Yankees' Wang comes close to perfection
By BRIAN HEYMAN
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: May 6, 2007)
NEW YORK - Chien-Ming Wang turned and watched his perfect game soaring
over the wall in right-center, just five outs short of joining the
immortal club that has just 17 members.
The 51,702 fans in the Stadium stands rose as one yesterday to salute
the Yankees' starter. But Wang's face showed no emotion after the
Mariners' first baseman, Ben Broussard, interrupted his date with
perfection after 7 1/3 innings.
"He's about as even-tempered a starting pitcher that I've ever seen,"
manager Joe Torre said. "I was curious just to see what kind of
emotion there would be if he did pitch the no-hitter. He might have
jogged off the mound or something instead of walked."
Jose Guillen followed Broussard's shot with a clean single to left,
but Wang then got a double-play ball and walked off to another
loud ovation. His day was done after eight innings and 103 pitches.
Then he heard a news flash when he sat down in the dugout.
Jorge Posada told him he hadn't given up a hit before the homer.
Wang said he didn't know.
The soft-spoken 27-year-old right-hander from Taiwan said two words
to capture his day after Brian Bruney finished off the combined
two-hitter and 8-1 Yankees win.
"Very happy," Wang said.
When Wang is pitching on TV, time is said to stop back in Taiwan.
Everyone is fixated on the national hero making good in America.
In fact, Time magazine just put him on its list of the 100 most
influential people in the world under "Heroes & Pioneers."
The sinkerballer was certainly the most influential person in the
ballpark, the hero of the day. He got great movement, recording
14 of his 24 outs on the ground.
The team is still just 13-15. The Yankees need to know they can
count on their ace after all the rotation injuries and rookie
replacements. The 2006 Cy Young runner-up became their first
starter this year to pitch into the eighth.
"The Yankees have proven that when they've won, it's all about
pitching - pitching and defense," Alex Rodriguez said. "Without
Wang, we're not going anywhere."
Four pitchers had "teamed" to yield 20 hits to Seattle in the 15-11
loss the night before. And now the Yankees have two rookies going
in the final two games of the series: Darrell Rasner today, and
Matt DeSalvo in his big-league debut tomorrow. So this was a rather
timely effort by Wang.
"Pressure doesn't seem to bother him," Torre said.
After a first-pitch strike to Broussard in the eighth, Posada called
for his first changeup of the day.
"I was thinking about throwing low, but it was a little higher,"
Wang said.
"I was hoping he wouldn't swing," Posada said.
"It would feel better if we had won," Broussard said. "But definitely
I think everybody is a competitor. Nobody wants to get no-hit."
Posada was kicking himself later, but Torre told his catcher, "You can't
throw it for him."
This was just Wang's third start and his first win. His slight
hamstring tear in spring training set him back. And the Yankees
didn't know he could make this start until his bullpen session
on Wednesday, because a cracked nail on his right index finger
had bothered him in his last outing vs. the Red Sox.
There were just a few close calls for Wang until the eighth.
"He wasn't leaving a whole lot over the middle of the plate,"
Mariners third baseman Willie Bloomquist said.
In the fourth, the fast-moving Ichiro Suzuki led off with a
comebacker off Wang's left leg, just above the ankle. Wang
couldn't find it for a moment, then picked it up and flung it to
first to get the out. After an anxious meeting at the mound and
a couple of warm-ups, he was deemed good to go again.
The lineup, meanwhile, supported him with a run off Jeff Weaver in
the third and five more off the ex-Yankees washout in the sixth,
capped by Derek Jeter's two-run double for a 6-0 lead.
Suzuki stepped in to start the seventh. Wang fell behind 2-and-0.
Then it looked as if perfection was over. The ball went sailing to
deep left-center. Torre thought for sure it was a hit.
But Hideki Matsui raced back and finally ran it down.
"I thought I'd be able to catch up to it because the ball was sliced,"
Matsui said.
Then with two outs, Wang fell behind Raul Ibanez 3-and-0. But he
came back with two quick strikes. Ibanez fouled a pitch off,
then went down swinging. Six outs to go.
"I thought it was realistic at that point," Torre said.
But then Wang finally cracked.
"You're disappointed for him," Jeter said, "because you don't know
when or if he'll get an opportunity again."
Reach Brian Heyman at bheyman@lohud.com.
http://tinyurl.com/2q9r7l
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