～自分のために～

To give some perspective to what Chien-Ming Wang accomplished today, you have to understand that he throws only three pitches: a two-seam sinking fastball (75 percent of the time), a four-seam fastball and an occasional slider.

His intent is to pitch to contact. He wants opposing hitters to chase his two-sinker and ground into outs. This strategy is an excellent one but it invariably leads to assorted singles because hard grounders get past infielders.

To be perfect for 7.1 innings is a real testament to how much his ball was moving today.

True story: Chien-Ming and I were talking in Texas on Thursday about Phil Hughes and Wang revealed that he has never thrown a no-hitter in his life. Little League, high school, college, never. “One-hit a few times,” he said. “I don’t strike enough people out for that.”

That is still the case. It’s too bad Wang didn’t finish off his perfect game. But the best news for the Yankees is that their ace is back and he is as good as ever.

http://yankees.lohudblogs.com/2007/05/05/what-a-performance-by-wang/