What's wrong with Wang?

That's the major question lingering in the minds of the vast number of baseball fans about the third defeat of the Taiwan-born ace pitcher of the New York Yankees.

The Yankees starter swallowed his third defeat of the newly opened season after the Cleveland Indians scored a 22-4 victory over New York, including 14 runs in the second inning, before more than 45,000 baseball fans Saturday.

Wang, now 0-3, was responsible for eight runs before being relieved in the second inning by a rookie pitcher.

He started the game smoothly by striking out three Cleveland players in the first inning.

However, he was relieved from the mound in the second inning after going awry and allowing eight runs, including one homer for three runs.

Even some Indian players were baffled. They felt that Wang turned into a different person in the second inning, judging from the lopsided performance in just two innings.

Wang said he could understand the team managers' possible decision of having him skip one starting game before coming back from the current slump. Fans in Taiwan were shocked at the latest performance after Wang scored 54 victories in 97 games during the past four seasons, including 19 wins in each of the last two seasons.

Some explained that Wang may still need more time to regain his original form after he was sidelined and put on the injury list for 10 long months due to a foot injury that seemed to have made his pitching rusty.

Others said that Wang could have not yet fully recuperated or have suffered some new injuries.

One priority for Wang now is to undergo a thorough physical check as early as possible, they said.

If Wang proves physically sound, he should be giving more opportunities to regain his winning form by participating in more games.

Yet some others suggested that Wang may need help from psychological counselling for resisting pressure and breaking out the current slump.

Speed was another problem, some baseball observers here noted.

They pointed out that Wang's speed slowed to around 90 miles during the game. A lethal weapon can become dull and lose power after losing speed.

There are complicated reasons for wins and losses in the highly competitive professional baseball games in the U.S., they said.

Although there are no quick answers, speed, mechanical movements like controls over the ball, and psychological pressure could have all contributed to Wang's disappointing performance so far this season, they said.

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