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| | | June 12 - As much as the Boston Red Sox must be whooping it up at their 7-game winning streak against their biggest MLB rivals, the New York Yankees must no doubt be sobbing into their catchers mitts after going down for the seventh consecutive time against the Sox Wednesday night at Fenway Park by 6-5.
Unfortunately for Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, most of the blame for Wednesday's loss has been dumped on his shoulders, although deservedly so. During his time on the mound, he faced 17 hitters, of which he retired 8 and let 9 slip through. This season the pitcher's form has gone from bad to worse.
He didn't even half resemble the former shadow of himself who dazzled at Fenway Park in April, when he threw an exhilarating and memorable two-hit game. And the worst thing about Wang's shocking slump of late, is that nobody - including his team manager, teammates and fans - can figure out what is causing it.
Also stumped is Yankees pitching coach, Dave Eiland. 'His arm slot's all over the place,' explained Eiland. 'Sometimes it's in the right place, but the next time it's too high, the next time it's too low and so on. It's no secret that at this level of baseball, if you have varying arm slots you cannot command the baseball.'
Continued the pitching coach, 'When he's doing his work between starts, and in the bullpen before the game, it's there. He gets in the game, I don't know if he's trying to do too much, but he's cutting a lot of pitches off and pulling to the glove side. His sinker's are worryingly pulling to the other side of the plate.'
Said Yankees manager Joe Girardi after Wednesday's game when he was asked by reporters if Wang will make it back on the field, 'I'm not ready to make that decision right now. It's seven minutes after the game. However, it's something we'll discuss. I'll sleep on it, and in five days, someone will be out there.'
Ominous words indeed. However, despite their run of bad luck against Boston, the Yankees still only trail the Red Sox by one game in the American League East. If the Yankees' Jorge Posada had managed to hit a homer, the team could have tied or won the game, but his hit only made it to the left-field warning track.
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| | 6/12/2009 12:57:55 AM |
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