Associated Press
To Yankees manager Joe Girardi, Chien-Ming Wang’s footwork was right on target.
So were his pitches.
Wang made his first appearance since partially tearing a tendon in his foot running the bases against Houston in June, pitching two scoreless innings for the Yankees in a 5-5 tie with the Astros on Monday.
“I think when you have an injury like that, you watch how they push off and he looked the same as before he got hurt,” Girardi said in Kissimmee, Fla. “That means he’s comfortable with the way he feels.”
Wang’s foot was tested when he chased down a bunt in front of home plate and when he ran to cover the base on a groundball to the first baseman.
“I feel good,” Wang said. “Nothing wrong.”
Wang fared a lot better than Astros starter Mike Hampton.
Hampton allowed four runs and six hits in two innings. He didn’t work a scheduled third inning because of a high pitch count.
Today, the Yankees are scheduled to face their captain, Derek Jeter, when they play Team USA in a World Baseball Classic warmup at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
“We’re going to drill him,” Yankees catcher Jorge Posada joked. “It’s the first time we’ve played against each other. It will be fun.”
Angels ace John Lackey made his spring debut,too, working two innings of hitless ball in the Los Angeles’ 12-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Tuscon, Ariz.
At Glendale, Ariz., White Sox pitchers Jose Contreras and Bartolo Colon threw their first pitches off the mound this spring training.
Contreras is more than three months ahead of schedule after rupturing his left Achilles’ tendon. Not only did he throw all his pitches, but several times he dropped his arm angle down and threw sidearm to test the injury.
Colon is coming off offseason surgery to clean some bone chips up in his right elbow.
Top Dodgers prospect Ivan DeJesus Jr., a shortstop, broke his right leg sliding into home plate during a B game. DeJesus, the organization’s minor league player of the year for 2008, is likely done for the season.