Game 7 - Wang Pitches Batting Practice II (The Sequel)

If his first performance was not scary enough, Wang's efforts in the sequel today were down right frightful. What an absolute pitiful, gutless appearance by a man who had been the Yankees ace for the past 2 and half seasons.  1+ innings and 8 earned runs - inexplicable.  His E.R.A. now stands at a robust 28.93.  If he were to throw a complete game shutout next game, his E.R.A. would still be in double digits.  I'm still trying to get back the 24 minutes and 42 pitches it took Wang to get through the first inning and 22 minutes for Wang and reliever Albaladejo to wrap up the second inning, with the Yanks down an insurmountable 9-0.  

The socialist Rays took the capitalist Yanks behind the wood shed, slapping them 15-5.  The lone Yankee star of the night was Nick Swisher, who hit a HR and in emergency relief, was the only Yankee pitcher to throw a scoreless frame.

As for the rest of the Pinstripers, has anyone seen Derek Jeter?  Since collecting 5 hits in his first 2 games, he's gone 1-20.   Cody Ransom is batting .083 - I've seen pitchers in the N.L. have better averages then this guy.  I'm not sure why he's putting pressure on himself - Arod is coming back and taking over, even if Ransom were hitting over .500.  As for the 53 year-old (Matsui), he gave another brilliant performance, going 0-3 with 3 weak groundouts to first and is now a combined 3-24 this season.  I have wasted enough blog space on him in my last couple of posts. 

But tonight's game wasn't lost because of the Yankees struggles at the plate.  It came down to pitching, or the lack of it.  Not only did Wang get lit up for 8 runs, the bullpen gave up 7 runs in 7 innings.  Is it too early to start considering Phil Hughes?

At least one good thing may have come out of tonight's game - maybe the Yankees found their 8th inning bridge to Mariano with Nick Swisher.  Yanks will need AJ Burnett to step up tomorrow and pitch deep into the game.  This bullpen is spent.

Yanks Record:  3-4