First Jorge Posada, then Alex Rodriguez, and most recently, Phil Hughes. These injuries have the potential to derail the Yankees' hopes of capturing a record 27th world title.
With an offense that has been stagnant for most of April, these injuries can and will affect this team for the next few months.
Phil Hughes’ and Ian Kennedy’s struggles have affected this team tremendously. Each has failed to win this season, and now Hughes is on the shelf until mid-July and Kennedy might end up in Scranton.
With so many hopes entering this season, many are pushing the panic button. Did the Yankees miss out on obtaining the ace who now plays across the river? With all these concerns and questions being posed by the media, it is only adding to an already tense clubhouse and the front office.
Andy Pettitte and, surprisingly Mike Mussina, have been doing their part to keep the ship upright on this campaign. Pettitte has been nothing short of dominant, with the exception of the Detroit outing, and Mussina has pitched, well, Jamie Moyer-like, incorporating change-ups and sliders into his otherwise very hittable arsenal of pitches.
There is, however, one pitcher in the Yankees rotation that is doing all he can to save this magical year in Yankees history. Chien-Ming Wang (6-0, 3.00) has been Cy Young-like thus far.
Wang had an excellent outing Friday against Seattle, allowing just one run in six innings, and he beat C.C. Sabathia, last year’s Cy Young award winner, in Cleveland, 1-0, on April 27.
Frankly, Wang has all the makings of having a season similar to Ron Guidry’s ‘78 campaign, when he went 25-3 and tossed 273.2 innings (187H, 53ER, 72BB, 248K). He captured the Cy Young award and led the Yankees to the World Series.
Wang did not win his sixth game of last season until June 12 vs. Arizona. As the season trudges along, every fifth day we forget all about Hughes’ and Kennedy’s troubles and watch a potential milestone season unravel for Wang.
3 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Derek Coffelt about 1 year ago
Good read. I know many people were saying that the Yankees were in trouble with all of the injuries and the questionable starts from Hughes and Kennedy. However, despite all that they're only 3 games out of first place and it was only a month into the season. With Pettitte, Mussina, and Wang holding their own, the Yankees will still be contenders down the stretch. They're not the favorites, but you're right..don't count them out.
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Kyle about 1 year ago
Almost Cy Wang by now. But still not likely for Wang to have a season like Guidry in 78.
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John Harney about 1 year ago
Hey, this article was picked up by Yahoo Taiwan (yahoo.com.tw) and at the time of writing is being featured as a headline news story.
http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/080505/2/ykhq.html
They don't actually link directly to the article but they give your surname and describe you as an American sports website contributor.
Thought you might find that interesting. Great article!
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