NewsWang progresses, but Yanks can't help
Righty's longest outing of season comes with little support
By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com
06/18/09 12:05 AM ET
NEW YORK -- The cluster of blue "It's a Boy!" balloons hovering around Chien-Ming Wang's locker served as a reminder that the Yankees right-hander has something important to celebrate in his personal life.As far as his professional endeavors, Wang still isn't quite sure. The right-hander pitched better than usual in a make-or-break game, and though the end result of his fifth start was the same as his previous four, manager Joe Girardi said he sees a new confidence developing in his former ace.
"I actually saw him walking in from the bullpen, and I saw a smile on his face," Girardi said. "It looked like he was ready to get after it."
Strut or not, the Yankees still fell to the Nationals at home on Wednesday, 3-2. But indications are that Wang will be allowed another opportunity in a starting role, as this loss fell on the Bombers' bats, which were silent far too long against Washington left-hander John Lannan.
"Whatever the manager decides," Wang said. "I still lost the game."
Though he was touched for an Adam Dunn solo homer and a Nick Johnson two-run triple, just pitching more competitively may have been a boost for Wang, whose wife, Chia-Ling Wu, gave birth to the couple's first child on Wednesday, a son named Justin Jesse.
"Very excited -- very cute," Wang said. "He looks like me."
Girardi said that he would need to review game tape before any decisions were official, inspecting Wang's quality of sink and his life on the ball. But upon first blush, Wang appeared to throw the ball better in his five-inning start.
"I thought he threw strikes with all of his pitches and looked a lot better in the strike zone," catcher Jorge Posada said. "I thought he used both sides of the plate and was a lot better. Coming out of the things he did, I'm very positive."
The Dunn home run in the fourth came on a 3-0 pitch that Wang said he was surprised the slugger offered at and sent deep into the right-field seats. Girardi also discounted some of the fifth inning, when Johnson sent a drive past a diving Melky Cabrera, noting that the Nationals might have had five outs in the inning.
Those could have been recorded if shortstop Ramiro Pena had held onto a throw from Posada on a Brendan Harris stolen base, and if first-base umpire Larry Vanover hadn't missed a call on a Cristian Guzman infield hit that wasn't.
On the positive side, Wang appeared capable during his season-high 91-pitch effort, scattering six hits while walking two and striking out four. Perhaps most importantly, the sinkerballer recorded 10 of his 15 outs via ground ball, lowering his ERA from 14.34 to 12.65.
"Wanger's the same -- that's what I like about him," Posada said. "He isn't going to change. He's always going to take the ball, and every time he goes out there he looks forward to his next start. It seemed like today he was a lot better."
Asked if it looked like Wang would get another opportunity to improve, Girardi responded in the affirmative.
"That's pretty safe to say," Girardi said. "We wanted to see some good things out of him, and I think we did tonight. Hopefully, it's good for him. From the naked eye, I saw some pretty good pitches, and the ground-ball outs are a real good sign."
The downside was that the progress came on a night when Lannan, a Long Island native, made it through four innings without allowing a hit until Robinson Cano broke up the no-hit bid with a solo home run to right leading off the fifth.
Working quickly and changing speeds, Lannan joined the list of fresh faces to keep the Yankees off balance on their homestand, throwing mostly fastballs and not needing to mess with his curveball against the pull-happy Bombers.
"It's the first time we've seen him," said Alex Rodriguez. "He threw the ball in and out very well, changed speeds, threw strikes and didn't walk anybody. If you throw strikes against us, you've got a chance."
Limited to two hits through eight frames, New York finally came alive to chase the southpaw and put what would have been the winning run on base in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The last gasp came as Johnny Damon homered to lead off the ninth and, after an out, Mark Teixeira singled through the left side to chase Lannan and bring on Mike MacDougal. Representing the tying run, pinch-runner Brett Gardner swiped second base on a pitchout and took third base on an offering in the dirt.
A-Rod worked a six-pitch walk to set up a big chance for Cano and the Yankees, who lead the Major Leagues with 22 come-from-behind victories.
"You don't feel bad about the walk, because you've got the hottest hitter on the planet in Robbie Cano coming up," Rodriguez said.
But this one wasn't meant to be. Cano -- who has hits in seven of his past 10 at-bats and eight of his past 12 -- worked a nine-pitch at-bat before pounding a 96-mph fastball to shortstop for a game-ending double play.
"I thought we really were going to pull this out here again," Girardi said. "We've done it a lot here at home. We've had opportunities to do it, but the last couple of times, it seems we haven't gotten it done. That will turn again."
Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
