I’m not sure any clear trend is dectectable at all there.

The first season was 2005, in which he missed two months with a shoulder injury just as the league might have been starting to figure him out.

Last season, had a bad stretch just before he got hurt, and was possibly starting to heat up when he fractured/sprained his foot. He had pitched four poor games in a row, before pitching a good one in Oakland, and was throwing a shutout in Houston when he hurt himself running the bases.

So, it may be a clear trend toward a higher line drive percentage, or it may be that he would’ve pitched better as the season went along.

If it is a trend, than maybe the league has caught up to him, and he’ll have to adjust. I think he will if he stays healthy; he has the raw stuff to remain effective.

lol, can’t wait to hear morgan try to say it

Yeah..i see good things from him. Also, I like opposing commentators mispronouncing his name..heck, ours too, lol

i picked albaladejo for MY bullpen way back

I like your dedication. I also liked the bullpen after Wang yesterday..kept us in the game at least.

singleton was just referring to Wang’s sinker cause he throws it hard enough to be a fastball but it has the break of a breaking ball…i watched the whole game, as I plan on doing for every game this season

I remember Singleton saying something about one of his pitches having best the appearance of 2 seperate pitches. I didnt watch much after it went 7-1 though.

i dunno why but one specific change-up he threw last night got me so excited, it looked exactly like the sinker comin out of his hand except it bugs bunny’s its way down and away to the lefty (i forget who was at the plate)

I’ve been thinking about Wang’s declining grounder rate and increasing liner rate. It could be that his sinker is losing something. Or, it could be that the batters have learned to let the sinker go and are now just hacking at his secondary pitches. Or, maybe it’s a little of both? Don’t get me wrong, he still gets grounders – it’s just that he’s not getting them at the awesome rate that he was three years ago. He should be OK – but, this could mean that he’s not going to be an ace with an unhittable sinker and that he’s going to be more like a #3 or #4 starter with a good sinker. Again, I stress “could” – as we need to wait and see…

FWIW, Wang’s K/9:

’05: 3.6
’06: 3.1
’07: 4.7
’08: 5.1

HR/9
’05: .7
’06: .5
’07: .4
’08: .4

So I dunno. His K/9 is going up slightly, and his HRs/9 aren’t. I think he’ll be fine.