Saturday, April 18, 2009

What's wrong with Wang?

The Indians hit him like he's a batting practice pitcher. The ball has no movement on it, and batters seem to just tee off on him.

His ERA is in the 30+ range, and he looks kind of confused. I know he starts slowly, but this is ridiculous. He is looking terrible, and the Stadium crowds are not happy. Phil Hughes is 2-0 in Scranton, and we can only wonder how soon until Wang gets sent down to straighten out.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that he has some lingering injury, or something related to missing most of last year.

One positive note: Nick Swisher is fast becoming a fan favorite. He plays aggressively, and may just become a big star in the Yankee galaxy. He reminds me of Boomer Wells, who was a big favorite of the Bleacher Creatures.

Go Yankees

6 comments:

I Hate Commercials said...

I have friends that hate the Yankees, but they love Swisher.

Da Old Man said...

@ I Hate: How could anyone not like the guy?

Chris said...

Found this through your other blog . . . I'm a life long Yankee fan myself, so this will be a regular stop for me. Anyway, regarding Wang, he just needs to get his sinker down (duh). Otherwise, it's a very hittable flat fastball without the velocity (read: batting practice). I've been saying all along that Swish may prove to be as valuable an addition as CC, AJ, and Tex. Swish is the kind of dirtbag grinder they've needed (and lacked since the days of Scotty Brosius and Paul O'Neill).

bryarow said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bryarow said...

The problem with Wang is purely mechanics. When he is delivering the ball his arm is dragging behind his body and is not on top of the pitch. You have to be on top of a sinker to keep it down. This is an arm strength issue to some extent and will improve. However, the mechanics portion is keeping the arm down as well. Wang is not bringing his left leg up as high as he did in years past. When he brings his leg up it forces his body to be straight and verticle. This gives him good posture when driving off the mound and also forces his hands higher. With his hands higher, his wind-up is more compact and elevated, making the arm follow with the body better and keeping the arm on top of the pitch. Remember he is also driving off the foot that was broken. When he lifts that left leg, he is placing all his weight on the injured foot. I think he is still favoring the foot. If he felt secure in it, he would be raising the left leg higher, driving off better, and in turn be keeping the hands higher...and you would see that great sinker. He will not be right until he has confidence in the foot. He can do it in the bullpen beacuse thats all he has to think about. To do it in the game it needs to actually be right.

Ken said...

Dude needs to go back to the minors to work out his problems...Yankees can't afford to keep running him out there to throw batting practice.

But I heard that he has some clause in his contract that prevents him from being sent down or something.

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Downtown, New Jersey, United States
Yankees fan. But the team hasn't been the same since Yogi retired. TV watching expert. Manly man.