Print

Mail

wiki links

Wang breaks Major League Asian record

Wang Chien-ming (王建民) made Asian baseball history on Wednesday night (New York time) with his Major League-leading 19th win of the season, surpassing the old mark of 18 set by South Korea's Chan Ho-park with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2000.

The "Pride of Taiwan" tied Minnesota Twins ace Johan Santana, who also leads the majors in earned run average (2.77), for most wins in the majors (19) by guiding the AL-leading New York Yankees to a 16-5 trouncing of the Baltimore Orioles in New York, allowing four runs on 10 hits over six innings of work.

Wang might not have pitched as well as he had been recently, surrendering more than three earned runs in a game for the first time since Aug. 13th. But with a Yankees lineup that possesses no weaknesses throughout the order which spotted the Tainan native a 13-2 lead after the first four innings of play, Wang could afford to take some chances with hitters that he would otherwise avoid.

Keeping true to form as the league's premier ground ball pitcher, Wang finished the day with an outstanding 11-to-3 ground out-to-fly out ratio, despite allowing 10 or more hits for only the fourth time this year.

Offensively for the Yankees, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, and Hideki Matsui, all returning from injuries over the past week to join MVP candidate Derek Jeter and last year's MVP winner Alex Rodriguez, meant trouble for the Orioles staff, which served up 18 hits in the game, including home runs by Giambi, Jorge Posada, Johnny Damon, Robinson Cano, and Bobby Abreu.

awesome display

The awesome display of offensive fire power will likely carry the Yankees in the upcoming postseason as they look to advance beyond the divisional championship series for the first time in three years, after winning their ninth straight AL East title in the regular season.

When told before Wednesday's 16-5 rout by pitching coach Ron Guidry that he will start the New York Yankees' playoff opener, the young Taiwanese pitcher responded in his typically low-key manner.

"Gator told him and he sort of shrugged his shoulders: OK," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "I'm sure there will be some butterflies on Tuesday when they start introducing people, but this kid doesn't let you know how he's feeling."

In announcing the rotation Torre said Mike Mussina will follow in Game 2 and that Randy Johnson, bothered by a bad back, will pitch Game 3, most likely on the road at Minnesota or Detroit. Torre didn't say whether Jaret Wright or Cory Lidle would start Game 4, if needed.

Johnson was scratched from his final regular-season start to give his back a chance to rest. The 43-year-old left-hander has been bothered by back trouble throughout the season, which has gotten worse recently.

"With the situation, I want one good game from him," Torre said.

Given the Yankees' star-filled roster, it would have been a long shot in spring training to predict Wang would open the playoffs.

"Not when you have Randy and Moose here," Torre said. "I don't think he could have dreamt of that."

Also see story:
Back-to-back losses erode Bulls' lead

This story has been viewed 2476 times.