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Wang makes the adjustments

Peter Abraham
June
11

Here’s how Chien-Ming Wang got his sinker back:

* He increased the speed of his leg lift as he started his delivery. “A quicker leg lift speeds up your arm,” pitching coach Dave Eiland said. “That was something we saw on tape.”

* Wang focused on throwing the ball to the middle of the plate and letting its natural movement work. “I had beeen throwing to the outside corner,” he said. “I needed to throw more strikes.”

* Throwing to Jorge Posada helped. No catcher has worked with Wang more than Posada and no catcher has ever demanded more of him. “He stayed on me to keep the ball down,” Wang said.

And with that Wang got his first victory since May 2. He is 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA against Oakland in three career starts. It wasn’t the most efficient game he has pitched. But he clearly looked more like himself.

Meanwhile …

Girardi claimed that he was saving Kyle Farnsworth in case he needed him for the ninth inning, which is why he went to Jose Veras in the eighth inning. Then he talked to Mariano Rivera and found out he was OK for the ninth. Why wouldn’t you talk to your closer earlier in the game? He just decided not to use Farnsworth, which is fine.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 1:54 am by Peter Abraham.
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24 Responses to “Wang makes the adjustments”

  1. Brandon (supporting "Alex being Alex") (J.Santana HR allowed count: 12 )

    Girardi getting w/ the program. “Anyone but Farnsy”

  2. stanzy

    OK, Wang is getting straightened out. Now, what is going on with Derek Jeter? He looks totally uncomfortable at the plate.

  3. JoeT 28 in 09!!

    it wasn’t the most efficient game he’s pitched?? He threw 70 pitches in 7 innings

  4. Al from BK

    If Girardi is really joining the “Forget Farnsy” club then he needs to demand Melancon be here tomorrow and give him a shot at the 8th.

  5. Emmet

    He let the first batter reach in innings 1 through 7. I wasn’t paying attention in the 8th. But I assume that’s what Pete meant by this not being his most efficient outing.

  6. Matthew Cohen

    Great post on Wang PA. Thanks.

  7. Brandon (supporting "Alex being Alex") (J.Santana HR allowed count: 12 )

    Porcello lately has been having trouble commanding his two breaking pitches, a slider and a curveball. It has left him with just a fastball and a change-up, neither of which is good enough to vanquish hitters at the so-called “high A” minor league rung.

    Porcello’s fastball, somewhat surprisingly, is not the heater that has consistently been described as a 94-97-mph fastball.

    “This isn’t a flame-throwing, 95(-mph) kid,” Matlack said. “He’ll touch 95 and touch 96, and most of those are thrown when he’s behind in the count, which I find interesting. He’s more of a sinker-ball guy at 91-92, and that’s not bad.

    Rick Porcello

    Wow so now I see why Detroit passed on Geritt Cole :?

  8. Shirley

    Very happy for Wang. This win is very important for him since he did not have a win for about a month. Maybe his new haircut does bring him some luck,lol.

  9. Brandon (supporting "Alex being Alex") (J.Santana HR allowed count: 12 )

    Padres DFA LHP Wilfredo Ledezma

  10. CY Yang

    Finally the clouds over Wang’s head is gone! Both Wang and the Lakers had a win tonight! I’m happy here in the LaLa Land!

  11. Guiseppe Franco

    Don’t bet on Girardi staying away from Farnsworth for good.

    We’ve seen this before only to be disappointed and Farnsworth getting the ball in critical situations again.

    I’d love to see Melancon get the call tomorrow, but I wouldn’t expect that to happen until after the All Star Break.

  12. EllenC

    haircut does help!

  13. Clare

    Peter,
    Everything is not a conspiracy, and Girardi isn’t always lying. I heard him on the postgame and he clearly said he was hoping they would score a few more runs, so he could use Farnsworth in the ninth. At no time did he say he was going to use Farnsy in a save situation.

  14. owlnation

    He just decided not to use Farnsworth, which is fine.

    Absolutely fine. Always fine. As fine as it gets. Now, if only Girardi would come to that conclusion every game.

  15. 86w183

    He’s holding Farnwurst for the 13th inning tonight because he has a hunch the game will go extra innings.

    Veras and Ohjlendorf will grow into the role… let Farnwurst and Hawkrap be the $ 10 million mop up corps.

    Now go get a lefty! Marte, Grabow, Fuentes, Mahay… I’m not that fussy.

  16. jennifer

    The way I heard the story was he looked out into the pen and saw Mo stretching. He called to ask what he was doing and Mo said he wanted to pitch that he was fine.

  17. tonyb

    Nice to see Jorge getting some props for his handling of the pitchers (which I don’t think we hear that often). He definitely seems like the alpha male on this team.

  18. Hideki Balboni

    Pete loves making the argument that Joe Girardi lies to the media.

  19. saucY

    “The way I heard the story was he looked out into the pen and saw Mo stretching. He called to ask what he was doing and Mo said he wanted to pitch that he was fine.”

    that’s interesting. didn’t hear that take, but it makes sense…

    and Jorge’s handling of pitchers is one of the things we’ve come to take for granted.

  20. Scott (The Joba Era BEGINS!)

    Any game that ends with postgame comments of “I decided to not to go to Farnsworth” is a good game!

  21. Taiwan

    Wang …I love you…

    You are my hero and hope you can be better and better..

    Fans from Taiwan

  22. Jorge Steinbrenner, the long-lost third brother

    I can think of about eight million reasons why you’ll see Farnsy get every opportunity until he’s done wearing a Yankee uniform.

  23. Bob

    cashman trying to move Hawkins?

  24. smitty

    haha ok pete what happened to the wang has to be injured theory, you hear that sound of a toilet bowl flushing ..thats your credibility.

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Chad JenningsChad Jennings joined the The Journal News in October 2009, having spent the better part of seven years covering baseball in Scranton, PA. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri and an award-winning beat reporter and features writer. E-mail me at cjennings@lohud.com
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Sam BordenSam Borden is an award-winning journalist who joined The Journal News and LoHud.com in January 2008. He covered the Yankees for the New York Daily News from 2004-06, and has also worked as a columnist for the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville. E-mail me at sborden@lohud.com
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