[外電] Wang passes first test on right foot

[royalray (火紅眼)]

Wang passes first test on right foot
Healthy right-hander handles first-inning drag bunt with ease
By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com


TAMPA, Fla. -- Chien-Ming Wang says he no longer thinks about

his right foot while pitching and that last year's injury has

left his mind completely. Making his second Grapefruit League

start on Saturday, the Yankees right-hander had an opportunity

to prove it sooner than expected.

The play came as Wang faced the first batter of his start against

the Atlanta Braves at George M. Steinbrenner Field, with speedster

Josh Anderson pushing a bunt between the first-base line and the mound.

Wang charged off the mound and scooped the ball to Mark Teixeira,

recording the out and passing the first serious test of his spring.

"He might have to prove himself, but he made a pretty good play today,

" Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "I'm sure there's some scouts watching.

He's moving off the mound pretty good."

Teixeira lauded Wang's ability to field his position,

calling it "a great athletic play."

"The only play there is for him to go get it," Teixeira said.

"If I go get it, Anderson is fast enough that he's going to beat me to the bag.

 The only chance is for Chien-Ming to get that ball, and he did.

"There aren't many pitchers that can make that play.

It was probably a perfect bunt, and he did a great job."

All in all, Wang probably should have been more satisfied with his outing.

He allowed one run in three innings, leaving a first-inning changeup high

to Casey Kotchman that the Atlanta first baseman belted out of the park.

Other than that, Wang was solid, scattering three hits and walking none while

striking out two. He threw 33 pitches, 27 for strikes, but said there was

definitely room for improvement.

"The control is not there yet," Wang said. "Everything seems down the middle."

If the concern is hanging changeups, the Yankees will accept that for now.

But Girardi said that he still can't help but gasp when Wang sends his body

into motion on the field, even if it is something as mundane as covering

first base.

Wang was lost for the season last June 10 at Houston with a right Lisfranc

injury that required he be placed into a boot -- the second Lisfranc injury

of the season for New York (reliever Brian Bruney also missed three months

after falling down while covering first base on April 27 at Chicago).

"The way I saw it happen last year was kind of freaky," Girardi said.

"Now that I've seen it happen twice freaky, there's a sense of a little

paranoia there with all of our guys. I still worry about it, but what

I do see is him pushing off that foot. To me, it looks strong, but it's

in the back of my mind."

Having established his bread and butter with a bowling-ball sinker,

Wang was able to log consecutive 19-win seasons before the injury cut short his

2008 campaign after eight victories. While he has been able to enjoy success

so far, Wang also realizes that teams have learned to wait on his sinker,

increasing the importance of more refined other pitches.

Wang tinkered with his slider and his changeup on Saturday, coming back

with a diving offspeed pitch to strike out Anderson swinging in the

third inning. That came after pitching coach Dave Eiland pulled Wang aside

in a mound conference, telling him that he was not finishing his pitches.

"I thought his slider made a lot of progress last year, and I thought his

change did as well," Girardi said. "His slider in Spring Training has had

more depth than I've seen it in years past, which is good. It's going the

opposite direction of a sinker and having some bite to it.

"The three pitches are important because you're going to face some teams

that try to put a lot of lefties in, and that changeup can help him a lot."

The effort came on the same afternoon that China defeated Chinese Taipei, 4-1,

 to eliminate Wang's home country from the World Baseball Classic.

Neither Wang nor Dodgers pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo were available to represent

Chinese Taipei, and Wang said that the Yankees took first priority over

taking part in the Classic.

"I really want to pitch for Chinese Taipei, but it's really hard for me,"

Wang said through an interpreter. "I still need to do some work for [the]

Yankees. It would be a pleasure to play for Chinese Taipei, but I still

need to do my work here."

轉錄於官網

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090307&content_

id=3937748&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy

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       我要加入兄弟象呀~~   幹!回家了啦!賣雞排都比在象隊有前途
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         . . ﹎ ﹍﹍ ╱￣﹚╱＞


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推 meteorology:最後一段～～T . TY
推 iooiekme:推簽名檔…
推 torosome:看不懂簽名檔的由來 誰能說明一下 抱歉 職棒新手
→ torosome:恰恰不也是兄弟象嗎?怎會沒前途?
推 coffee77:簽名檔  呵
推 meteorology:現在覺得至少象對有放人～
推 devilsky:說坦白的 王去投也沒用 只打一分
推 denisck123:照樓上這種理論  應該打者也可說我來幹麻  反正投手不
→ denisck123:是王
推 OoyaoO:王去也沒用 保證不掉分？ 哪有可能  掉分就輸了
推 devilsky:....等打線能打多一點分再去說你那句話吧 你可不是2:1輸
推 soaringfish:好了  別吵太多非關版旨的議題嘍~