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Paul’s Note: The following article was posted on 8/16. For the original article in Traditional Chinese, click HERE.

I have been terribly busy these past couple days, kinda short handed at work, so I haven’t had much time to work on my blog. I read some stuff by Taiwanese media and the feedbacks of my readers, here are a couple thoughts -

First of all, about Joe Torre’s comments to Wang. Torre wants Wang to go back to the basics, trust his pitches, I am sure people have read the stories.

Yet, some media seemed to interpret as that “Torre wants Wang to do this, Guidry wants Wang to do that, who should Chien-Ming Wang listen to?” I think they misunderstood the point.

It is true that Gator taught him breaking balls but he never told Wang “not to throw his fastballs.”

Torre reminded Wang not to “forget the basics,” don’t throw too many breaking balls, and return to his old style of challenging the strikezone. He never once said “don’t throw breaking balls”;

I don’t even think their points are conflicting, in fact, I think they are talking about the same thing.

Chien-Ming Wang’s strikeout rate has increased, but he also started to want to strikeout batters by painting the corners; and after the game in Toronto, he started worry about getting hit. Unfortunately he does not yet possess good enough of command, so if he doesn’t make a good pitch, or the home plate umpire has a cheap strikezone, then that is bad news for Wang.

“Don’t fall in love with breaking balls,” not only did Torre once said it, but also can be viewed as a rule of thumb. Only Taiwanese people would blindly go after the “rainbow breaking balls,” as if knowing more kinds of breaking balls the better, and ask Wang the same old question everyday “did you learn any new pitch?” A pitcher should still build his/her foundation on the fastball. 95 MPH, 88, 85, whatever, you just have to throw it. This is why we often talk about “establishing the fastball” or “controlling the plate.”

Torre did not prohibit Wang from pitching breaking balls, what he wants is attitude — he does not want to see Wang cutting corners, afraid to get hit; same with Guidry, and that is why he would say things like “just throw the damn ball.” Just go with it, don’t be afraid. Even if Wang mastered the sliders taught by Guidry, but if he can’t attack the strike zone, Gator will still be upset.

It is kind of funny how whenever Wang does not perform as well, many so-called “experts” in Taiwan start talking about Wang’s sinkers, how they are not as sharp as before, or lack of movements at the end; yet on the other hand, you have never hear Torre or Guidry saying similar things when criticizing Wang. How about American media?

Perhaps I don’t read enough, but I don’t have any recollection of such criticism.

The coaches still insist that “there is nothing wrong with his stuff,” or Torre even said it once “sometimes Wang has so much movement on his sinkers, he has a hard time controlling it,” and Gator has also brought up similar points.

Still, our “experts” in Taiwan insist that Wang’s sinkers has lost its power?

It is true that he has some controlling issue, and it is also true that base runners often affect his focus, but that is why you practice, and work on it. They simulate situations like this in bullpen sessions, so if Wang still has problems dealing with it, that’s his own obstacle, whether its mental or whatever.

I don’t want to claim I am someone close to Chien-Ming Wang, or a friend or anything. I am just someone that has covered him for the past 3 years from a close distance. I honestly don’t think that he is influenced by fame, or feeling the pressure as the “Light of Taiwan”; don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that he doesn’t have a sense of honor or anything, my point is that –

It is just a slump.

When Jeter went through 26 ABs without a hit, or 0 for 32, that was a slump, no one said Jeter is feeling the pressure because of his fame; or when Matsui does not perform as well, we hardly hear people say he is under too much pressure to be the “Light of Japan.”

Slumps are slumps. Whether it’s caused by physical or mental reasons. I believe that for Taiwanese fans, we can support Wang, but at the same time, not to over analyze.

I wrote a piece back in spring training about “Wang doesn’t have a good change-up,” and someone responded to me that “you don’t know shit.”Yea, there are many things I don’t understand, but why can’t we fans accept the fact that “Chien-Ming Wang is human, too. He has flaws.” If watching baseball can go so far, life is pretty tough as well.

My job is to observe and report. I am no expert or color commentator, but I can record some conversation and interaction of coaches and players, and write an article; or sharing some stories or observations I saw first hand with the rest of you. The truth is that, I love baseball, and I enjoy watching the games whether Wang does well or not. I simply enjoy this game.

J-Train writes for the Word Journal, one of the bigger Mandarin news paper in North America, in NYC. He spends most of his time covering Asian athletes, with focus on Chien-Ming Wang and the New York Yankees. He recently became the first Taiwanese baseball writer to join the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). For more of his articles, you may go to The J-Train Blog (it’s in Traditional Chinese), or click HERE for my translated ones. For those English speaking fans, HAKANIN.com will continue to provide the translated version of his articles, so stay tuned!

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Filed under: Chien-Ming Wang, Joseph Liao, MLB, New York Yankees, Sports, Taiwan, The J-Train Blog