Chien-Ming Wang Is My Hero

I am at a loss right now. A Yankees/Red Sox game ended in under 3 hours. I'm not really sure what to do with myself right now. I'm used to these 4 and half hour dragged out battles. I guess when you have a pitcher that throws a complete game 2-hitter on only 93 pitches you're going to have a short game.

I wanted to title this post "I Love Wang" but I've used twice in the past and I'm always afraid I'll get a bunch of new visitors to the site who were expecting something a little different. But it'd be a fitting title because right now Chien-Ming is my hero. He flat out dominated the Red Sox tonight. So much for those career numbers I posted earlier. It should have been a no-hitter. Abreu should have caught Drew's home run. No doubt. The odd thing with Wang's performance is that he got so may fly ball outs. Not your typical Wang outing. But he got the job done. He's increasingly mixing in pitches and isn't just relying on his sinker. It only makes him more effective. Anyone that doubts his legitimacy as a top-tier pitcher needs to do a double-take. I'm glad Girardi let him finish what he started. I would have even let him face Ortiz if Pedroia reached base in the 9th. You don't see complete game's often. The Wanger was phenomenal. Wang's the ace and he's my hero.

I'm still not overly impressed with the Yankee offense. They're hitting the ball hard but they're not getting timely hits. This game could have been a blow out. The Yankees racked up 10 hits and 4 walks and only managed 4 runs? It was enough tonight but it's not always going to be. It's a good thing the pitching has been so effective. I liked the small ball approach. Two sac bunts lead to 2 runs and those runs were pretty big. A 2-1 game is managed much differently than a 4-1 game. I like the approach. As I wrote earlier the Yankees always struggle with pitchers they've never faced. Tonight was no different. They didn't really do much off of Buchholz. It wasn't until Mike Timlin, a pitcher they're very familiar with, entered the game that the Yankees put real runs on the board. Not a good first outing there Mike.

Cano flat out stinks right now. If you're not going to hit the ball at least move the runner around. He put such a weak hack on Aardsma's pitch in the 9th, failing to score the runner. He's lucky Abreu picked him up. Even though Giambi went yard he's still pretty pathetic at the plate. He and Cano had such hot springs. What happened? I have faith in Cano to turn it around soon. He's been tagging the ball lately. Giambi? I don't have as much confidence in him. He needs to earn that back.

Jose Molina is rapidly becoming one of my favorite Yankees. Besides racking up his league leading 6th double (say what?), he called a great game. He deserves a lot of the credit for Wang's performance also. Molina is such an asset to the Yankees. He is far and away the best backup catcher the Yankees have had in a long, long time. Speaking of backup catchers, am I the only one who noticed that John Flaherty doused his head with a little Just For Men? He also looked like he was sporting a little too much make-up.

All game long I was hoping that someone would beat the crap out of the guy sitting behind home plate who kept waving a license plate. What a d-bag. I can't stand people that talk on the cell phones and wave to people at home. They should receive a beatdown on the spot.

I was left an anonymous comment from a Sox fan in an earlier post about being "optimistic" with my prediction that the Yankees would win 1 game this series. It was laughable to think that the Red Sox would sweep the Yankees. The Yankees won a game I wasn't expecting them to win. I'm feeling pretty confident now that the Yankees might actually take 2 out of 3.

With the win the Yankees move to 6-5. It's hard to believe they've won 6 games considering how pathetic the offense has been. They're winning the close ones and that's something they didn't do last year. The pitching so far has been rather impressive. Pettitte and Wang had great outings.

Moose, it's your turn.

J-Boogie