Nationals vs. Mets: Chien-Ming Wang takes loss in first MLB start in more than two years By Adam Kilgore, Saturday, July 30, 10:16 AM http://ppt.cc/!kr6 Chien-Ming Wang once came as close as a pitcher could to resembling a machine.He wore New York Yankees pinstripes, crisp and perfect. His placid face, even with a nation watching for every twitch, betrayed nothing. He threw heavy, mid-90-mph sinkers, one after the next, that splintered bats and created groundballs. Over 2 1/2 seasons, he won 46 games and lost 15. He was just about automatic. Friday night at Nationals Park, he climbed a big league mound for the first time in more than two years, certainty having long ceded to ambiguity. Wang worked remarkably hard to make it back to the majors, but now that he had, no one knew what exactly what to expect. Wang is a major league pitcher again, but he is not yet the same pitcher he was before the injury, a fact made solemnly clear in the Washington Nationals’8-5 loss to the New York Mets before 30,114. After disaster struck in the first inning, Wang allowed six runs — four earned — in four innings on eight hits, a walk and a wild pitch. He flashed enough of his old self to make his next outing intriguing, but not enough to prevent the Nationals from losing their sixth consecutive game, their longest skid of the season. More than two years of grueling rehab following major shoulder surgery – subsidized by the Nationals for more than $3 million – finally led Wang back to the majors. No matter the nightmare first inning, the Nationals viewed Wang simply stepping on the mound as an accomplishment. "He’s come a long way,” Nationals pitching coordinator Spin Williams said. “From the first time I saw him throw a baseball until now, it’s an incredible story. A surgery like that, not many guys can come back from it.” Just after 7 p.m., with the temperature 101 degrees, Wang walked to the rubber and picked up the ball. More than 40 Taiwanese media members had received a credential. In Taipei, thousands gathered to watch on a big screen in a city square. When Wang walked up the dugout steps before throwing in the bullpen, 14 cameras shot pictures of him. In a pregame ceremony, Manager Davey Johnson presented a Nationals jersey with Wang’s name on the back to Jason Yuan, the Taiwanese ambassador to the United States. The comeback story quickly dissolved into cold reality. Wang walked the leadoff hitter, Jose Reyes, on four pitches, who then advanced to second on a wild pitch. The next three batters smacked singles, including one off the left field fence by David Wright, After pitching coach Steve McCatty visited the mound, Angel Pagan roped another single. At last, Wang induced a groundout from Jason Bay, which scored another run. By the time Wang recorded his first out, the Mets led 3-0. Lucas Duda flied to left field, a run-scoring sacrifice that ended the inning once Ryan Zimmerman caught another runner in a rundown. Once the miserable first frame mercifully ended, Wang settled down. He retired six of the next sever hitters he faced, striking out David Murphy with a sinker. In the fourth inning, second baseman Danny Espinosa booted a groundball, a rare error that could have been a double play, and certainly should have been one out. Center fielder Rick Ankiel helped Wang after one single by throwing a 250-foot bullet home for an out, but the Mets tacked two more runs, both unearned. With one last groundout, his sixth of the night, Wang ended the fourth and walked off the mound trailing 6-0. The Nationals got their first hit off Dillon Gee in the fourth, and they scored two runs when Jayson Werth forced a wild throw with a takeout slide of Jose Reyes with the bases loaded and one out. The Nationals mustered little else until the eighth, when five straight singles gave them two runs and loaded the bases with one out. The Nationals’ chance to get back in the game died, though, when D.J. Carrasco struck out Espinosa and Ryan Zimmerman. As the Nationals sunk deeper into last place, Wang remained the most compelling subplot. He is still recapturing his old arm motion and, for at least now, had to change his pitch selection. With the Yankees, Wang relied almost solely on his sinker, a relentless approach that produced more than two groundouts for every flyout. His sinker averaged 93 mph in 2006 and 2007. Friday night, he hit 93 five times, throwing mostly between 90 and 92. “His stuff isn’t obviously that kind of stuff,” Williams said. “I think he’ll have to use all of his pitches. Before he was primarily a one-pitch pitcher. He had a power sinker. Now he’s going to have to use all of them.” In spring training, Wang’s motion was too “slingy,” Williams said – his arm moved like a catapult, as if he was throwing a pie. Even after he had healed from surgery and regained strength, a process chocked with constant setbacks, Wang had to correct that. “I was really concerned when I saw him throw in the winter,” said Manager Davey Johnson, who was then a front-office assistant. “I’m amazed that he’s come back and he’s throwing the ball like he is.” Wang has come a long way to reach the majors. Now that he’s back, he still has questions to answer, his future anything but automatic. --

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