Wang heading to Tampa - 棒球

Wang heading to Tampa:

Chien-Ming Wang will pitch an extended-spring-training game in Tampa
tomorrow to try to cure the mechanical woes that have so far wrecked
his season.

Wang is 0-3 with a 34.50 ERA after three starts, having allowed 23 hits
and 23 earned runs over six innings.

The Yankees scratched Wang from his next start but do not have the option
to demote him to the minor leagues, as he would have to be exposed to
waivers first.

"We think he needs to pitch and try and get this right," Girardi said.

Extended-spring-training games are not part of the minor leagues, so
players on the 25-man roster are allowed to participate. Wang will
join a team of prospects to play against Phillies prospects at 1 p.m.

"We're going to have him throw 100 pitches and then we're going to
evaluate him after that to see what the next step is," Girardi said.

Girardi said the Yankees want to see Wang locate his sinker and throw
with better velocity than he has so far. They would prefer him to be
consistently around 93-94 mph. He has been 89-91.

"That's not unusual at this time of the season," Girardi said. "But he
needs to get there."

Wang said he would prefer to pitch against the Red Sox in Boston on
Friday as was originally scheduled. "I understand what they're doing,"
he said. "I haven't been pitching very good."

But while Girardi was optimistic, general manager Brian Cashman sounded
intent on putting Wang on the disabled list.

"I'm sure it's going to take some time," Cashman said. "The first (step)
is to try and determine what's wrong. His velocity is down; his command is
off. That could indicate health. He feels so far that he's healthy, so
we're evaluating his mechanics.

"Those indicators, you can't ignore. I've been down that road before.
I don't rule out health being an issue. As of right now, everything is
on the table and we're in full laboratory mode."

Wang reiterated he does not have a physical issue.

"Nothing is wrong," he said. "I have told them that. I just need to pitch
better. I know I will."

Extra bases:

A.J. Burnett downloaded an iPhone application to help him learn Chinese
so he can speak to Wang. "I know about 20 words now," he said.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20090422/SPORTS01/904220394/1035


‧ A.J. Burnett is an interesting cat. He downloaded the WordPower
application to his iPhone and is learning words and phrases in Chinese
so he can talk to Wang in is native tongue.

Before the game, A.J. was trying out his Chinese on Wang, making the
pitcher (and the Taiwanese media) laugh. Trust me when I tell you,
Wang needed to laugh. This last week has been trying for him.

Kind of shows you what a good teammate Burnett is, something the Yankees
really didn’t know too much about before they signed him.


http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2009/04/21/the-mo-and-andy-show/

iPhone顯示圖:http://yankees.lhblogs.com/files/2009/04/wordpower1.jpg


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