MLB／「未成形的巨星」 專家期待建仔恢復王牌本色
日期:2010/01/22 記者陳浚錡／綜合報導
即使現階段「台灣之光」王建民不屬於洋基一員，卻仍有媒體發表專文感念他的貢獻，紐澤西《新聞報》專欄作家波登（Sam Borden）以《未完成的故事》為題，認為建仔是個還沒完全成形的巨星，確信他傷後回到大聯盟，還是能夠投出過去的水準。
在過去，紐約各界一直為建仔到底是不是真正的王牌爭論著，同時也是《沉默的王牌》作者的波登指出，討論這議題是很「浩呆」的事，建仔曾連續兩年拿下19勝，是當時球隊最好的投手，不管外界怎麼去評價他、稱呼他，這兩季對洋基的重要性依舊不會改變。
許多球迷認為建仔話少，可能無法讓隊友喜歡，而波登表示不止他愛這位台灣小子，連「準」傳奇球星基特（Derek Jeter）也很「尬意」，常在更衣室裡開玩笑，把建仔的姓氏拉長，阿民不改靦腆個性，用微笑回應；由此可知，建仔雖不足成傳奇，但已經是這幾年洋基的代表人物。
建仔右肩二度開刀，球速回到過去水準的機會不大，而這位作家說某位球探曾告訴他，建仔是個能夠不靠速球吃飯的投手，只要他的動作以及伸卡球不要走樣，相信是能夠投出不錯的成績。
王建民以顛覆以往強力投手的刻板印象，以滾地球讓每個打者失望而歸，激起紐約球迷各種不同的反應。去年球季建仔連被打爆狀況，最後再度以受傷收場，令球界認為他開始走下坡；但對波登而言，建仔還是個未完全成形的巨星，他很高興他所喜愛的球員這段期間為復出所做的努力，並且期待建仔再回到主戰場。
《未完成的故事》一文發布後引發美國網友熱烈回響，已有超過百人回應文章，甚至還有人說看完此文後熱淚盈眶，希望洋基捨棄米崔（Sergio Mitre），重簽建仔，可見就算目前不在洋基，建仔仍具有一定影響力。
http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2010/01/20/an-unfinished-story/
An unfinished story
The thing that will always strike me about Chien-Ming Wang’s time with the Yankees was how quickly the tenor of it changed. For the better part of two years, the debate was over whether or not Wang was a “true ace” – a debate I always found sort of silly since it seemed like such arbitrary semantics. Wang won 19 games in back-to-back years and was the team’s best pitcher (often by far); call him whatever you want, but his importance didn’t change.
I always liked Wang – he was incredibly soft-spoken, but had a good sense of humor and better English than he let on. His teammates teased him like anyone else, and he enjoyed it – Derek Jeter would often walk into the clubhouse and call out, even from across the room, “What up Waaaaaaang?” just to see him laugh. Although I never felt like he was going to be an all-time legend, I really believed that Wang had the stuff (and the make-up) to be a legitimate stud for years to come.
That’s what made his downfall so stark. Greg did a nice job this morning breaking down the statistical trends that corresponded to his struggles, and the truth is that his injuries clearly affected some element of his delivery. I remember a scout once telling me that guys like Wang – pitchers who weren’t overpowering and couldn’t rely on velocity – had to be even finer with their mechanics or else their sinker would sit up in the zone and get hammered. I think we all saw at the start of 2009 just how that looked.
I know that Wang was a player who inspired a variety of reactions from Yankees fans. No doubt, it was hard to get past some of his struggles in big spots, especially the limited postseason opportunities he had. But to me, I’ll always think of Wang as the star who never fully formed. The injury in Houston was freakish and unexpected, and I’m glad to see that Wang is trying to make a comeback.
Will he revive his career and return to form? Maybe, maybe not. If he doesn’t, though, it’ll be hard not to wonder what might have been.
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