Recap: Wang Gets Rocked, Swisher Does Not

What Happened

Chien Ming Wang failed to get out of the second inning, allowing 8 runs and getting just 3 outs. The bullpen gave up another 7 runs, while the offense failed to muster anything until the game was out of hand. Nick Swisher pitched a scoreless 8th inning and hit a home run.

What I Liked

1) Nick Swisher- How awesome is this guy? He homered and walked, continuing his torrid pace at the plate. The story, however, was his pitching of the 8th inning, allowing one hit and one walk but no runs. He also struck out Gabe Kapler on a wicked 77 MPH changeup, which greatly offset his 78 MPH fastball. Swisher is fun to watch, and he is quickly becoming a fan favorite. Jorge Posada was not amused, and he has a right as the heart of the team to be displeased when he feels that people are not reacting properly to a loss. Michael Kay on the other hand, who complained about Swish saving the ball from his strikeout, needs to shut his trap. 

2) Jorge Posada- Jorge continues to hit, going 2-4 and knocking in 2 runs. Although the rays took advantage of him on the basepaths, Wang’s slow move to the plate was largely responsible for the Rays success on the bases.

3) Melky Cabrera- Melky got a start in CF and played a good game. He went 2-4 with an RBI.

What I Didn’t Like

1) Chien Ming Wang- Steve talks about this in the previous post, but there was one graph that I needed to add, courtesy of commenter “Pel” from RAB. This the release point data on Wang from this season compared to a good start from last season: [image title="releasepointcomparison" size="full" id="2596" align="center" ]

That is pretty stark, and confirms what Wang told Peter Abraham:

Wang seemed stunned. He said the issue was where he released the ball, which was off to the side instead of over the top. A sinkerball pitcher wants to stand tall on the mound and throw the ball on a downward plane. Otherwise the ball floats over the strike zone and you see what happens.

Basically, Wang is having mechanical issues, and there would be no panic if these starts happened in July. People at RAB (well, probably from Lohud) were suggesting Wang be jettisoned for Phil Hughes. That is very hasty, and is not likely to happen anyhow.

2) The bullpen- This is not a performance critique, it is just bemoaning the extended use of Phil Coke, Edwar Ramirez, and Jon Albaladejo. The Yankees may need to send one or even two of those pitchers down to get some fresh arms, with Anthony Claggett and Steven Jackson likely to get the call. I will repeat what I have said from the start: even the best rotations need a long man. If Brett Tomko were on the roster, the Yankees would not be making any roster moves today, and a hitter would not have been forced to pitch the 8th inning.

3) Robinson Cano- He and Ramiro Pena had a communication issue on a popup that led to 3 unearned runs with Phil Coke on the mound. Robbie, that ball needs to be caught.

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