[新聞] Wang's Sinker Sends Teams in Different Directions

[decorum (Brave New World)]

王今天先發前落枕，做過超音波和熱敷才上場的。
梅子接著要對上雙城，有個好消息，雙城沒有臺灣來的投手。

Wang’s Sinker Sends Teams in Different Directions

By BEN SHPIGEL
Published: June 18, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/18/sports/baseball/
18yankees.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin

For a team that is having trouble scoring, the most welcome sight is a
grooved fastball or a hanging curve. The Mets are as good at pummeling those
pitches as any team. But batters cannot hit those pitches if they do not
exist. And last night they were few and far between.
Chien-Ming Wang, sinkerballer extraordinaire, compounded the Mets’
 frustration by inducing ground ball after ground ball over eight and
two-thirds innings in the Yankees’ 8-2 victory at Yankee Stadium. When he
was not throwing his sinker, he was firing 95-mile-an-hour fastballs — on
his way to a career-high 10 strikeouts — and leaving the Mets wondering
exactly where that came from.

“He was really throwing hard,” said Carlos Beltrán, who went 1 for 4 and
drove in the Mets’ final run on a single in the ninth. “I didn’t know he
was capable of throwing 95, 96, 97.”

Alex Rodriguez drove in three runs, including two on a towering homer in the
first inning, and Jorge Posada and Johnny Damon each homered and had two runs
batted in. Wang allowed two runs and six hits in winning his fourth
consecutive start.

He did so while pitching with a stiff neck after sleeping funny on his right
side Saturday. He received ultrasound therapy and heat packs before the game
but said he did not expect to miss a start.

The Yankees have won 13 of 16 games this month, which is more or less the
opposite of how the Mets have fared. The Mets fell to 3-12 in June, losing
their fifth series in a row, although they retained their two-game lead over
the Atlanta Braves in the National League East. Asked if he felt the urge to
speak to his team, Manager Willie Randolph said: “No, keep playing. Keep
grinding through this. We just have to get back to winning.”

At last check, the Minnesota Twins, who will play the Mets tonight in the
opener of a 10-game homestand at Shea Stadium, do not have a Taiwanese
pitcher. The Mets must be pleased about that. They have faced two Taiwanese
pitchers in the last five games, in Wang and the Dodgers’ Hong-Chih Kuo,
scoring a total of three runs and losing both times.

Wang’s delivery may be slow and deliberate, but what comes out of his right
hand is not. He consistently threw his fastball in the mid-90s, mixing in the
occasional changeup and slider. And his sinker tailed in or darted away,
generally bewildering the Mets.

Wang’s sinker had so much movement that it fooled David Wright and his
catcher, Posada, on the same play. Wright flailed at a two-strike pitch in
the seventh, and Posada could not block it. Wright ran to first and scored on
Carlos Delgado’s double.

“He’s sort of like a knuckleball pitcher,” Yankees Manager Joe Torre said.
“Even though you know it’s coming, there’s not a whole lot you can do, as
long as he keeps the sink on it.”

The Yankees scored five runs in the first three innings off Orlando Herná
ndez, who allowed six over all before being removed in the fifth inning.
Whenever Hernández sees pinstripes, he is reminded of the three World Series
rings he won with the Yankees. His allure still resonates here, and he
received a warm ovation from partisans of both teams when he was announced
before the game.

Hernández means more to the Mets now, much more, because he is a pitcher
who, in the absence of Pedro Martínez, is apt to take a losing streak
personally and almost single-handedly win a game.

“The guy likes pitching when the spotlight is on,” Derek Jeter said of Hern
ández before the game. “Hopefully, he’s not as good as he usually is.”

The Mets were wishing the same of Rodriguez, who has 8 home runs and 28
R.B.I. this month. No one else has more than 17 R.B.I. in June.

“That’s a pretty good season already,” Damon said. “If you had offered me
that to me before the season, I definitely would have taken it.”

When Rodriguez is on a streak like this, no pitcher in baseball seems able to
fool him. That includes Hernández and his many breaking balls and arm
angles. On his first two pitches to Rodriguez in the first inning, Hernández
tried establishing the inner portion of the plate, but the balls barely
missed. Rodriguez did not bite. Needing a strike to avoid falling behind,
3-0, Hernández threw a belt-high fastball that caught the inside corner.
Rodriguez crushed it beyond the Mets’ bullpen for a two-run homer.

“It only counts for two runs,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t get caught up in
that.”

With Hernández one pitch away from getting out of the second untouched, the
Yankees doubled their lead with two outs. Miguel Cairo lashed a two-out
double into the left-field corner, scoring Hideki Matsui. Damon followed by
ripping a single through the right side.

Hernández struck out Jeter to end the inning, but the Yankees again
threatened in the third. Bobby Abreu led off the inning with a liner that
went over Wright’s head and sliced into the left-field corner. Carlos Gó
mez, a 21-year-old rookie, made an outstanding catch there Friday, but he is
not familiar with how the ball caroms off the wall. The ball kicked past him,
allowing Abreu to slide into third with a triple.

Rodriguez then knocked him in with a sacrifice fly to deep center, extending
the Yankees’ lead to 5-0. Damon hit his homer in the fifth, and Hernández
did not make it through the inning.

“I’m feeling good,” Hernández said. “My speed is good. My control not so
good. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes bad. I’m not worried.”

Neither is Randolph.

“Sometimes when you go through rough times, you tend to run into the best
pitchers on each staff,” Randolph said, referring to Wang. “We just ran
into him at the wrong time.”


--
There are a lot things we don't want to know about the people we love.

                                                    --- Chuck Palahniuk

--
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◆ From: 203.67.146.135
推 liyen:雙城沒有臺灣來的投手 XD
推 eric77:馬上送一個過去
推 joe6304105:送誰？
推 tkugibson:嗯 真是好消息XD
推 gelee:鋒哥應該跟王問一下怎麼處理落枕
推 tonytsai88:先送一籠小籠包過去
→ sxxs: 原來他今天有寶貝碰的殺人眼神是因為落枕  陰錯陽差  哈哈
推 whatyousay:先送肉粽來應景才對
※ 編輯: decorum         來自: 203.67.146.135       (06/18 13:46)
推 Devilskiss:XDXD  雙城沒有臺灣來的投手 好笑
→ sylviehsiang:所以以後要祈求王天天落枕(毆飛)
推 nanako81240:XXD
推 XqpX:還好他有的不是Lugo的眼神
→ DK2s:落枕 吃梅子就好了
推 Ye11owRiver:難怪今天眼神那麼殺，落枕不爽想趕快下班去找中醫師按
→ Ye11owRiver:摩
推 honway:雙城：誰說我們沒有  明天先發"林旺衛"
推 sunbiba:請問後面的Hern ndez是Hernanden嗎..他也是good來good去的
→ sunbiba:                     Hernandez
推 Alexboo:第二行我笑出來了XDDDDDDDDDD
推 Jimimy:林旺衛是外野手啦XD
推 hababy:推林旺XD
推 cat1984:第二句真的超噴飯的XDDDDDD
推 doa3ps2:外電真的這樣寫...XD