Yankees Daily

The New York Yankees are likely to non-tender Chien-Ming Wang. That is a mistake in my view.

If it wasn’t for Chien-Ming Wang running the bases in a Houston Astro game and hurting his leg, he’d be the number two starter behind C.C. Sabathia.

He was too good of a starter to just let go. He won 19 games in back to back years and that’s a lot of experience to let go. It would also be good to sign Wang and introduce their brand familiarity to Thai markets and secure the future revenue that allows them to overpay for talent and still thrive financially.

I believe Wang from here on out will be a much better pitcher than Sergio Mitre. The lowest amount of money the Yankees can tender Wang is four million dollars and that is a steal for a middle of a rotation guy. His ceiling is too high to walk away from.

Wang can and has pitched very well in New York market. A guy shouldn’t be thrown to the scrap heap because he got injured. He was throwing 96 mph at times with a devastating sinker before his injury woes. His foot injury led to his shoulder injury and with the surgery he had, he could return to be an ace quality pitcher.

If the Yankees planned to non-tender Wang, they could of gone after guys like Rich Harden who signed a reasonable contract. I’d like to give a healthy Wang another shot. The Yankees think that Mitre is a better option than Wang. I don’t.

He’s only 29 years old.

I hear that the Dodgers are interested in Wang. I have a feeling that he’d pitch very well for Joe Torre in the National League. I can see him winning come back player of the year and just devastate National League hitting with his sinker.

The New York Yankees won over the Toronto Blue Jays in 12 innings by a score of because of Jorge Posada walk off single. Brett Tomko got the win.

I’m not even home and this cruise ship won’t let me copy and paste anything. I didn’t even watch the game either.

The New York Yankees beat the Mets by a score of 4-2. Starting for the Yankees was Chien-Ming Wang and he got the win. Mariano Rivera got the save. His 500th save.

This game was a National League, low scoring game. I was very impressed with Rivera’s walk to extend the lead to 4-2 that gave himself some cushion in the last inning. You could tell it was going to be his night. Once he walked, you knew 500 career saves was at hand. Even after Dale Murphy singled in the ninth inning with two outs, I knew Mariano was going to make Cora look foolish. He did… with a weak ground out to second base. Where would we be without Rivera all these years?

I can say with confidence, that he is the best closer ever.

I wasn’t too crazy about Wang’s performance even though he got the win. When the Yankees were winning 3-2 in the sixth inning, Tatis sacrificed Sheffield to second. Girardi wanted this game and didn’t take any chances so he took Wang out. He’s seen things fall apart fast for Wang in the past so he was done after 85 pitches.

I believe Wang has no confidence. His mechanics were all over the place and it’s most likely he lost his confidence. I believe the two go hand and hand. I pitched when I was younger and when you lose confidence, every thing just goes. Every thing was up for Wang and he had no command. He’s lucky they weren’t playing an American League team or his night would of been over much earlier.

How many ground outs is Cano going to have? He grounded out three times tonight and some of them were key outs. Why is he batting fifth? I think he took the Double Play Crown away from Jeter. Especially with men in scoring position. Girardi is showing too much faith in him. Cano expands the zone too much and is not a patient hitter. He needs to take pitches. He’s turning into the next Alfonso Soriano. Some one batting fifth doesn’t bat .215 with men in scoring position.

The great news about tonight was that Phil Hughes attacked the zone and looked awesome. I put him down in the past but I have nothing but praise for him now. Overall the Yankees won and swept the Mets. It doesn’t get any better than that folks.

Player of the Game: The best. Mariano Rivera. He walked and got his 500th save.

The New York Yankees lost to the Atlanta Braves by a score of 4-0. Starting for the Yankees was Chien-Ming Wang and he got the loss.

Where do I start? This team cannot play situational baseball and it’s a problem. The Yankees had the bases loaded twice and men on second and third once and all three times they made first pitch outs. The Yankees lead off with doubles but fail to move the runner over to third with less than two outs. They’re underachieving across the board and it’s painful when batters like Robinson Cano swing at pitches in the dirt. Cano also has to be more patient at the plate. He swings at too many first pitches.

The Braves didn’t have to pitch to Texeira the way A-Rod is hitting. The thing is, can you really change the lineup and take A-Rod out of the clean up spot? The team can’t hit with men in scoring position and haven’t for weeks. The team is in a team wide hitting slump and who knows when they are going to break out of it.

I wasn’t too happy with Jorge’s game calling in the third inning. Yunel Escobar got two strikes on him with two sliders but both pitches were flat. The third pitch, Jorge called another slider and Yunel then started the rally with a hit. It would of been nice to see Jorge call a sinker because Wang’s sinker was working pretty good tonight.

Wang has trouble pitching from the stretch though. He has no control with runners on base and him having only one good pitch hurts him. Better lineups are going to beat him good in the future.

Like I started out the post though. Wang wasn’t the problem, it was the offense. It died. No one knows where it went. If the bases are loaded and a young, inexperienced rookie pitcher is in trouble, has no control and is walking batters, you don’t swing at the first pitch. It’s unbelievable that the Yankees got this guy off the hook so many times tonight. I mean, the Braves pitcher was begging the Yankees to score off of him. How much more can you give?

Hanson had no control and didn’t know where his pitches were going. He wasn’t very impressive and the Yankees should of scored more than six runs off of him. How they didn’t is amazing.

What about A-Rod? He’s making mistakes in the field, he can’t hit and he can’t get on base and looks worse than I’ve ever seen him. Like I said in a post I made a few days ago, A-Rod, please go back on steroids. Stop pulling a David Ortiz on us and stop pretending that you’re tired. We know you’re not that good of a ball player without the roids and you’re proving it.

Then we have Derek Jeter hitting into double plays again. Is he kidding? Is he joking? Maybe Jeter will do a Ashton Kutcher on us and tell us that we’ve been all punked and that he’s not really hitting into this many double plays and we’re imagining it.

The second out of the eighth inning defines this team, complacent and over paid. Posada strikes out and didn’t even bother running to first base. It’s like he gave up. He was in a daze. He was lost. He was in Land Of The Lost.

This whole post is out of order and it’s a mess, just like the Yankees.

The New York Yankees lost to the worst team in baseball, the Washington Nationals by a score of 3-2.

This is not the end of the world. Don’t forget, the Nationals are a professional baseball team and they did give C.C. Sabathia and the Yankees a hard time on Tuesday night.

Still, one would think that there would be a little more fire under the Yankees’ collective butts. A little more desire. Was it me or did they just go through the motions tonight? They only scored on the home run as well. That has to be pretty alarming. What also is alarming is that the Yankees keep failing against pitchers they haven’t faced.

Maybe Alex Rodriguez needs a day off. He admitted that his hip is stiff. On the last play of the game, Alex should of tried to steal second because if the Nationals were to try to throw A-Rod out, Gardner would of stolen home.

Wang pitched an ok game but he really didn’t do as well as the box score might indicate. His sinker was up in the zone all night and it was going left to right instead of down. He got away with his pitches up in the zone because he was mixing it up and because the Nationals are not good. His velocity was down as well. The National batters would look for a sinker but Wang threw them a slider and struck them out. It would be good if he could throw that pitch more.

He mixed in his slider, threw some change ups but he didn’t have a good sinking fastball and he didn’t have great velocity. One has to wonder what the outcome would of been if this was the Red Sox.

Phil Hughes threw his curveball over for strikes and he had good velocity on his fastball.

Player of the Game: Washington Nationals pitcher John Lannon. His name constantly reminds me of John Lennon. He threw a great game by throwing first pitch strikes and working quickly.

The New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers by a score of 8-6. Starting for the Yankees was Chien-Ming Wang and he got a no decision. He gave up five earned runs. David Robertson got the win. Mariano Rivera got the save.

At the start of the game it looked as though we were getting the Chien-Ming Wang we’ve seen pitch so effectively during his brief relief appearances. We did but for the first two innings only.

He had a great downward sinker and it had a lot of life on it. It had so much action that it looked like a left-handed slider. He was keeping the ball in the infield. He had great velocity at 94 mph and was perfect through two innings.

Then the third inning started. His sinker wasn’t sinking but sailing. The Rangers were waiting for his sinker and they started to crush it. He didn’t mix up his pitches and the left-handed batters were handling his sinker away. He should of mixed in his slider to run it in on their hands so it would of opened up the outside corner for his sinker.

Wang started to throw his slider more in the fourth inning but it wasn’t good enough to strike out right-handed batters and strike out left-handed batters inside. His sinker started to flatten out and it got up in the zone. If he doesn’t have an over powering sinker in games, he’s going to have to rely on his slider so he’ll have to work on it more maybe in the bull pen during games.

He’s going to have to learn how to get left handed batters out with his slider in and learn how to strike out right-handed batters with the same pitch.

The thing we have to worry about now with Wang is his confidence. We’ve seen him in the past get blown out of games because he didn’t have confidence in himself or his pitches.

The outcome of the game was positive however. It seems that the Yankees hit better than yesterday since Tex was back in the lineup. The bull pen did a great job and kept the Yankees in the game so the Yankee batters could win it in the eighth inning.

Player of the Game: Melky Cabrera. Helped the Yankees win with a two-run home run in the eighth. Melky is a star in the making. I only see bigger and better things for him.

The New York Yankees lost to the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 7-3. A.J. Burnett suffered the loss.

A.J. Burnett started out the game with a very good curveball and had great velocity on his 4-Seam Fastball which was hitting 94 mph. However, it seems that Burnett took pitches off and got lazy with his front side and didn’t drive the ball down. He also threw his 4-Seam Fastball a little too much and didn’t change it up. It would of been better if he threw a different pitch, even if it was a ball to put doubt in the hitters’ mind.

Overall he had decent stuff but the long ball killed him. The Phillies are a great fastball hitting team so this was not a good match up for Burnett. He missed his location at times and when he did, Philadelphia made him pay. He was inconsistent. When he gave up big home runs early in the game, the Yankees had a little bit of a let down.

The Phillies game plan seemed to jump on his fastball early so Burnett wouldn’t be able to get to his breaking ball and it worked early in the game.

Burnett’s leg goes back a lot during hit pitching motion and he flies open with his pitches. This is why the ball will fly left to right and there’s too much rotation early in the delivery.

Chien-Ming Wang has become too predictable and hitters wait for his sinking fastball. He needs to develop his secondary pitches better and work on his slider more. He needs another pitch to go to. He was inconsistent as well. He had great velocity getting up to 94-95 mph at the start but then he was hitting 91-92 late in the game. It was one good pitch then one bad pitch. His sinker was out and over the plate and then he would throw his sinker down in the zone that had better life to it. Inconsistent.

When he got ahead in the count, he didn’t know how to put the batters away and gave up a home run on a 1-2 pitch to Raul Ibanez. He missed some pitches up in the zone when he was trying to go down and away.

Wang never learned how to get out of jams because his stuff was so good in the past with a great fastball and a heavy sinker but his velocity is not as good as it was. He’s going to have to take stuff off of his pitches so it looks slower to batters at different times. When his sinker is not working, it’s hard to set up and get into your secondary pitches.

He needs a second pitch that works to offset his sinker.

When the Phillies got Johnny Damon trying to score in the first inning at home plate, that changed the complexion of the game. It might of been a different story if the Yankees scored after the Phillies did. It was a perfect play by the Phillies.

Now to tomorrow.

The New York Yankees lost to the Tampa Yankees by a score of 15-3. Chien-Ming Wang gave up 8 earned runs on 6 hits in 1 inning of work. He got the loss. Jonathan Albaladejo gave up 3 earned runs on 5 hits in 3 innings of work. Albaladejo gave up a home run that let in 3 of Chien-Ming Wang’s runners.

Chien-Ming Wang is struggling and it’s hard to figure out why. Here are some possible reasons.

His velocity seems to have dropped a little and it’s hard to use your secondary pitches when that happens. Wang won 19 games with a power sinker before he got injured and didn’t have many secondary pitches.

Tonight his sinker wasn’t working so he had to go to his slider and few more split fingered fastballs. He was a good sinker from getting out of the 1st inning but it wasn’t working for him.

Before he was injured, he was throwing his power sinker at 95 mph which is unbelievable. Now it hovers around 89 to 90 mph. That could also be a difference or maybe because he didn’t pitch the last half of last year and he doesn’t have his arm strength back. However, he doesn’t seem to be favoring his foot from his injury.

Wang looks lost and he’s not throwing with conviction. After seeing his body language on the bench, the Yankees should be worried about his psyche. He looked very dejected. In the past, Wang was able to figure out his bad games but he hasn’t been able to figure out what is wrong lately.

Phil Coke was very impressive last year but he’s been getting roughed up. He has a big great wind up but when he gets in the stretch, he gets into rapid-fire mode. He needs to learn how to pitch in the stretch and get his pitches down. His pitches were up and he looked like a different pitcher.

When you’re in the stretch, you have completely different mechanics and a different rhythm. He’ll have to learn that if he wants to be effective.

It was a sad testament to the bullpen when you’re best pitcher is Nick Swisher. It might of been embarrassing for the Yankees but it was out of necessity because the bull pen is very thin right now. The Yankees don’t have a long man in the bull pen and that’s a decision they made coming out of spring training. The Yankees might have to bring up a pitcher from the minors, perhaps David Robertson.

Now pressure will be on A.J. Burnett to give the Yankees 7 or 8 innings tomorrow. He has carried himself well so I doubt he’ll feel the pressure.

Not only did Nick Swisher pitch a shut out inning but he hit a home run. He’s on fire and I see him being in the lineup the rest of the year. Jorge Posada continues hitting well after getting 2 hits and driving in 2.

The Yankees will win

It’s not the end of the world but it would be good if the Yankees slammed the Orioles tomorrow to give Yankee fans confidence in their team.

I read Bryan Hoch’s piece at the Yankees’ official site and he said that Wang is 3-1 with a 5.13 ERA in nine career games (eight starts) against Baltimore.

Is that what we need in just the second game of the season? Another blow out loss?

It won’t end with the Yankees losing. I believe Wang will give up 4 runs and get a win because the pitcher the Yankees are facing, Koji Uehara is pitching in his first major league game.

Sure, Koji Uehara was a star for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan but look at Daisuke Matsuzaka’s first year. Matsuzaka didn’t dominate like he did in Japan. He finished with a 4.40 era.

Not only that, but according to Peter Abraham, Koji Uehara’s performance has slipped in recent seasons in Japan.

That doesn’t spell success against the Yankees. I think the Yankees are going to rock him for 6 runs before he’s taken out.

I don’t care who you are, if you’re facing the best batters in the world and it’s your first time under the microscope and you’ve slipped as a pitcher, you’re getting rocked. This guy won’t survive.

Chien-Ming Wang has a lot of major league experience and I don’t believe he could possibly face any jitters. Even though his era against Baltimore isn’t good, he will pitch better than he usually does because he’ll feel the Yankees need him to.

These are my predictions for tomorrow:

Koji Uehara gives up 2 home runs and 6 earned runs total.

Wang gives up 4 earned runs. 3 runs will be off a home run. That will be one of the only mistake he makes.

Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon will score 2 runs a piece and Hideki Matsui will hit a grand slam off of Uehara and welcome him to the major leagues.

I believe the Yankees will score 9 runs off the Orioles and win 9-5.

Brian Cashman, GM of the New York Yankees feels that the Yankees are going to need a hearing to settle their differences with their starting pitcher, Chien-Ming Wang. They are having a hard time coming to an agreement.

• Yankees, Wang appear headed to arbitration – Peter Abraham – The Journal News

• Chien-Ming Wang stats – Baseball Reference.com