- Chien Ming Wang was awful, allowing 4 runs in 2.2 innings on 6 hits and 3 walks. While his velocity was good and his pitches had decent movement, his command and control were both atrocious. Watching the game, I attempted to rationalize by saying that he was getting squeezed and had not given up a lot of hard hit balls. by the end of the night, there was nothing to say except that Wang looks finished. I would give him one last start (more on this later today).
- Phil Hughes relieved Wang and pitched fairly well. He allowed a 2 run home run to Youkilis after falling behind in the count, but recovered to throw 3.2 innings of 2 run ball with 5 strikeouts. Phil Coke and Alfredo Aceves got the final 5 outs to keep the Red Sox at 6 runs. The more I see Phil pitch, the more it becomes obvious that he has taken a huge step forward this season. He has reestablished himself as a future star, a status that was very much in doubt at points last season.
- Switch hitters Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher batted righthanded against righty knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in order to take aim at the Green Monster in left. Considering Tex went 3-3 off of Wake, it seems that it worked for him. Before anyone on the Red Sox makes fun of the new Yankee Stadium, they might want to address the wall that turns lazy fly balls into doubles first.
- Speaking of Teixeira, he was the only one on the Yankees offense to do much last night, going 4-4 with 3 XBH. Outside of him, the Yankees left 20 runners on base and went 2-15 with RISP. Robinson Cano and Derek Jeter were two of the main culprits, as both went 0-5 and looked awful at the plate. The Yankees did narrow the score to 6-5 after scoring 3 off of Wakefield in the first 6 and then getting back to back homers from Damon and Tex to welcome Ramon Ramirez in the 7th.
- The Yankees got a runner to second with one out in both the 8th and 9th innings, but could not come through with the big hit. There was one strange strategic decision in there. Nick Swisher walked to start the 8th and was pinch run for with Brett Gardner. At that point, Girardi had Melky bunt, moving Brett to 2nd. I hate the bunt there, as I would have given Gardner a chance to steal. Once he is at second, then a bunt to allow a runner to score on an out would make sense. This decision was magnified when Girardi allowed Ramiro Pena to steal with one out in the 9th. Why he allowed one but not the other is a mystery to me.
- Nick Swisher had a strange game. He reached base in 3 of his 4 plate appearances and made one of the season’s best catches in the 8th. On the other hand, he got doubled off first on a soft liner to short and allowed a tailing liner that looked to be an easily caught ball to fall for an RBI double. Swish does make some mental errors, but he also plays very hard and has some excellent at bats. No player is perfect, and we need to take the good with the bad. Swisher has done plenty of good this season, making his errors easier to accept.
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12 Responses to Recap: Wang, Yankees Fall To Red Sox 6-5
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TIQ IQ
Moshe,
I know Wang didnt pitch well, but I would definitely let him pitch in his next start against the nats. I would give him 2 starts to show me something, and then move him to the pen. He has been pretty good coming out of the bp. The thing that concerns me is that next year w Andy gone, who will be our fifth starter? We’ll have hughes, aj, cc, and joba- but then who?
Wang – that’s who.
Well, I think it was a mistake to start Wang period against the red sox. He has struggled against them because they do exactly what they did last night, lay off the sinker because it is a pitch that is supposed to wind up a ball, and while I don’t usually take issue with Jorge’s game calling, the sequences that preceded Youkilis’ homer were awful. He didn’t trust Hughes to throw anything but his fastball and Youk knew it. Following that homer Posada changed his position…and guess what happened?
Nonsense.
Wang was not in shape and is just getitng in shape now.
In the beginning he was throwing 89-90-91, then he went to the minors came back and was throwing 93.
Yesterday he was hitting 95, his ‘in shape’ velocity.
His problem right now is command and confidence, both should get better with 2-3-4 more starts.
What is Hughes, Sandy Koufax?
That’s the problem with Ny fans.
They are clueless as to how you run a franchise and team.
You don’t take a reasonably young pitcher like Wang, a horse who won 19 games 2 years in a row and would have won that many again last year if he hadn’t had an injury and turn him and his TRADE/Franchise value into zero because he’s off to a slow start.
IT’S ONLY EARLY JUNE!!!!!!
No team every won a WS in June and one pitcher in June never cost you a playoff spot or a WS win.
If fans can’t see the difference between a WANG throwing 88-91 last month and Wang hititng 95 yesterday and can’t see that as progress toward getting Wang back to being Wang, they’re just plain dopes.
It can happen over night.
Look at Carl PAvano.
I didn’t want to resign him either but zig-zagging doesn’t work either.
I remember many times when Red Sox could have given up on Wakefield, years ago but stuck with him instead.
Have some patience will ya?
Wang will be fine in a month and Hughes isn’t some Superstar.Just a nice young pitcher who gave up 2 runs in what, less than 3 innings last night?
What, is he going to shutout the Sox every time?
I think not.
WAng is getting closer.
He has made progress, but he continues to fail to bring his command to the mound. If he fails against Washington, he should work out his issues elsewhere. Once he figures it out, I would be all for putting him back in the rotation for Hughes.
Oh, and you wanted patience with Pavano? really? He is not having a great year. He is pretty much Darrell Rasner at this point.
Moshe I usually agree with your opinions but considering the way his rehab was mismanaged do you expect to see Wang lights out this early into it?
In my eyes last night was him nocking the rust off which unfortunately should have been done at the AAA level. I think calling him finished is not really judging the situation clearly. Losses to the Sux do that for people I guess.
I dont actually think he is finished, just that he looks it. If he is poor again in his next start, I would let him work himself out in the bullpen or on a “rehab assignment.”
Actually, I said I didn’t want to resign him.He was a drunk with the YAnkees nad i woudln’t reward him for that.
My point was, pitchers, especially veterans turn it around quickly if the velocity and amr strentgh is present.
Let Wang get his back.
So waht if we lose a few games in the meantime, means nothing.
Joe Torre burnt out his relievers in April/MAy and June trying to win every game and then was naked playoff time.
The idea is to peak late, not early.
In this division, I totally disagree.
You disagree with what?
That if Wang pitches 3 more bad game and we lose 2 of them, that we lose the divison and don’t make the playoffs?
Let’s assume we won 2 of 3 with Hughes (a strong assumption in your favor, considering Yankees record in games Hughes has started isn’t that good).
So, WAng- 1-3, Hughes maybe 3-1 , so it’s a potential 2 game difference in JUNE.
I don’t see that as being overly meaningful.
P.S.
We could have won last nights game with a hit in the 9th.
Two games, in this division, could mean the difference between in and out. The team needs to give itself the best chance to win. If he fails in Washington, then he is not ready to help them win now.