one out into the
eighth. Ben Broussard homered at that point. So Wang did not go
into the history books. He will settle for the good graces of
his team.

"We are not going anywhere without Wang," Alex Rodriguez said.

It sounded like a campaign slogan and, in a way, it is for these
Yankees. It is simple: They need to win nearly every time Wang,
Mike Mussina or Andy Pettitte start, and that trio needs to
consistently lug the ball deep into games to save an overtaxed
bullpen, in general, and to save it for the other starters,
in particular.

"Absolutely, we have to take advantage of the guys who have done this
before," Joe Torre said.

That is because the Yankees have so many who have done nearly nothing
in the majors. This four-game series is a reflection of who the Yankees
are, right now. Wang is the oasis, surrounded by the untested and
unpalatable. On Friday night, Kei Igawa lasted four innings,
marking the 13th time in the first 27 games a Yankees starter
had worked 41/3 innings or fewer. Darrell Rasner starts today and
Matt DeSalvo makes his major-league debut tomorrow.

By the time the series is over, the Yankees will have started 10
different pitchers this year, a record for the first 30 games.
Six of those pitchers are rookies. With Carl Pavano all but jamming
a scalpel into his own arm to get surgery and get away from competition,
the Yanks will have rookies filling the Nos. 4 and 5 spots in the
rotation until either Roger Clemens shows up or GM Brian Cashman
finds a veteran arm in a paltry trade market. Thus, it is imperative
that the Yankees' Big Three stay healthy, chew up big innings and win
lots and lots of games.

"There is no reason to act as if nothing is going on," Pettitte said.
"I do understand this and I do place a burden on myself. The reality
is the bullpen has been in early too often."

Among the Big Three, Wang is by far the youngest and, thus, he carries
the heaviest weight to regularly go seven innings or more. He is built,
in so many ways, for the job. He is unflappable, seemingly impervious
to the stresses around this team. When Wang's warm-up ended yesterday,
Jorge Posada looked the starter in the eyes and implored him to go nine
innings. Wang merely nodded, which for him is equivalent to a Terrell
Owens end zone shimmy.

Torre said one reason he wanted the perfect game was to see if Wang
would even celebrate or merely "jog off the mound."

In addition, Wang is built to go long distances because he is
uncomplicated in delivery and repertoire. He throws mainly devious
sinkers that induce grounders and keeps his pitch counts low.
He mixes in four-seam fastballs and yesterday relied more than
normal on his slider. Strangely, Posada called his only changeup
of Wang's game on Broussard's homer.

And Wang is the tough silent type, the anti-Pavano. There was worry
he might not start due to a rip in his fingernail. He started. He
took a one-hop smash off his left ankle by Ichiro Suzuki to start the
fourth yesterday and, despite never being right after that,
according to Posada, finished eight innings.

"He's our No. 1," Posada said. "We need him."

The Yankees need their Nos. 1-3 more than ever now. Wang set
an impressive tone yesterday. He wasn't perfect in the boxscore,
just in his timing.

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推 ancientsky:"the anti-Pavano"...
推 vvvbbb:Wang is the tough silent type, the anti-Pavano  XD
推 leomtg:Pavano: the weak loud type...
推 huamin:Pavano怎樣都可以被酸，真可憐啊……
推 leomtg:他這樣的表現 很難不被酸吧