* Canada has Joey Votto and Justin Morneau, Chien-Ming Wang from Taiwan starts for the Blue Jays Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Field against the Chicago White Sox. .... 2013 Canadian draft list 2014 Canadian draft list 2013 Canadians in the Minors  2013 Canadians in College  Letters of Intent

 

By Bob Elliott

If only he had gotten the bunt down.

If only there had not been a play at the plate.

Chien-Ming Wang won 19 games in 2006, his first full year in the majors.

The next year he won another 19 for the New York Yankees.

And he was on his way to similar season on June 15, 2008 as the Yankees played the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Stadium in Houston.

Wang was 28, entering his prime.

With the Yankees up 3-0, he was asked to bunt with men on first and second.

He got the bunt down but only a few feet in front of the plate. Houston catcher Brad Ausmus threw out Jorge Posada at third, with Wang reaching.

After a Johnny Damon single, Derek Jeter hit a two-run single to right and Wang slid home fracturing his right foot. Wang was done after five innings in the 13-0 win, as his record climbed to 8-2 and didn’t pitch again that season.

And now he’s done with the Yankees, who allowed him out of his minor-league contract this week, so the 33-year-old starts Tuesday for the Jays in Chicago against the last-place Chicago White Sox.

Since that slide in Houston, Wang has injured his right shoulder, missing all of 2010. He’s 7-13 with a 6.39 ERA with the Yanks and the Washington Nationals in 25 starts since the slide.

Before that he was 52-40 (a .720 win mark) with a 3.79 ERA.

When Vidal Nuno, formerly of the 2011 Washington Wild Things of the independent Frontier League, was promoted ahead of Wang, it was apparent that Wang did not have a future in the Bronx.

This season Wang was 4-4, with a 2.33 ERA in nine starts for triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, walking 10 and striking out 25 in 58 innings. He had an opt out clause of his contract with the Yankees at the end of each month. The Yankees allowed him to leave last week.

While his numbers were good, the man who used to throw 95 MPH was clocked at 89 MPH.

Jays broadcaster Buck Martinez worked the Chinese Taipei-Japan game before 43,527 fans at the Tokyo Dome during the World Baseball Classic in March.

Martinez was raving Monday night about Wang's six scoreless innings against Japan, as he allowed six hits and walked one. Japan won 4-3 in 10 innings.