WANG WINS DESPITE STRUGGLES By FRED KERBER August 20, 2007 -- Chien-Ming Wang didn’t have the good stuff, not by a long shot. And both he and Joe Torre agreed: The right-hander was pretty much here, there and everywhere with his pitches and his focus. But he repeatedly sidestepped the grim reaper. Every time it seemed the Tigers were poised for a breakout, Wang came up with the out he had to get. He fanned Brandon Inge in the second with two on and did it again in the fourth with a second-and-third situation. In the fifth, he struck out Carlos Guillen and got Ryan Raburn on a comebacker with a tack-on run sitting at third. In the sixth, Robinson Cano handled a Sean Casey screamer with runners at second and third. “He struggled because I think it fell back to the same thing: He gets too much going on his plate,” said Torre after Wang survived nine hits, three runs, two walks, two wild pitches and a balk in six innings. “His stuff is good, he keeps the ball down and gets people out, but right now he needs to get back to where he was just going after people,” Torre continued. “He’s got the ability to pitch, but there’s certain things he concerns himself with that I think interfere.” In the fifth inning when the Tigers took a short-lived 3-2 lead, Wang was a mess. Curtis Granderson singled, moved to second on a groundout and danced off second. Wang balked - then walked Gary Sheffield. “I (thought) about the runners too much,” Wang said. “I didn’t think too much (overall), threw the sinker to try and force the double play.” Instead, Magglio Ordonez singled in a run and then combined for a double-steal with Sheffield (who joined the 20-steal, 20-homer club at age 38). So Wang, after allowing Sheffield to score on a wild pitch, retired Guillen and Raburn to survive the inning. “You try to keep somebody from stealing a base, what do you do? You walk the next guy,” Torre summarized. “I’d rather have (Wang) with good stuff and just change what he does, as far as don’t get predictable, as far as what you do between pitches.” A masterpiece? Hardly. But good enough. The once-blistering Tigers failed repeatedly in the clutch - “We had several situations where just contact means an extra run, too many horse(spit) at bats,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. So credit Wang (14-6). “He battles,” Sheffield said. “He still has a good sinking fastball that rides in on your hands, and he was mixing in a couple breaking balls here and there.” http://tinyurl.com/ysncz4 --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 140.109.23.213