New York Yankees: Chien-Ming Wang Cures Panic Attacks

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 27^th 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.

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