Chien-Ming Wang: Please Don't Say Cy Young

In the New York Yankees' 15-9 slugfest over the Boston Red Sox at the Bronx on Tuesday, Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang was lucky.

Eight runs in four-plus innings, and Wang's ERA ballooned by over 2.5 runs.

And yet Wang still didn't get the loss.

Life must be good with all that run support.

Now, Wang's ERA is not so impressive anymore at 3.81 and only 13 K's in four starts.

That's why you don't hand out major awards in the first month of the season.

There were those who proclaimed Wang might go ahead and win the AL Cy Young in 2008 as he got out to a fast 3-0 start with a 1.23 ERA following a two-hit gem at Fenway last Friday.

But Wang will probably never win one, especially since he's not a strikeout pitcher--he's never gotten more than 104 in his first three big-league seasons--and the last time a starting pitcher won the Cy Young with such a low strikeout total was Pete Vuckovich (105) for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1982. 

And even Vuckovich's selection was questionable then.

Will Wang win many games for the Yankees this season?

Probably, given the way that the Bombers can slug with the best of them (which makes it mind-boggling that Mike Mussina still hasn't been able to win 20 games in a season. But I digress.) However, unless Wang wins a ridiculous number the way Bob Welch did for the Oakland A's in 1990 (27), please don't suggest that the fourth-year Yankee will win anything. Please.

More importantly, in the Red Sox game on Tuesday, Wang was not able to have what you call a "shut-down inning" whenever the Yankees scored to take the lead.

After the Yankees gave Wang a 3-1 lead in the first inning, the pitcher gave one right back to Boston the next inning after loading the bases with none out.

After the Yanks gave Wang four runs in the fourth and a 7-3 lead, he went back out and gave up five straight hits and was chased.

By the time the Red Sox were done in the top of the fifth, the Yanks were down 9-7.

Not exactly clutch pitching, was it?

But with the Yankees' ability to score runs, Wang will probably win many games. And be let off the hook in games in which he gives up many runs, a la the 15-9 game.

Reminds me of Roger Clemens starting the 2001 campaign 20-1, a year when the Rocket went 3-2 with four no-decisions in games in which he allowed at least five runs. Incredible.

Speaking of April surprises, how about Livan Hernandez's 3-0 start for the 7-8 Minnesota Twins? Hernandez, the former World Series MVP, has a 3.00 ERA in four starts after going 11-11 with a 4.93 ERA for the NL West champion Arizona Diamondbacks.

And if we're handing out major awards in mid-April, I'll nominate the Washington Nationals' Tim Redding (2-1, 2.25, 8 BB, 7 K's) for the National League honor.

Kidding.

But had it not been for a pair of errors in Redding's second start of the year against the Florida Marlins--which led to six unearned runs and a 10-7 defeat--the right-hander could be 3-0 as we speak.

Still, the NL award will be between Brandon Webb and Jake Peavy. And those two aren't disappointing so far.

Webb is 4-0 with a 1.86 ERA for the D-Backs, while Peavy has a 3-0 and 1.64 mark with the San Diego Padres.

(Photograph courtesy New York Yankees: Chien-Ming Wang's Future Hangs on the Change-up, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/14287-New-York-Yankees-Chien-Ming-Wang-s-Future-Hangs-on-the-Change-up-230308, by Emanuel Montanez on Bleacher Report)