BALTIMORE - When Chien Ming Wang took the mound at Oriole Park on Wednesday, there were some ominous stats that were staring at him.
It was difficult to ignore. The Orioles were hitting a lifetime .327 and his ERA was a high 4.28 in his 27 1/3 innings pitched. For whatever reason, he never seems to feel as comfortable in this park than some others (Fenway Park being the worst). Once again, this proved out to be true.
Taking the mound in his first start since injuring his foot while rounding third base last June in Houston, Wang was hit hard in the Yankees 7-5 loss to the Orioles at Camden Yards. He was chased out of the game after 3 2/3 innings, giving up seven earned runs, nine hits and walked three, as the new look rotation has been giving Manager Joe Girardi early exercise when it comes to trips to the mound.
Without being able to command his trademark sinker, the Orioles teed-off from the start. Nick Markakis began the scoring in the first inning when he laced a double over the head of Brett Gardner in right center that was then followed up by an RBI double by Aubrey Huff to make it 2-0.
Baltimore would then chase Wang out with a five run fourth inning. Gregg Zaun hit a ground-rule double to score Luke Scott, which followed a run scoring ground out by Cesar Izturis. After a sacrifice fly by Adam Jones, Markakis again put hurt on the Yankees by hitting a two run homer to make it 7-1 and for the second game of the season; a Yankee pitcher was unable to provide a quality start.
What is supposed to be a strength has thus far served as a weakness. In the two games, the bullpen has thrown eight of the teams 16 innings thus far.
The offense attempted to rally in the 6th after Robinson Cano (2 for 4) doubled to right center to score Jorge Posada. However, while standing on third with no one out, no Yankee hit the ball out of the infield and the potential rally was thwarted.
For the first five innings, the Yankees mysteriously were unable to hit Orioles starter Koji Uehara. Making his first ever Major League start, the right hander confused the offense with off-speed pitches. In his five innings and 86 pitches of work, Uehara allowed only one run on five hits while walking a batter before allowing the bullpen to finish the final four frames.
In the ninth inning, the Bombers attempted to rally. After pinch hitter Nick Swisher walked with one out and Gardner grounded out, Derek Jeter (2 for 4) homered to right to cut the deficit to 7-4. Reliever Dennis Sarfate walked Johnny Damon and closer George Sherill came into the game to face Mark Teixeira with two out. Still searching for his first Yankee hit (0 for 8), hearing vociferous boos from the Orioles fans during each at bat, and batting right handed for the first time, he drilled a double into the gap in right center to score Damon from first and gave the team a chance to tie the game with Hideki Matsui coming to the plate.
Unfortunately, the rally would be cut short as Sherill got Matsui to pop out to third baseman Melvin Mora to give the Orioles a 7-5 victory to send the Bombers to 0-2 on the young season.
The onus is now on free agent signee AJ Burnett to prevent an embarrassing sweep to begin the season. He will be opposed by right hander Alfredo Simon, who like Uehara, will be making his Major League debut.
Two games into the season, and already the drama is building, at least until the Yankees get their first win. After the game, they will fly to Kansas City for a weekend series with the Royals.
Game time is 1:35.
No comments:
Post a Comment