Wang pitched well enough tonight to give the Yanks a chance at winning the game vs. the Angels in Game 2 of the divisional series. However, the Yanks offense left a ton of men on base, and 2 costly errors - 1 by Wang and 1 by A-Rod, contributed to Wang leaving in the 7th inning losing 4-2 to the Angels. Wang's line for the night was: 6 2/3 innings pitched - 6 hits - 4 runs - 1 earned - 0 walks - 1 strike out.
Wang got off to a good start in the first inning as he had his sinker working - getting 3 ground outs in the first. You could tell that Wang was pumped up, as he was clocking up to 96 mph on the gun. Except for a lead-off solo blast by Juan Rivera in the 5th inning, Wang was cruising through the first 5 innings. A-Rod's misplay on a ground ball in the 6th inning eventually led to a run scored when Benji Molina singled in the unearned run. Tied 2-2 going into the bottom of the 7th inning, Wang was still hitting 93 to 94 mph with his fastball, but he was leaving pitches up in the zone. An errant throw to first by Wang on an infield ball hit between the pitcher's mound and home plate, allowed the Angels to get 2 men on base. With runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs, O. Cabrera came up with a clutch 2 out - 2 run scoring single. That was all she wrote for Wang, as Torre called in Leiter to relieve Wang.
Bottom line - Wang pitched well but in the later innings started leaving pitches up in the zone and out over the plate - the Angels hitters made him pay with clutch 2 out hitting; NY's defense was shaky; and the Yanks offense left too many men on base. You can't win with that kind of performance against a solid team like the Angels.
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