| Andrew Perna. 29th April, 2008 - 3:59 pm
 The New York Yankees have already endured a season’s worth of turmoil in the first month of the 2008 season. Surprisingly, the events that have altered the course of their campaign haven’t been the typical bouts of drama that often occur in the Bronx.
Hank Steinbrenner has kicked up a substantial amount of dirt in his first full season as the biggest talking head in the team’s organization, but the training table has gotten the most attention in New York this April.
Heading into their game with the Tigers on Tuesday night, the Bombers were 14-13 through their first twenty-seven games. Alex Rodriguez (three), Derek Jeter (six,) and Jorge Posada (nine) have missed time with a variety of injuries while Jason Giambi (.167) and Robinson Cano (.153) have struggled mightily at the plate.
Jeter has returned to form, but Rodriguez is set to miss at least one game this week (quadriceps), and Posada will miss at least fifteen days because of a stint on the disabled list.
The injury to Posada’s shoulder might loom large for the rest of the season. On Monday Posada claimed that he will not need surgery to repair a tear in the joint, but the New York Times reported on Tuesday morning that there is a distinct possibility that he could miss the rest of the season if Dr. James Andrews determines surgery is necessary.
Thankfully, starter Chien Ming-Wang has helped keep the Yankees afloat as numerous members of their everyday lineup make visits to assorted doctors.
New York is undefeated (6-0) in Wang’s starts this season. He himself has compiled a 5-0 record with a 3.23 ERA in 39 innings of work thus far.
His worst performance of the season, against Boston when he allowed eight runs in just four innings of work, still resulted in a Yankee win, thanks to a rally shortly after Joe Girardi pulled Wang. Had Chien-Ming managed to finish the top half of the fifth inning versus the Sox, he would have earned yet another victory.
That start, however, has not been indicative of his season. He has pitched at least six innings in five of his six appearances, giving up fewer than three runs in every start aside from the high-scoring affair against Boston. In fact, just days before he notched a no-decision against New York’s top rival, he pitched a two-hitter over nine innings at Fenway Park in a 4-1 victory.
While some find his performance this season to be shocking, the real surprise has been the amount of batters he has embarrassed at the plate.
He ranks eighth in the American League with 27 strikeouts, including nine in a win against the Indians this past Sunday. Wang is famously known as a ground-ball pitcher who managed to strike out just 76 batters in 2006 (when he logged 218 innings of work).
He has forced more flyball outs than ever this season, but such a drastic change from his traditional style hasn’t caught up to him just yet.
His sinker has been that good in the early part of the season, but even his biggest supporters would be surprised to see him maintain such a torrid strikeout rate. He’s averaging 6.23 K’s per nine innings, a number that towers over his stats from his first three Major League seasons.
The righty is responsible for five of New York’s fourteen wins this season, an astounding 38% of their triumphs. In comparison, the Yankees' other four starters (Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy) have managed just six wins as a unit.
Essentially, Wang has been the starting rotation for the Bombers in April. New York’s four other regulars have a combined ERA of 5.57 with 55 K’s in their twenty starts.
The more you look at Wang’s numbers, the more evident it becomes that his start against Boston on April 16th was an aberration. If you remove those four innings from his record, his ERA drops from 3.23 down to 1.54 over 35 innings of work.
His next three scheduled starts are against the Mariners, Indians, and Rays. In case you were wondering, Wang is 2-0 with thirteen combined scoreless innings against Cleveland and Tampa Bay this season while he has yet to face Seattle. The Mariners are in the bottom half of league in terms of both runs scored and batting average, something that bodes well for Wang as he aims to continue his tremendous start to the season.
With Posada on the shelf for an extended period, and Giambi and Cano struggling as the calendar turns to May, Wang will have to be on his game in order to keep the Yankees afloat in the AL East race. Luckily, he has experience pitching in tight games this season – all but one of his victories has been recorded with the Bombers scoring four runs or fewer.
New York’s bats were ranked just twelfth (runs scored) in the league through Monday night’s game, astounding since the Yankees haven’t finished a season lower than fourth in seven years.
Despite the numerous injuries and struggles that they have endured this season, the Yankees were still just one single game out of first place with nine-straight home games on the docket heading into their game against Detroit on Tuesday.
However, with Posada on the disabled list and a pair of regulars still batting well below the Mendoza line, if the Yankees are going to avoid falling too far behind in May, Wang will be at the forefront of the ship hurling buckets full of water back into the ocean.
Andrew Perna is a Senior Writer for RealGM and always welcomes comments via e-mail (Andrew.Perna@RealGM). He writes daily in the ‘Scoop Du Jour’ and is currently working with RealGM’s NBA forums on the first edition of the NBA Pre-Draft Summits. |
