In the third inning, Chien-Ming Wang was hit in the right knee on a one hopper back to the mound:
Wang was diagnosed with a contusion on his right knee and taken to St. Joseph's hospital in Tampa for precautionary X-rays, which came back negative.
"You could see the discoloration on the kneecap," said manager Joe Torre, "but everything is normal."
"He had nowhere to go on that ball; he hit it pretty hard," said catcher Kelly Stinnett. "I'm sure it smarts."
Wang admitted that he was a little worried immediately after being hit, but he said the injury was "not too bad." The pitcher believes he will be able to make his next start on Friday in Arizona against the Diamondbacks, though it will depend on how his knee reacts in the next day or two.
"I'll pitch next time," Wang said. "No problem."
That's all we needed was for Wang to suffer a serious injury. The Yanks starting pitching is suspect to say the least with Pavano, Wright and Small suffering while Mussina and Johnon have combined eighty years between them. Chien-Ming is the only young gun we have up in the major leagues that has great potential to do dynamite things if last year was any indication. Were the pitching Gods toying with us today?