The Yankees Hughes-Wang Problem

The Yankees had back-to-back years with perfect games as David Cone and David Wells became "baseball immortality". In 2001, Mike Mussina took an September ESPN start to two strikes and two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning with a perfect game. And then Carl Everett broke it up. Since then, Yankees pitchers have come oh-so-close to no-no's only to fall short. So far this year the Yankees had CC Sabathia and Phil Hughes throw 1-hit gems. This is the second time that Hughes has come close--but failed--to throw the no-hitter, joining former Yankee Chien-Ming Wang among the unlucky this past decade. So for Hughes to Wang (by the way, I've wanted to use that title for a while), the Yankees have been unlucky in finishing out the no-hit bids.

So close. Near no-no's. The forgotten games. Moose's I will never forget. He was dealing and looked totally unhittable. He dominated a really tough Boston lineup in a really tough ballpark. 26 up, 26 down. 13 K. And Carl Everett ruined it. You wonder how many times Mussina goes back to that 0-2 pitch and wishes he would have wasted one there instead of throwing a meaty pitch for Everett (a Yankee foe, indeed) to club.

35 times the Yankees have had a pitcher go 7 innings and give up two hits or less since the beginning of the 2000 season. Mike Mussina has 6 such games in his Yankee tenure. Chien-Ming Wang and El Duque are tied for second with four each. Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, Randy Johnson and A.J. Burnett have each had 3. 

Some of them stick out in your mind.  

Read more>>

This Is Baseball: Work Quickly, Throw Strikes, and You'll Win

Sergio Mitre got his last major league win before tonight on July 29, 2007.

Chien-Ming Wang also won that day and racked up 21 wins between that day and when he was lost for the season about a year later.

Wang, a sinkerballer, has one win on the 2009 season

Mitre, a sinkerballer, has one win on the 2009 season

Mitre wasn't great but he worked quickly, he threw strikes and he won. Mitre threw first pitch strikes to 15-25 hitters he faced, walked one and struck out 4. He allowed the other team to hit the ball and got 10 ground ball outs to three fly ball outs.

He wasn't great. But with this Yankees team behind him, he didn't need to be. But he gave them a quality 5+ innings and he gave them a chance to win.

And that's all you can ask.

The Yankees now have a five game winning streak going and have clinched another series win. They're now one game up on the Red Sox, winners of 18 of their last 23 (21-23 minus the Angels) and 19 games over .500 for the first time since the last day of the 2007 season.

Not to shabby from a team that's gotten one win from Chien-Ming Wang.

Some Thoughts Before The Final Subway Series Game Tonight

Again, why is Robinson Cano batting 5th?

• 0 for his last 9 ABs in RISP. Last hit with RISP was June 16th against the Nationals.
  
• Men on: .263/.299/.431
  
• With RISP: .222/.258/.356
• Runner on 3rd, less than 2 outs: .200/.222/.333
  
• Runner on 3rd, 2 outs: .200/.231/.200
  

Chien-Ming Wang against the Mets (sorted by OPS):

                   PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   **OPS**   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---
Ryan Church         4   3   1  0  0  1   2   1   0  .333  .500 1.333   1.833     0   0   1   0   0
Alex Cora          18  18   5  0  0  1   4   0   0  .278  .278  .444    .722     0   0   0   0   0
David Wright        8   8   2  1  0  0   0   0   1  .250  .250  .375    .625     0   0   0   0   1
Jeremy Reed         7   6   1  1  0  0   1   1   1  .167  .286  .333    .619     0   0   0   0   0
Luis Castillo       6   5   1  0  0  0   0   1   0  .200  .333  .200    .533     0   0   0   0   0
Gary Sheffield      3   2   0  0  0  0   0   1   0  .000  .333  .000    .333     0   0   0   0   0
Brian Schneider     4   4   0  0  0  0   0   0   1  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---
Total              50  46  10  2  0  2   7   4   3  .217  .280  .391    .671     0   0   1   0   1

Livan Hernandez against the Yankees (sorted by OPS):

                   PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   **OPS**   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---
Mark Teixeira       6   6   3  0  0  2   3   0   1  .500  .500 1.500   2.000     0   0   0   0   0
Alex Rodriguez     22  19  11  5  0  3  10   3   3  .579  .636 1.316   1.952     0   0   0   0   0
Hideki Matsui       8   7   3  0  0  1   3   1   0  .429  .500  .857   1.357     0   0   0   0   0
Robinson Cano       9   9   4  0  0  1   1   0   0  .444  .444  .778   1.222     0   0   0   0   0
Jorge Posada       16  12   4  1  0  1   2   4   4  .333  .500  .667   1.167     0   0   0   0   0
Derek Jeter        21  19   8  3  0  1   2   1   0  .421  .429  .737   1.166     0   1   0   0   0
Brett Tomko         5   4   2  0  0  0   0   0   2  .500  .500  .500   1.000     1   0   0   0   0
Brett Gardner       2   2   1  0  0  0   0   0   0  .500  .500  .500   1.000     0   0   0   0   0
Melky Cabrera       5   5   2  0  0  0   1   0   0  .400  .400  .400    .800     0   0   0   0   0
Nick Swisher       14  14   5  1  0  0   0   0   3  .357  .357  .429    .786     0   0   0   0   0
Johnny Damon       15  13   2  0  0  0   1   2   3  .154  .267  .154    .421     0   0   0   0   1
Cody Ransom         1   1   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---
Total             124 111  45 10  0  9  23  11  16  .405  .455  .739   1.194     1   1   0   0   1

The Yankees have had much more success against Hernandez, but how Chien-Ming Wang has pitched so far this season, that's not much of a predictor of future success. ESPN Insider says that Wang continues to get less ground balls per start, which is usually bad news but may be OK in this cavernous ballpark, Citi Field.

Yankees lineup with have Derek Jeter back in it according to the New York Daily News' Mark Feinsand via Twitter: @bloggingbombers: June 28 vs Mets: Jeter SS, Swisher RF, Teixeira 1B, A-Rod 3B, Cano 2B, Posada C, Cabrera LF, Gardner CF, Wang RHP. With Damon having struggled in the past against Hernandez and coming back from injury, this makes sense.

Meanwhile, Buster Olney on why A.J. Burnett dominated yesterday:

Why Yankees starter A.J. Burnett won, from ESPN Stats & Information:

• Dominant curveball: 48 percent chase percentage, 63 percent miss percentage, 19 percent in-play percentage

• Finished the job: 21 of 26 pitches with two strikes in the count were strikes, and he earned a season-high 10 strikeouts

• No-fly zone: Season-low five fly ball outs in seven innings of work

Yankees go for the sweep and I head out to Flushing tonight to see if they can accomplish it. More updates later.

Vote: Should Wang Stay In the Starting Rotation?

The new poll is up over to the right.

Wang's line tonight: 5 IP, 6 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, 4 Ks, 1 LONG HR, and 91 pitches. It's his longest outing of the season and he looked good up there. He was killed in his last inning by bad defense (a drop by Ramiro Pena), a bonehead play (Melky diving for a ball he could never catch) and bad calls (he had an out at first that was taken away from him).

Jon Heyman said on Twitter: "i wish they would stop grading chien-ming wang on a curve. he went out losing to the nationals. this is not good"

Peter Abraham said on his blog: "Given the improvement, I’d be surprised if they dropped him from the rotation. He gave up three runs and it easily could have been one or two. He did pretty well, all things considered."

My vote is for giving him few more starts and see if he continues to improve. This is like Spring Training in some ways for Wang who is increasing his arm strength again. This guy was a big-time starter and you can never have too many starters. The Red Sox are about to have 6 and I don't think it'll hurt the Yankees to have the same.

So I say keep him in there, but keep him on a short leash. This is about "what have you done for me lately" and if Wang can continue to improve, I think you keep him as a starter...for now.

BRUTAL!

It's Paul's phrase, but it's all I can say here.

BRUTAL!

Worse than leaving Pena on second as the winning run...

Worse than the umpires horrendous strike zone...

Worse than the Red Sox fans incredibly stupid and hypocritical chanting....

Worse than again not having a pitcher get out of the 3rd inning...

Worse even than 2-15 with RISP and 20 total men left on base...

...I feel like we're cursed against the Sox now

BRUTAL!

I feel like all I have are jokes that the Yankees used WANG HUGHes and COKE (should it be followed by HUGHes WANG?). Or that it was hard for Wang. Or asking if they're done beating Wang? Or wondering if they made a bad decision to reinsert Wang? That's all I got...

BRUTAL!

A Few Interesting Transactions

Can you name the last Yankee pitcher to win a playoff game? Anyone? Phillip Hughes Game 3 of the ALDS against the Cleveland Indians. He now goes by Phil Hughes but the Yankees announced today that he will be heading back to the bullpen for the first time since that game. It ends up that was probably one of Phil Hughes' best performances in the major leagues: 3.2 no runs, no walks, 4 Ks in relief of Roger Clemens (Joba Chamberlain also gave up a run as a reliever, perish the thought).

The reason Phil Hughes is heading to the bullpen is the Yankees want Chien-Ming Wang to start (which he'll do tomorrow in place of CC). The impetus for the move was talked about by Peter Abraham earlier the day, and goes that Wang, if his ball is sinking, is still better than Phil Hughes--at this point. Hughes will stay in the bullpen on the team for a while, but may need to head back down to the minors at some point to stretch himself out if not opportunity exists for him to rejoing the rotation in the Bronx. River Ave Blues seems to confirm this via a Brian Cashman interview on the Michael Kay Show (they still allow him to do that?): if Wang pitches well and Bruney and Marte return, Hughes will go to the minors in two weeks. If Wang pitches poorly or Pettitte is more injured than he's letting on, then Hughes will stay and start.

The Yankees also stratched Mark Teixeira who hurt himself enacting revenge on a double play breakup last night. Let's hope it's nothing more than a night's injury because, otherwise, it's not really a great play. You want guys to show passion, but play smart as well (ie--don't be like Kevin Brown who once punched a brick wall with his pitching hand).

Other moves:
-Supposedly the Atlanta Braves release Tom Glavine to save a little bit of money according to Ken Rosenthal. Both Shysterball and I are both equally surprised. If it really is for the money, shame on Atlanta.

-Speaking of Atlanta, they went and got themselves an outfielder (finally!). It's a surprise name, though--Nate McLouth. I don't think this is what he had in mind when he signed an extension to stay there. The Pirates GM tries to explain but it seems like a case of the Pirates just continuing to want to stockpile prospects in hopes of getting out of their losing ways. I wouldn't fault McLouth for being peaved, though.

-MLBTradeRumors goes over the trades so far this season. The biggest name so far is Gwynn...Gwynn Jr. In one of the most awesome things to come to the blog world, Paul DePodesta explains why the Padres made the trade. I mean how cool is that? You always want to know what teams were thinking when they made deals and this is how you can find out.

-Lastly, another one of those early-season trades got this review from Jon Heyman: "New Mets pickup Lance Broadway, a former first-rounder with a great New York name, is throwing only 86-88 mph. Judging by recent activity, White Sox GM Ken Williams seems willing to purge their system of the picks of the previous scouting director."

Just asking...Wang to the Pen?

Just asking...are all those "Joba-to-the-'pen" folks advocating "Wang-to-the-'pen" now?

Just asking...is Girardi making Chien-Ming Wang into his setup man with Brian Bruney out?

Just asking...when is it a good idea to take a perennial 19-game winner and waste him away in blowout games?

Just asking...what are Angel Berroa and Jose Veras still doing on this team (especially now with NO backup outfielders)?

Just asking...why is AJ Burnett so inconsistent?

Just asking...why do some Yankee broadcasts not have a play-by-play guy? I actually really like Flaherty and Singleton but neither guy is a play-by-play and they've been stuck in a booth together in Texas for 3 games

Just asking...do you see what speed does for a team? Gardner dropping down a bunt proved to be a big play in blowing this game wide open

Just asking...can the Yankees keep up this momentum? We'll see as they head to Cleveland tomorrow...

Stat of the Day and Jorge as DH

Figured I'd try and get a few new segments on this blog including "Stat of the Day". This one is a scary one, from New York Post's Joel Sherman (via Twitter):

Yankees staff ERA with Posada catching: 7.71. Even without Wang's horror show it is still 6.45.

Joel Sherman wrote today in the New York Post all about how Posada should be the DH for the Yankees, especially going forward. While I don't disagree with him, the Yankees have a true problem: too many DHs and not good enough options at catcher.

This year the Yankees have Matsui (who can't play the field at all), Xavier Nady (who may be able to return but unable to play the field), Nick Swisher (who, while in no way a liability in right, would probably be better at DH), A-Rod (who needs a day off every once in a while to rest that hip), Damon (who looks absolutely lost in left field this season at times), and Jeter (who should probably be making his way to at least a part-time DH role).

That's a lot of guys for one spot. Next year, Matsui, Nady and Damon come off the books, but the Yankees still have a dilemma as to where Jeter plays. He seems like he's lost yet another step at shortstop and needs to get moved to another position. There's no way to tell if he could be a successful outfielder, so DH may be the place for him. And A-Rod will be a year older next year so he'll need a rest every once in a while there too.

I love the Teixeira signing in many ways, but they'll wish at some point they had that first base slot open. But maybe the goal next year will be to split DH 50/50 with Posada and Jeter. With both on the wrong side of 30 (at least in baseball years), they need all the time off in the field that they can get to keep their bodies from breaking down. That's if you can get those two, who are very prideful guys who feel they should always be in the field, to agree to DH, which is a whole 'nother story...