The last time we saw Chien-Ming Wang take the mound was, well last Friday, but the last time we saw him take the mound in a game that actually meant something was June 15th of last year, when you know what happened. Wang said that ten month hiatus felt like five years, and I’m pretty sure we can all agree with that. He had a good spring, putting up a 4.15 ERA in 21.2 IP covering 6 starts, but hopefully he gets back to being the dominant groundball pitcher he was before the injury.
The Wanger will be opposed by Japanese import Koji Uehara, who will be making his North American debut. The first Japanese born player in Orioles history, Uehara is a nine year vet of the Japanese leagues, where he was a teammate of Hideki Matsui with the Yomiuri Giants. As Tyler Kepner noted, he won the Sawamura Award in 2002 (Cy Young equivalent), the same year Godzilla was named league MVP and Yomiuri won the league title. Uehara is known as an extreme strike thrower, racking up just 195 unintentional walks in 1,354 career innings (1.30 BB/9) on the other side of the lake. Those kind of pitchers have been known to give the Yanks’ fits, but hopefully they can buck that trend tonight.
Tiny bit of roster news before we get to the lineups: Dan Giese was claimed off waivers by the A’s. Judging by their current pitching situation, he might make it back in the bigs before long. We wish him well. Here’s tonight’s lineup, same as Monday’s:
Jeter, SS
Damon, LF
Teixeira, 1B
Matsui, DH
Posada, C
Cano, 2B
Nady, RF
Ransom, 3B
Gardner, CF
And on the mound, the Taiwanese Terror, Chien-Ming Wang.
Notes: I thought Chris Britton was getting the shaft with the Yanks, but the Padres sent him to Double-A. Poor guy … how do you define yourself as a Yankees fan? … don’t forget to vote in this week’s Fan Confidence Poll if you haven’t already … please consider contributing to our Pledge Drive benefitting Joe Torre’s Safe At Home Foundation if you haven’t already, it’s a great cause.
Photo Credit: Wang via Getty Images, Uehara via AP
