Posted by Michael Street on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at 12:06 am

Nothing borrowed and nothing blue, but two offseason marriages were consummated this week, while two older relationships continued to slowly deteriorate.

I’m talking, of course, about the first round of starts from Asian pitchers, from the first turns of newcomers Koji Uehara and Kenshin Kawakami to the return engagements (so to speak) of Chien-Ming Wang and Chan-ho Park.

Though the results were varied, and none were spectacular, one theme connects them: mistakes get punished in MLB.

Koji Uehara

As the Orioles #2 starter, Uehara’s had two turns on the hill. His first came against the Yankees at home, an all-Asian matchup with Chien Ming Wang.

More about Wang’s performance later, but Uehara held the Yanks to one run on five hits in five innings, walking one and whiffing none. His only mistake came in the fourth, when he allowed Xavier Nady to reach on a single, then left a pitch up for Cody Ransom to hammer down the line for a run-scoring double.

Manager Dave Trembley chose to pull him with a six-run lead in the fifth, perhaps not wanting to push his luck. Uehara had looked sharp, but the Yankees are a dangerous lineup, and his final line was very nice, if a bit short: 5 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 5 H.

Against Texas, Uehara found an even more dangerous lineup, at least in hitter-friendly Arlington Field, where mistakes are hit a lot farther than Camden Yards in April. Uehara got to see some moon shots, and probably wished that Trembley had shown as quick a hook as he’d shown in his first start.

Anchored to an early 2-0 lead, Uehara gave up a leadoff double to Ian Kinsler on a deep fly ball that Felix Pie misplayed. Two batters (and outs) later, Andruw Jones ripped a high fastball down the left field line for a run-scoring double.

Marlon Byrd stranded Jones with a groundout, but Uehara got into more trouble in the second when he left a pitch up to Chris Davis, who crushed it 423 feet for a solo shot. Kinsler led off the third with a walk, then scored when Chris Young nailed a long bomb over the fence in straightaway center.

But the Orioles did some bopping of their own, giving Uehara a three-run cushion that allowed him to relax and retire the side by facing only three batters in the fourth. The O’s hung three more on Texas in their half of the fifth, and this time Uehara put down the Rangers in only four batters.

If his night had ended there, he would have been happy. Instead, Trembley let him come out for the sixth, and he gave up two walks and a double to load the bases without recording an out. Though he still had a 10-4 lead, he seemed tentative around the strike zone, and the Rangers waited him out.

Danys Baez relieved him, and allowed all those runners to score, so Uehara’s final line was an ugly one: 5 IP, 7 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 7 H, though he got his second win of the season.

This second game was a tough lesson to learn, facing a good team in a difficult ballpark. He grooved when he should have nibbled, and nibbled when he should have grooved, and saw what happened. In NPB, mistakes might get punished by a single or an extra-base hit—in the majors, they get hit a long way.

He’ll have a chance to redeem himself on Saturday, in another tough venue against another tough team: the Boston Red Sox in Fenway. We’ll see if he’s learned his lessons then.

Kenshin Kawakami

Kawakami had an easier time of things, perhaps because his first opponent was the lowly Washington Nationals. Kawakami got into trouble with walks and long balls, but Atlanta kept him in the game and he finished with the win.

In the first, Kawakami allowed Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn to reach with back-to-back two-out walks. He walked Zim with four straight pitches, and Dunn got his free pass on a full count, but he was missing the zone, not getting squeezed.

With those two aboard, Nick Johnson singled to right off a hanging breaking ball, scoring Zim, then got caught in a rundown to end the inning.

In the third, Kawakami also left a breaking ball hanging to Cristian Guzman, who pulled it into right for a single. Then Ryan Zimmerman stung him on a two-run shot on the first pitch he saw.

Kawakami settled down after this, picking up two more strikeouts in the fourth and retiring the side in the fifth and sixth. He picked up the win with a line that was decent, if not as tidy as Uehara’s first: 6 IP, 3 ER, 8Ks, 4 BBs and 4 H. His next opponent will be the Marlins at home on Thursday.

Chien-Ming Wang

Wang is a key part of the Yankee’s rotation and is a question mark coming into the season after a foot injury ended his 2008 season and contributed to the Yanks’ disappointing finish.

So far, he’s been an even greater disappointment, unable to find the strike zone or his sinker, an indication of the fine line a pitcher like Wang walks. Though he’s had back-to-back nineteen win seasons, he’s dependent on that sinking fastball to get strikes and outs. When it’s not working, it makes his other pitches much more hittable, and he goes from a dominant pitcher to an average one.

In his two starts so far in 2009, Wang probably wished for averageness. Against the Orioles and Uehara on April 8, he had one of the shortest outings of his career, giving up 7 runs in 3.2 IP, surrendering 9 hits, while walking three and striking out none.

Baltimore started things out in the first with three doubles in a row, plating two runs—Wang’s sinker was up in the zone, and Adam Jones, Nick Markakis and Aubrey Huff all got good wood on it. Wang got out of the second unscathed, saved himself from two walks in the third with two well-timed ground balls, and then fell apart in the fourth.

Once more, his sinker wasn’t sinking, and Luke Scott ripped it into right for a single and Gregg Zaun missed a home run by a few feet, settling for a ground-rule double on a high hop on Baltimore’s rubberized warning track. Cesar Izturis and Jones both sacrificed in a run, and it looked like Wang might escape with minimal damage.

With Brian Roberts on first, Nick Markakis saw another one of those non-sinking sinkers and bombed it over the right field wall for a two-run jack. Joe Girardi had seen enough and yanked him for Edwar Ramirez.

Wang’s final line in that game was ugly, but it was nothing compared to what he’d face in Tampa Bay five days later. Baltimore is a good enough team, but Tampa Bay’s powerful lineup took full advantage of Wang’s control and sinker problems.

Wang fell behind two of the first three hitters, giving up a leadoff walk to B.J. Upton and hitting Carl Crawford with his second pitch. Evan Longoria fanned, but Carlos Pena nailed a ringing double to center, scoring both Upton and Crawford. Pat Burrell plated him with a double of his own, and Dioner Navarro and Gabe Gross hit back-to-back singles to score two more.

Though Wang managed to escape with “only” four runs of damage that inning, Scott Kazmir retired the Yanks in short order in the top of the second, putting a weary Wang back on the hill.

He gave up a leadoff single to Jason Bartlett, then Upton rattled him with a nice bunt. Wang responded by walking Carl Crawford on four straight pitches to load the bases, then walking Longoria to force in the game’s fifth run.

Girardi gave him the early hook once again, and Wang hung his head in the dugout as Jonathan Albaladejo gave up a grand slam to Pena on the next batter. Wang’s final line? 1 IP, 8 R, 6H, 3 BB and 1 K.

What’s wrong with Wang? Coming off a foot injury, it’s very likely that his mechanics are off, which would affect his sinker. It’s also early in the season, and it’s natural for pitchers to struggle a bit. He may be putting extra pressure on himself and throwing harder, never a good thing for a sinker, which needs to be slightly underthrown to bite.

Whatever it is, he may not get too many more chances to figure it out in a high-pressure place like New York.

Chan-ho Park

Speaking of high-pressure places, how would you like to start your season by pitching at Coors Field? That’s what Park got to do as Philadelphia’s fifth starter, and he struggled mightily early, but rallied to at least get farther than Wang did in his starts.

Unlike Wang, Park didn’t look particularly bad on the mound, but Colorado is a punishing environment for pitchers, and he got singled and doubled to death right out of the box. He couldn’t put hitters away, even after getting ahead of them, and Colorado just worked him well and forced him to throw strikes.

He got ahead of leadoff hitter Dexter Fowler before running the count full and then inducing a groundout. Ryan Spilborghs pulled an outside pitch between short and third for a clean single, and Brad Hawpe also worked the count full before ripping a double to deep right center, scoring Spilborghs. Seeing a pattern yet?

Garrett Atkins also started out at 1-2 before running the count full and dumping a single to center that scored Hawpe. Ian Stewart also fell behind, then hit a 3-2 pitch for a single into right.

Troy Tulowitzki walked on five straight pitches, Chris Ianetta struck out with the bases loaded, and Clint Barmes started out 0-2 before hitting a 3-2 pitch to right to score two more. After Aaron Cook ended the first by grounding out, Dexter Fowler started the second inning with a leadoff homer—but at least it was on a 1-2 pitch. 5-1 Colorado.

At this point, Park seemed to settle down a little, perhaps because the five runs he’d already given up made him feel like he couldn’t do any worse, or perhaps because he’d gotten a better feel for his stuff. For whatever reason, the Rockies couldn’t score any more against him and only got one more hit before he was lifted with one out in the fourth.

Conclusions

Park is a veteran, of course, and has had bad starts before; Uehara is also a vet and should bounce back mentally, even if Boston is a tough place to try and get that rebound.

Kawakami is in enough of a low-leverage spot in the rotation that he can both afford more mistakes (since he faces lesser pitchers) and face less pressure to figure things out.

Wang doesn’t have that kind of luxury, and needs to get his act together—and fast. George Steinbrenner may not be at the helm anymore, but the front office (and fans) demand winning, and neither Wang nor the Yanks have done enough of that so far.

For help, Wang might talk to his new teammate, CC Sabathia, who started out 2008 with four horrible starts, giving up a total of 27 ER in four starts. And we all know how he finished.

Next week: Pacific Perspectives looks at the starts of prominent Asian hitters!