Wang will make 'em sinker swim
1 out shy of distance, rise to ace is complete
Posted Monday, June 18th 2007, 4:00 AM
HE SEEMED to just appear from nowhere two years ago, from Tainan City,
Taiwan, by way of the Columbus Clippers. And when Chien-Ming Wang came
to the Bronx in 2005, he was little more than an amiable curiosity item
to those who do not spend their leisure time poring over Baseball
America.
He had a unique personal history, raised by his aunt and uncle rather
than by his biological parents. He was guileless, but not frightened by
the pressure or the big print. Wang was just supposed to be Randy
Johnson's little mascot at first, except that the rookie had this
remarkable sinker and a four-seam fastball that rode in on hitters and
traveled 95 mph.
By now, we know that Wang is more than just another East Asian import.
He is the club's ace, the most dependable performer in the Yankee
rotation. After all the fuss about Roger Clemens this past month, it is
Wang who matters most. If he doesn't quite intimidate opponents like
Clemens, then he can still overpower and dazzle them, as he did last
night in an artful 8-2 victory over the Mets.
Joe Torre says Wang "pitches to contact," meaning he gets guys to ground
out while keeping his pitch count down to a reasonable number. But then
against the Mets, Wang was different. He was fooling the Mets with
changes and sliders, pitches he has grown confident in throwing only
recently. He bent the Mets in pretzels, striking out a career-high 10
batters in 8-2/3 innings for his seventh win of the season.
"He kept us off balance," David Wright said. "When you're looking for a
94 or 95 mph sinker and he throws a slider, it's tough to react."
He shouldn't have been this good last night. Wang had slept the wrong
way and woke up yesterday morning with a stiff neck on the right side.
He had spent time in the trainer's room yesterday afternoon getting
ultrasound and heat, but said it didn't help.
"Still tight," Wang said. "I pitch as good as I can pitch."
He was never really in trouble. Wang was perfect through three innings
before Jose Reyes knocked a seeing-eye single that barely eluded Derek
Jeter at short. An inning later, Jose Valentin laced a clean double down
the line, but really the game was a done deal by then. Alex Rodriguez
had launched one of his space shuttles into the left-field bullpen
again, a two-run shot in the first, and that was all that Wang required.
Torre let him come out to pitch the ninth, then pulled him at the oddest
time, with nobody on base and two outs after a double play. Wang was not
thrilled about that.
"I wanted to," he said, when asked if he thought he should go the whole
way. Torre insisted 113 pitches were just enough.
This is Wang's third season in the majors, and by now it is clear the
only thing that can slow the 27-year-old righty are the ticky-tack
injuries that occasionally have kept him from his turn on the mound. He
has problems with the middle fingernail on his pitching hand and he had
a hamstring problem earlier this season. Nothing major. If the Yankees
make it all the way back into the playoffs after their rotten start,
they will surely use Wang as their No. 1 starter in October.
That is a long way off, of course. The Yanks have won 11 of their last
12, while the Mets have dropped 11 of their last 13. But if you are a
Mets' fan, you don't trade places quite yet.
At the moment, the Yanks are the better club. They have three, top-tier
veteran starters in addition to Wang, who never seems to sweat.
Rodriguez is on a tear again. Torre's disruptive platoons at first and
in the outfield have more or less ended since Jason Giambi left.
The Mets, meanwhile, have been a punchless, losing machine. But streaks
are just that - streaks. In the end, this is less about talent and more
about location, location, location. The National League stinks.
The AL already is 14 games ahead of the NL in interleague play. The Mets
have survived a lengthy collapse, still atop their division. Once they
get out of June, their schedule takes a softer turn.
Nothing soft about Wang last night, even with those changes. He threw
lights out, won the rubber game of the three-game set with the Mets. He
has bigger games ahead of him.
fjbondy@netscape.net
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