檢討勝利往往是沒多大用處的。檢討失敗比較能有收穫。前前一場對遊騎兵隊失七分輸球之後，上一場建仔又恢復狀況了。尤其是在五月中還要在不到八度的氣溫下頂著強風投球，可以明顯地看出，建仔的控球比起兩隊所有其它投手都穩定不少。可見他對自我的掌控是讓人可以放心的。連托瑞都說：「我不覺得他的五場球有哪一場是投得不好的。」由此，我覺得托瑞和一些其它專家的看法，可能和我有些許相同之處，尤其是針對最慘的遊騎兵之戰。趕快趁印象深刻，把我的觀察寫一寫。
It is usually not very useful to reflect on a game won. Instead, many insights could be gained by reflecting on the lost games. On May 10, Wang lost the game to the Rangers after giving up 7 earned runs. Happily, he is again stablized in the May 16 game vs the White Sox. Thinking about that he had to pitch at 46 deg.F, in the strong wind, it was obvious that his command and control were better than that of all the other pitchers in that game. I think, win or lose, his self-contral is now much reliable. Even Torre said that he does not think Wang was pitching poorly in any of the 5 games. This comment made me think that maybe Torre and some other experts share the same feeling as I had concerning the May 10 game, the 'worst' game Wang had ever pitched according to the numbers. So I'll just write down what I thought when I still remember it.
建仔的一個優點就是能夠很快在逆境中回穩。對他來說，一局失三分已經算是大局了。但是當天他投了兩個失三分的大局。第二個大局，事實上兩分責失是他下場後被打回來的，所以我們很難去假設如果是他自己投會是什麼結果。最值得檢討的是就是第五局。
One of Wang's good points is that he is calm and he quickly stablizes in troubles. When he was pitching, a three-run inning is already a big inning for the opponents. Yet on May 1o, he allowed two innings with 3 runs. In the 7th inning, 2 of the 3 runs were batted in after he stepped down. Therefore, we are not in the position to judge what whould have happened if he remained in the game at that time. The inning that deserves the most reflection is, of course, the fifth.
很多人都為建仔抱不平說，第五局也不是王建民自己搞砸的。要是阿布瑞尤不要守那麼淺，就不會出現三壘安打；要是 A-Rod 觸殺成功，也許一分都不會掉。的確，阿布瑞尤如果一開始守退後三步，那三壘安打根本不存在；接下來建仔連續再製造了兩個內野滾地球，根本該局已經結束，根本不會出現什麼三壘本壘間夾殺。
Many people felt it unfair for Wang. They think Wang did not screw up the fifth inning by himself. If Abreu was not in such a shallow position when Laird was batting, there may not be that triple; and if A-Rod tag Laird out in front of the home plate, maybe there would not be any run in that inning. Indeed, if Abreu was say three steps farther at the beginning, Laird would have flied out. And afterward, Wang had induced two in-bount ground balls. The inning would have already finished without that action between the third and home.
做為一個台灣球迷，我當然是一心支持建仔。但是反覆思索，我覺得我一點也不責備阿布瑞尤和 A-Rod。為什麼呢？因為其實建仔當天到第五局為止，造成滾地球的次數仍然是一貫地超水準，被打出安打也幾乎都只是強勁滾地。到他退場時，至少滾地/飛球出局比是 16 比 3，比16號的比賽還厲害。所以，阿布瑞尤為什麼要守得深呢？他守得淺，更有助於減低穿出內野的滾球的傷害。因此在第五局的那個當下，我如果是阿布瑞尤，我還是會站在同樣的位置等。
As a Taiwanese fan, of course I support Wang whole-heartedly. But after recalling the situations many many times, I think I put no blame on Abreu and A-Rod at all. Until the fifth inning, Wang was as efficient as before in inducing ground balls. The hits he allowed are mostly strong ground balls that penetrated into the outer field. Even when he stepped down, the ground-out/fly-out ratio is still 16/3, even better than the number on May 16. In that case, why should Abreu go deep into the field? Standing in a shallow positon would help reducing the damage caused by the penetrating ground balls. Therefore, if I were Abreu at that moment, I would no doubt stand in the same position as he did.
至於 A-Rod 的夾殺失敗，是個很接近的判決。但我們姑且不要把它當誤判來討論。我想技術上最大的重點是 A-Rod 為什麼決定自己追 Laird 而不是傳到本壘？一個明星內野手怎麼可能不知道：夾殺時最好是由前面的壘的守備者來追跑者這個道理？但是大家稍微回想就會發現， A-Rod 想回傳本壘的時候，本壘只有一個守備者，就是建仔。當我看到 A-Rod 舉起球，停了一下，又決定自己去追 Laird 時，我感受到的不是 A-Rod 沒處理好，而是感受到 A-Rod 對建仔的愛護。他寧可拼到自己下巴都撞破，也不想讓 Laird 去衝撞建仔。我個人充分相信當時 A-Rod 想到的比球評、觀眾都還多。從這個小動作，我覺得建仔已經充分贏得隊友的信賴和珍惜，即使是像 A-Rod 這樣高身價的大明星。
As to the missed tagging by A-Rod, actually it was a very close call. But to reflect the situation, let us not take it as a misjudge in the first place. I think the most important techincal problem to think about is why A-Rod decided to chase Laird by himself instead of passing the ball to the home plate. Is it possible that an all-star inner-fielder does not know it better to have the defender at the plate ahead to chase the runner? However, if one recalls the situation one can find that at that moment Posada had already avoided the path and there was only Wang at the home plate. When A-Rod raised his arm and paused for a short moment and then decided to chase Laird by himself, what I have sensed in not that A-Rod screwed up the action. Instead, I immediately felt that A-Rod was protecting Wang. He would rather run so hard that he had the scrape on his chin, than to let Laird collide with Wang at home. Personally, I strongly belive that A-Rod had thought more than the commentators and the audience did at that moment. From that delicate move, I felt that Wang has already gained the most natural and thus spontaneous love from his teamates, including A-Rod who is such a highly-paid superstar.
即使是把每一球都投得完美，也不能保證有好結果。只要球要進好球帶，總會有人可能打到。但是建仔能夠有今天的穩定表現，除了個人優異的運動員氣質和個性，以及苦練的成績之外，能夠有效地獲得隊友的支持和向心力，絕對是不可忽視的因素。那天第五局掉的三分，與其視為是建仔在本季趕業績時的一個挫折，毋寧視為是建仔與隊友的細膩互動的一個小插曲。沒有人能不敗的，但若敗是敗在隊友太保護自己以至於做了一些不太好的判斷，也許對建仔未來的路，其實正面的價值仍然是很高的。
Even if a pitcher can pitch every pitch perfectly, it is not automatic that the result will be perfect. As long as you have to pitch into the strike zone, someone will be able to slam the ball sometimes. However, besides his own excellent characteristics as an athlet and his hard works, Wang can perform so efficiently and stably now also because that he had efficiently won the support from his teamates so that the chemistry is very good when he pitches. As to the three runs earned in the fifth on that day, instead of thinking of them as a frustration on the road of Wang's re-establishment in this season, I would rather think of them as a heart-warming incident grown out of the delicate interactions between Wang and his teamates. No one can be invincible. But if Wang lost the game because of the minor mistakes his teamates commited out of their over-protection on him, it is not necessarily a bad thing for the future of Wang.
沒有留言:
張貼留言