A ‘strong’ start for Chien-Ming Wang provides more - 棒球

※ 引述《xiemark (aisinjuro)》之銘言：
: A ‘strong’ start for Chien-Ming Wang provides more promise, leaves a
: few questions
: By Adam Kilgore

小王再次「強勢」先發，雖然前景更加光明，但似乎留下了一些疑問。

: In the first inning Tuesday night, as he watched the Reds knock around
: Chien-Ming Wang’s sinker, Nationals pitching coach Steve McCatty
: turned to Manager Davey Johnson and said something that would have
: seemed unfathomable during the past two years.

在星期二晚上的第一局裡，當國民隊的投手教練麥卡悌看著紅人隊球員接連打出小王的伸卡球，
他轉頭對著總教練強森說了一句過去兩年裡不可能聽到的話。

: “He’s too strong,” McCatty kept saying. “He’s too strong.”

麥卡悌說：「小王太有力了，他太強壯了。」

: Wang’s sinker, the pitch that allowed him to carry a no-hitter into the
: sixth inning last week in Chicago, was staying up, consistently a few
: inches higher than where Wilson Ramos stuck his mitt. Wang received six
: days off because of an off day and a rainout. Now, to McCatty’s eyes,
: Wang was too strong after spending the last two years recovering from a
: torn shoulder capsule and surgery.

上週，小王的伸卡球曾經讓他在芝加哥投了一場五局的無安打比賽。
不過同樣的伸卡球，今天似乎一直都有點高，比捕手拉摩斯手套擺的位子高了那麼幾吋。
前場比賽因雨延誤，所以小王這次共休息了六天。
經過兩年時光，從肩傷與手術中恢復的小王，在麥卡悌的眼中，似乎變得太有力了。

: Wang settled down, earned the win and pitched 6 1/3 innings, his longest
: start since June 10, 2008. To do it, though, he needed help and good
: luck. The Reds smashed five line drives to the outfield from the second
: inning through the fifth, and they all found the glove of an
: outfielder.

今天小王投了六又1/3局，是他從2008年6月10日以來投最久的一場球，而他最後也拿到勝投。
然而，小王的勝利卻不是完全靠著自己的強投，而是仰賴著隊友的協助與相當的強運。
從第二局到第五局，紅人隊一共擊出了五次外野高飛球，但都找到外野手的手套而出局。

: Wang, for his part, said he felt “the same,” not too strong. But he
: agreed that he did not have his typical sinker. Consistency, after more
: than two years away from the majors, will not come back to Wang easily.
: The most unnerving thing about Wang, perhaps, has been his dearth of
: strikeouts. Wang, by inducing groundballs with his sinker, never needed
: to strikeout many batters. From 2005 to 2008, he struck out four
: batters per nine innings; this year, that would rank him ahead of two
: out of 107 qualifying pitchers.

雖然小王覺得自己的投球「跟過去一樣」，不會太用力，但是他也認為伸卡球沒有到位。
事實上，小王離開大聯盟超過兩年的時間，一時之間，小王的確很難恢復過去穩定的球感。
對許多人來說，小王最令人擔憂的一點，或許就是他的三振能力。
小王往往都是用伸卡球讓打者擊出滾地球出局，所以不太需要三振打者。
從2005年到2008年，小王平均每九局才三振四名打者。
這個數據如果放到今年來看，小王等於是全聯盟107位合格投手中的倒數第三名。

: So Wang does not have to be a strikeout pitcher to succeed. But in his
: first four starts, he has struck out almost literally nobody. In 21 1/3
: innings, Wang has struck out three batters. He struck out no one last
: night. Entering last night, batters had swung and missed at 8.6 percent
: of his pitches, a little more than half his career average. Last night,
: the Reds swung and missed only twice, both by Drew Stubbs, on
: consecutive pitches.

所以，這樣看來，小王要在大聯盟成功，似乎並不一定要變成一個三振型的投手。
然而，從他今年前四場先發來看，小王幾乎沒有三振掉任何一名打者。
在過去21又1/3局的投球裡，小王只三振了三名打者。昨天晚上，則沒有三振任何紅人隊球員。
在昨天晚上的球賽之前，打者對小王的揮空率是8.6％，比小王生涯平均的一半稍微高了一些。
不過，在昨天晚上的球賽裡，紅人隊只有史塔布斯連續揮空了兩次。

: Wang has countered his inability to strike out any hitters by not
: walking them. He’s issued just five walks. The question of whether a
: groundball pitcher can succeed with the ball constantly in play, so
: long as he walks no one, is interesting both in practice and in theory.
: Wang pitched decent last night, but he also needed a reasonable amount
: of luck. What would his start have looked like if some of those line
: drives had fallen in? Can his sinker produce weak groundballs
: consistently enough for him to have sustained success?

在無法三振對手的情況下，小王則是靠著不投出保送來因應。
到目前為止，小王總共只投出五次保送。
從實務上與理論上來說，只要滾地球投手不投出保送，
那麼這類投手是否能夠順利投出好球，其實是一個相當有趣的問題。
小王昨晚其實投得很好，不過最重要的是，小王的運氣也很不錯。
如果昨晚那些高飛球都落地形成安打，整場比賽不知道會變得多慘。
小王的伸卡球究竟能不能持續讓對手擊出軟弱滾地球，進而讓小王繼續獲得勝利呢？

: The answers to those questions will start come over the next six weeks,
: as the Nationals continue to evaluate whether or not they should keep
: Wang in the fold for next season. The important thing, for now, is
: simply that he’s healthy enough to provide an honest assessment. For
: one night, he may have even been too strong.

在接下來的六週裡，相信我們會慢慢地看到這些問題的答案。
國民隊也將繼續評估小王明年是否還有機會留在華盛頓。
不過，目前最重要的，就是讓小王保持健康，好讓球團能夠做出公平的判斷。
就這一晚來說，也許小王的手臂真的太夠力了。

: One more thing from last night that warrants mentioning: The Nationals
: received another overpowering performance from Tyler Clippard and Drew
: Storen, who recorded all eight outs after Wang departed. Clippard
: stranded a pair of runners by striking out Brandon Phillips in the
: seventh, and Storen struck out two in the ninth, firing 97-mph sinkers
: that dove from off the left side of the plate to just over the corner
: to save his 32nd gave.

昨晚的球賽還有一點值得討論：國民隊的後援投手克李帕與史多倫的表現超棒！
在小王退場後，他們兩個讓紅人隊剩下的八次打席無功而返。
克李帕在第七局三振了菲力普，凍結了壘包上的兩名跑者。
史多倫則在第九局投出兩次三振，順利取得第32場救援成功。
他的伸卡球速度來到97英里，進壘點也相當優異。

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