Wang Has Worst ERA Ever

Chien-Ming Wang is in the record books!  Hooray!

Wang now has the all time highest ERA after five starts: 14.34.  14.34 doesn’t have the same ring as 56 or 61*, but it’s a record nonetheless.  It’s really incredible what Wang has managed to accomplish in 2009.  He’s left his five starts trailing by a combined 27-3.  Wow!  14.34…just say that aloud a couple of times.  The best part?  Wang lowered his ERA last night, down from 14.46.  So he’s moving in the right direction!

It looked like Wang actually had good stuff Wednesday as his sinker was consistently hitting 95 on the gun and his slider, on the rare occasion he threw it, had sharp break.  At this point I believe Wang has his mechanics in order.  Now he just needs to get his head straight and start trusting his pitches.

Like I said, Wang’s stuff is back.  He might not have 110-pitch stamina yet, but for 69 pitches on Wednesday Wang looked like he had “it”.  He just couldn’t, or wouldn’t, throw it for strikes.

I understand why Wang would be hesitant to throw a pitch over the plate.  I mean he does have the highest ERA ever.  But sooner or later he has to stop walking guys and get that sinker out of the dirt and up around the shins.  Major league hitters won’t swing at balls in the dirt.

The Yankees still need to put Wang out there and let him work through this.  By no means do I think Wang is done.  The guy won 19 games two seasons in a row, so he deserves a chance to figure this out.  The Yankees would be that much better with a healthy Wang in the rotation.  Healthy Wang…ha.

And the Yankees love him:

They Love You, Chien-Ming Wang