Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Notes from a doubleheader, etc.
Shortly after watching the Yankees' 2-0 home victory over Detroit this afternoon, I noticed that Rob Neyer had posted an article about the pitcher who had started for New York: Chien-Ming Wang. I've noticed during chat sessions that Neyer has a bit of a fixation with Wang, due to his success despite low strikeout totals. He continues to be skeptical that Wang can keep up such results with a low total, but does remark that many people around baseball are in awe of his "super-sinker."

Nevertheless, Wang continues to get the job done. Sometimes, he allows his share of hits, but today's performance reminded me of a complete game he pitched at the Stadium earlier in the season against Oakland. In a postgame conversation with my dad, we agreed that his starts rarely deviate sharply: he has often logged 7 innings per start in compiling the 16-5 record. He also snared a couple of comebackers, which was reminiscent of a September 2005 contest against Baltimore when he fielded many more of his own ground balls. Perhaps that was a game out of the twilight zone altogether, as Bubba Crosby won it with a game-ending dinger. Today, Wang's presence was especially welcome because the squad will be playing 2 games within 24 hours of today's Game 1 start time. Outside of Rivera's ninth inning, only Scott Proctor (who threw a single pitch one frame prior) pitched out of the bullpen.

The two of us also agreed that the main goal for the rest of the Bombers' regular season is to be playing well going into October. It seems like just yesterday that each game was life-or-death in pursuit of the division crown, as I feverishly tracked the Wild Card standings just in case. The five-game sweep in Fenway brought along a shift in focus, and Boston's spate of injuries has only intensified the sense that there is little use for looking in the rear-view mirror anymore. Of course, the Yankees can attempt to seize the best record in the American League, which would give them home-field advantage should they advance throughout the postseason.

In this one, the only half-inning featuring runs was the fifth: true to form, Craig Wilson hit a left-hander, taking the second pitch out of the park toward the left field foul pole. A subsequent walk to Johnny Damon coupled with a Derek Jeter hit set up Jason's Giambi's sacrifice line out for the second tally.

The other theme that went through my mind as I spent a relaxed morning was Buster Olney's concern about the patience of the Detroit lineup. This particular game may have been a poor crucible for such a notion, because Wang does, to some degree, pitch to contact. Furthermore, home plate umpire Tom Hallion called a relatively broad strike zone, putting patience at a bit less of a premium than it might have on other days. Still, the YES Network's Ken Singleton pointed out the free-swinging nature of a team that includes Dmitri Young and Curtis Granderson, and Wang often had batters putting the initial pitch or two of a count in play.

One event of note for Detroit as well as prospect enthusiasts was the presence of Andrew Miller, the recently drafted pitcher. Miller was promoted after a strong but brief showing at Single-A Lakeland, and exhibited some impressive stuff today. It was far from a no-pressure situation, as he appeared during the eighth inning with his club down just two runs. Miller featured a curve as well what appeared to be a sweeping slurve in addition to 95 MPH heat. The only blemish on his outing was hitting Craig Wilson with a pitch, pitching coach Chuck Hernandez playfully felt for his heartbeat after the major league debut.

I found that Singleton's booth partner, Jim Kaat, had an interesting reflection on Alex Rodriguez. Kaat noted that everyone must be giving A-Rod advice lately, but he might consider sitting in a closet with Miles Davis on, then come out 10 minutes prior to game time. An overstatement, perhaps, but you do have to believe that he is overthinking things just a little. He grounded into a double play with men on in the first, which much to my chagrin brought out the boos even after he was welcomed to the plate by with a hearty cheer. The make-up game crowd may have numbered only around 20,000, but I hoped that die-hards would be more supportive. This much is certain: Rodriguez wants badly to delight the home faithful, and he's no loafer on the diamond. At least his glove was acknowledged on this day, as he made more than one play of relative difficulty. His bat still looked missing, and was clearly late on a Nate Robertson fastball before grounded weakly to Ivan Rodriguez. Staying ahead in counts did give him one productive at bat, a walk to keep a rally alive in the Yanks' seventh.

Assorted notes: Derek Jeter kept his hitting streak alive early in the contest by staying back on an 0-2 breaking pitch in the first and singling to left center. Hideki Matsui took batting practice in a cage, dryly remarking that he felt no pain, but recorded no base hits either. Robertson got out of trouble on several occasions but improved markedly on his last outing in which he surrendered ten runs to the White Sox. The sliding Magglio Ordonez pinch hit with two on in scoring position during the eighth, but flied out to left. Carlos Guillen put together a fine plate appearance against Rivera when he chose to bat right-handed, singling weakly to center.

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