Wang Going to Tampa to Strengthen Arm By JOSHUA ROBINSON Published: April 21, 2009 Without his interpreter, Chien-Ming Wang spoke slowly and softly Tuesday afternoon. He had just thrown nearly 50 pitches in a bullpen session and felt satisfied, uttering a barely audible, “It was good,” with a trace of a smile. But those pitches, no matter how they broke, dipped or zipped, could not erase the 186 he had thrown in six miserable innings this season. “I know in the first three games I was not throwing good,” said Wang, whose earned run average is 34.50. “I have to keep fighting to come back.” On Monday, the Yankees said they would skip Wang’s next start, which was to be Friday in Boston. On Tuesday, Manager Joe Girardi offered a little more detail on the Yankees’ plan to work Wang back to the dominant form he showed in 2007. It will begin on Thursday in Tampa, Fla., where Wang is scheduled to throw 100 pitches in extended spring training. “We think he needs to pitch to get him right,” Girardi said. The Yankees cannot give Wang a chance to sort things out in Class AAA, because he is out of minor league options. The club was also adamant that he was not injured or feeling any lingering effects from the foot injury that ended his 2008 season last June. But Girardi and General Manager Brian Cashman softened their stance on Tuesday, refusing to rule anything out. Wang has not yet had any medical tests. “We’re in full laboratory mode,” Cashman said. “We’re assessing every aspect of Wang, from the Lisfranc fracture he recovered from to that somehow, maybe in the kinetic chain, being an issue.” Girardi said that he would make a decision on Wang after Thursday’s outing, and that the news he was hoping for from Tampa was that Wang had regained some consistency with his sinker. “That’s where he’s gotten himself in trouble,” Girardi said. “He’s gotten up in the zone, and when he gets up it flattens out.” A longer outing may also be a chance for Wang to build up some of the arm strength and rhythm that has eluded him in his three brief starts. Wang has not thrown more than 73 pitches in a game this season or lasted longer than three and two-thirds innings. His velocity is also slightly below its typical 91- to 93-mile-per-hour range, but Girardi said that was not unusual so early in the season. If Wang shows some progress this week, his next major league appearance would most likely be Tuesday in Detroit, giving him more than a week between starts. Wang said he had hoped to prove himself much sooner than that. “Waiting maybe 10 days,” Wang said, “that’s a long time.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/sports/baseball/22yanknotes.html?_r=1 --

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