Wang works wonders

Pete Abraham -

The one weakness of Chien-Ming Wang - and it is far more of a minor fault than a major failing - is that he doesn't strike out enough hitters.

Wang won 19 games for the Yankees last season despite averaging 3.14 strikeouts per nine innings. Of the 70 starters in baseball who reached 180 innings, Wang had the fewest strikeouts.

"With him it doesn't matter so much, because he doesn't walk many batters and he gets so many ground balls," said reliever Mike Myers, one of Wang's closest friends on the team. "But he needed something else he could go to."

That learning process, delayed when Wang strained his right hamstring in spring training, was on display last night. The sinker specialist struck out a career-high 10 as the Yankees beat the Mets 8-2 at Yankee Stadium.