Big Game Wang?

Chien-Ming Wang has been the Yankees ace for the past two seasons now, winning 19 games in both seasons and recording ERA’s of 3.70 or lower in both. However, that success has not carried over in October for Wang, at least not to the same degree as it was in the regular season. After Thursday night’s debacle in Cleveland, Wang now features a post season pitching line of 1-2 with a 6.00 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP in 18 career post season innings, 3 starts. Sounds bad right? However, it’s still better then it looks, as Wang’s numbers are now quite skewed by his one really bad start on Thursday, as prior to that he had a sparkling post season ERA of 2.75. In the 2005 ALDS against Anaheim, Wang pitched well enough to win but his defense let him down as he was charged with 3 unearned runs and Wang won game 1 of the 2006 ALDS against Detroit, pitching a workman’s 6.2 innings, 3 ER performance. Thursday’s 4.2 innings, 9 hit, 8 ER disaster left his post season numbers as what they are, but to call him a choker would be unfair. Wang’s 5-7 BB-K ratio is a far cry from his regular season 59-104 he sported this year, so perhaps his nerves could be affecting his control, but that’s a number more likely effected by his style of pitching and lack of K’s in general. Two things, however, a fan should like about Wang for post season play would be his control of the running game, as opposing runners have been caught 22 times and have stolen 32 bases on him in his career, and the steady, reliable defense he brings from the pitcher’s position as he only has 2 career errors in 146 total chances. So what does this all mean, it means the Yankees ace is not in the same league as Josh Beckett or Brandon Webb, but the Yankees should still not hesitate to send him out for a possible Game 5 rematch with Sabathia and should still remain confident in the quit Taiwanese pitcher who never seems to get rattled, even after a start like his in Game 1.