Projo Sox Blog

By Bob Klapisch
The Record (Hackensack N.J.)

NEW YORK - Like a wave crashing onto the beach, full of sound and fury before retreating in silence, the Chien-Ming Wang crisis (mostly) has played itself out. His velocity is again in the mid-90s, he's back to throwing ground balls and earned at least another start, if not a long-term berth in the rotation.

This isn't to say Wang worked a classic against the Nationals on Wednesday night; he clearly was outpitched by John Lannan in a teaser of a 3-2 loss to the major leagues' worst team. But that was an indictment of the offense, not Wang, whose five innings (three runs, six hits, two walks) represented progress from his ash-heap days of early April.

Joe Girardi noted that 10 of Wang's 15 outs were grounders, saying, "That's a real good sign." So the intrigue begins: How do the Yankees take advantage of Wang's recovering sinker, Phil Hughes' blistering fastball and Joba Chamberlain's volatility?

Make no mistake, how the Yankees arrange these three chess pieces will go a long way in determining how (and where) they finish in October.

The Bombers' rotation started the night with a 4.86 ERA, 12th in the American League, which means something has to give.

So why not use Wang and Hughes in the rotation together, and return Chamberlain to the eighth inning, where he starred as the bridge to Mariano Rivera? It's a long-running debate OK, more like a filibuster to which general manager Brian Cashman never will yield. But Joba's last start against the Mets and his communication problems with Jorge Posada should jar the front office out of its iron belief that Joba is an unmovable 100-pitch entity.

He's a talented but a stubborn, if not a combustible personality who might not ever feel comfortable with Posada. Either the Yankees designate Francisco Cervelli as Joba's permanent catcher, or else they simplify Chamberlain's life by using him in the eighth inning and limiting his arsenal to his two best weapons: the fastball and that killer slider.

Somehow, Chamberlain has fallen in love with his third-best pitch, the curveball, and it made for an uncomfortable rift with Posada on Friday against the Mets. The two simply couldn't agree Posada kept calling for the heater, Joba kept shaking him off until the lines of communication collapsed altogether.

So how does this impact Hughes? Only that Wang's work-in-progress gives the Yankees the option of using them both in the rotation. Had Wang failed, it's likely he would've been demoted to long relief (or, who knows, even returned to the disabled list with another mystery injury) and Hughes would've been installed as the de facto No. 5 starter.

But that would've meant keeping Joba in the rotation, where he has been good, but not the ace-in-training the Yankees have been envisioning. As noted recently by waswatching.com, there are numbers that suggest the Bombers may have overestimated Chamberlain's durability and effectiveness taking the ball every fifth day.

On four days' rest throughout his career, Joba has allowed the AL a .391 slugging percentage and .267 batting average. With an extra day off, those numbers drop to .273 and .202. Remember, Chamberlain injured his shoulder twice last season, so these metrics are more than noteworthy - they're a red flag.

Even so, it's probable that Chamberlain will stay put; the Yankees still think of him as their young John Smoltz. At the very least, there'll be less pressure on Joba if Wang continues this surge.

Ironically, there was every reason to believe he would've sputtered again, this time because of the emotional drain that understandably followed the birth of his son Tuesday night.

Just how much sleep does a new father get, anyway? Wang might've been working on adrenaline, but there was a low probability of him sustaining that sinker for very long. Yet, Girardi sensed a different Wang walking in from the bullpen a complete makeover from the nervous wreck who pitched in fear of the strike zone at Fenway a week ago.

"I actually saw a smile on his face," Girardi said, without having to explain his surprise. Wang is the closest thing the Yankees have to a robot. Low key to the point of invisibility, as self-contained as Alex Rodriguez is in need of attention.

Bad foot? Bad hip muscle? More like a missing chip is what kept Wang on the disabled list parts of the last two years. But there Wang was after the game, smiling the thinnest of smiles when someone asked if he'd kept his spot in the rotation.

"Yes, I hope so," he said quietly.

That's not a stretch, considering "it was like the old Wang" pounding the lower half of the strike zone, according to Posada. He didn't allow his first hit until the third inning, got burned by Adam Dunn's solo homer in the fourth and was victimized by a bad call by first base umpire Larry Vanover in the fifth inning, when the Nationals scored two more runs.

Cristian Guzman was called safe on a micro-close play at first, even though TV replays showed that A-Rod's throw to Mark Teixeira did, indeed, beat Guzman. Instead, worried about runners at first and third, Wang fell behind, 2-0, to Nick Johnson, who promptly blasted a two-run triple just beyond Melky Cabrera's full-stretch dive.

That gave the Nats a 3-0 lead, which Lannan and Mike MacDougal preserved.

Despite the deficit, Girardi said Wang was "much, much better" and the Yankees almost absolved him, pulling to within a run in the bottom of the ninth, then putting runners on first and third with one out.

But Robinson Cano hit into a 6-4-3 double play that killed the rally and the game. The real exercise, however, begins now. Three arms, two rotation slots. Who do you like in this summer's math?

 Tags  Chien-Ming Wang Joba Chamberlain New York Yankees Phil Hughes

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