Near-perfect

What else can be said for Wang’s performance last night? I’ve always loved Wang, but even with two 19 win seasons under his belt, I was worried how he’d perform as the Yankees’ number one starter.

Not anymore.

He set up hitters inside, pounded the strike zone with fastballs, dropped the sinker off the table, slipped in a few sliders just to keep the hitters of their toes and, most of all, got outs. He’s not a strike-out pitcher, but he still managed to strike out Ortiz once and Ramirez twice for his only three strikeouts of the night. Both hitters were .500 or better against Wang coming into the game.

The first hit given up by Wang was a solo home run in the fifth that glanced off of Bobby Abreu’s glove. He could have caught it, he should have caught it, but he didn’t. I know he’s kicking himself after booting that play, so I’m not going to beat up on him too much but it had better not happen again. The second was a bunt single with two outs in the 9th by cereal mascot Coco Crisp to try and get something started. It didn’t work as Matusi caught Pedroia’s line drive to left field and ended the game. A valiant but annoying effort.

The rest of the Yankees played excellent defense behind him. The lone “error” was a questionable ruling by the official scorer - it really could have gone either way as A-Rod’s throw was high and pulled Giambi off of the bag at first. A fine play by Giambi at first, really, and he was quickly erased by Ortiz grounding into a double play. The rest of the game was sparkling and I think everyone picked it up a bit to try to keep Wang’s damn-near-perfect game going.

Lastly, the offense… There were scoring opportunities missed, but the small ball carried the day with the exception of Giambi’s long ball. Cabrera grounded into the double play with the bases loaded and one out to end the fourth, but he also hit a sac fly that scored Molina from third in the 7th. Giambi poked his head out from under his slump with his first long ball of the season. Cano, on the other hand, hit at least one good ball that wound up as an out. He also had a sad grounder to third that failed to score Molina and a pair of strike outs. A sad start to the season, but he will break out of it.

Red Cross Medical Watch: It looks as though Jeter will miss the rest of the series in Boston due to the cold weather. He’s likely to return Monday against Tampa Bay. Posada will again either sit or DH with his dead arm. Molina and Gonzalez will play as their back-ups. I’ve only heard some scuttlebutt on PeteAbe’s comments and haven’t seen anything to confirm this, but Wilson Betemit may be having LASIK eye surgery. Minor League pitching prospect Alan Horne has a tear in his bicep and no nerve damage so is expected to miss only one start.

This afternoon’s game will feature Mussina vs. Beckett. It doesn’t look like an even match up, but Moose has proven that he’s not done pitching and Beckett has shown he has weaknesses, so tune in and find out who will prevail! Let’s go Yanks!