Thursday, April 17, 2008

Great win for Yankees, not so good for Wang

I am sure tons of people will show up to say, " See, I told you, Wang is not an ACE" after this outing. I am kind of sensing this happening at my preview posts. Even after that great outing at Fenway park last Friday, a lot of people still come out to say that Wang was just lucky because Red Sox hit so many balls hard without getting good results and he was not dominant at all. People expect ACE is a power pitcher with high strikeout numbers. Wang is a contact pitcher with great command and the ability to pitch deep in the game. He never will be "ACE" in a lot of people's mind if he can't pile up strikeout numbers.

Wang was terrible without question, but he pitched great three games in a row before this one. You can't expect him to be perfect all the time because he is human being like everyone else. This is just a reminder how good Wang has been for Yankees, especially how many innings he has eaten up for us. We just simply can't take him for granted.

Baseball is a team sport. I am glad to see Wang's teammates pick him up this time after he has been picked them up so many times. LaTroy Hawkins, Billy Traber and Brian Bruney come up big tonight, especially Hawkins and Bruney. I still feel the same way before season starts which Hawkins will be a good addition for Yanks. I concern Yankees' bullpen a little bit when we have Moose, Hughes, Kennedy up for next three games. We really need an off day to reconstruct the order of our rotation.

Anyway, Moose will go for Yankees tomorrow against Josh Beckett tomorrow. Let's wait and see what will happen. I often hear people saying, Wang is not an ACE because he is a one-pitch pitcher. When his sinker is off, he is in trouble. I want to ask these people one thing, If Beckett doesn't have his curve ball, will he be in trouble as well? In my opinion, Any pitcher without his best pitch will be in trouble, no matter what his best pitch is. And then people will come out to say, that's why he is not an ACE because he can't gut it out like a lot of "ACES" will be able to do. I am not sure how many "ACES" will be able to gut it out against Red Sox when they like Wang without sinkers, sliders and changeup all night. Wang may be able to do that against weak opponent, not Red Sox.

I also have one more question for you guys. When I watch Wang struggling through all night, I don't understand one thing. Why not just throw some four seamers for strike which Wang has around mid 90s when he don't have command on two seamers, sliders and changeup all night? When Wang try to command new pitch in the major league level which is not easy, I am sure the command of his sinker will take some hits as well.

I hope Posada or Molina will be back soon, I think Wang probably will be a little better than he was last night if one of them was there instead of Chad Moeller. Wang is not one of those pitchers call their own pitches, such as Moose. He need a good catcher to rely on, especially on the day he has nothing to offer.

2 comments:

yanks26 said...

The way the Red Sox & Yanks were hitting last nght, Cy Young would've got been hit around.

Here's a great article on Wang from SI. It makes you want to root harder for him:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/albert_chen/04/15/wang0421/index.html?eref=T1

Jessica Lee said...

I did mention that article at my preview post. Absolutely, you're right. After reading that article, you guys probably can image how much pressure he has on his shoulder.