When Wang Chien-ming (王建民), the Taiwanese starting pitcher for the New York Yankees, returned home for a break at the end of the last US baseball season, local media were eager to ask him what his goal for this year would be.
A man known for giving short answers, Wang simply said the most important thing was "not to get hurt" and "just pitch." But now, Wang is having to confront his worst fear.
The New York Yankees issued an official statement yesterday saying that Wang is currently on the team's injured list. According to the statement, Wang suffered a strain of his right hamstring during a conditioning practice on Friday.
"I don't look for him [Wang] to touch our Major League roster until sometime in late April," said the Yankees' general manager Brian Cashman.
The injury means Wang will miss out on an opportunity to be the first Asian to be the Opening Day starter, in a game scheduled for April 2.
Wang said in a television interview that he felt sad about the unexpected setback but hoped he would recover from the injury soon so that he could return to the mound again.
Wang's misfortune means that another pitcher on the Yankee's roster will get the chance to throw the first pitch.
Yankees manager Joe Torre said that Carl Pavano, Kei Igawa and Jeff Karstens were potential candidates but of the three, Pavano was the "likely favorite," he said.
Wang, however, may not be the only starting pitcher from Taiwan forced to sit in the dugout at the start of the season.
A report in the Los Angeles Times on Saturday indicated that LA Dodgers starter Kuo Hong-chih (郭泓志) is unlikely to pitch again this spring as his left shoulder is showing signs of inflammation.
The pain in his shoulder looks likely to have played a role in a series of disappointing performances in this season's warm-up games.
Kuo has only recently recovered from "Tommy John" surgery, performed last year, otherwise known as ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction.
This is a surgical procedure in which a medial ligament in the elbow is replaced with a ligament from elsewhere in the patient's body (often from the forearm, hamstring, knee or foot).
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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