Poised and surprisingly confident, Yankees pitcher Wang Chien-ming took on one of the biggest challenges of his brief major league career Monday night -- after the game.
The winning pitcher in the Yankees' 6-3 victory over Seattle at Safeco Field, the Taiwan-born Wang -- tall and lanky with big olive eyes and a bright smile -- took reporters' questions in English near his locker with the Yankees' media relations director, Rick Cerrone, alongside. The scene was curious, since Cerrone speaks no Mandarin, and no one else in the vicinity appeared to be Chinese. Wang was doing this without an interpreter.
When someone asked a question, Wang turned to Cerrone with a measure of eagerness and puzzlement, and Cerrone repeated the gist of the question in English, slowly. And Wang answered simply.
PHOTO: AP
"I kept the ball down, on the inside corner and outside corner," Wang said. Explaining how he maintained his composure, Wang said, "I stayed focused on the catcher."
Still, this showed progress for Wang, who in spring training politely declined to be interviewed in English because he said he was not comfortable. And it showed a fearless side that reflected in his pitching Monday night, in his fourth major league start since coming up from Triple-A Columbus to replace the injured Jaret Wright.
After a shaky first inning, when his pitches stayed up and Raul Ibanez smacked a two-run double over Bernie Williams in center, Wang retired 17 consecutive batters until the seventh. Wang did not walk a batter in six and a third innings and struck out four in beating Seattle for the second time in a week. By the sixth inning, he was throwing harder -- 94mph on the Safeco Field radar gun -- than he had all game.
"Nothing fazes him," catcher John Flaherty said. "I never seen a young guy do what he does. When he gets out of whack, he finds a way to get out of it."
This was the first time Wang faced a team for the second time, and Flaherty -- who also caught Wang's previous start -- wondered before the game if he might need to pitch differently, working in more off-speed pitches.
But Flaherty said the Mariners made no major adjustments for Wang, whose five-pitch repertory includes a slider that breaks down rather than across, a sinker and a split-fingered fastball. Not surprisingly, Wang got 11 of his 19 outs on ground balls.
"He just got the ball down and let it work," Flaherty said. "Later in the game, he was just popping it."
Manager Joe Torre said: "He was absolutely great. After the first inning, he just went after people, and got through some innings without very many pitches. He handled it like he's pitched longer in the big leagues than four starts or so.
"He certainly is carrying his end of the load taking over for Jaret right now. Whatever he's getting out of this will make him a better pitcher."
Signed for a US$1.9 million bonus in 2000, Wang opened eyes by going 5-0 with a 1.05 earned run average in his last five starts for Columbus last year after advancing from Double-A Trenton. Wang missed several starts to pitch for Taiwan in the 2004 Olympics.
Though Wang idolizes Roger Clemens -- hence the splitter and slider -- his windup is more like Hideo Nomo's. Wang pauses at the top of his delivery with his hands high and twists back, though not as substantially as Nomo. That, Flaherty said, adds deception.
Though it is too early to judge if Wang (2-1, 4.39 ERA) will be an effective major league pitcher, many in the Yankees' organization like his chances because of his nature.
He impressed many Yankees with his gumption this spring. When he had to run as punishment for botching a fielding drill, he tabbed Randy Johnson as one of the two teammates he could choose to join him -- a heady move for a rookie. Wang knew Johnson from training together in Phoenix, but as Flaherty said, "It took some guts."
The Yankees' bullpen coach, Neil Allen, who was Wang's pitching coach at Single-A Staten Island in 2002 and at Columbus last year, said he was convinced Wang would be an effective starter for years.
"In my mind, this guy is the real deal," Allen said. "He's something special.
"When I was with him in Triple A, he was the talk of Triple A baseball the last two months. Scouts would talk to me, but I didn't want to say anything, because I didn't want to reveal what we had. He's the coolest customer I've seen in a long time. He doesn't get rattled. And if he does get rattled, you won't see it."
But with days off scheduled for today and Monday, Torre said the Yankees were likely to skip Wang's next turn so the veterans Mike Mussina, Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano and Kevin Brown could stay on normal rest. Wang almost certainly will not face the Mets this weekend, unless it is in relief, Torre said.
"If he doesn't happen to start for eight or nine days," Torre said, "what he's done here will make it easier for him to keep it together."
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