Mark Wohlers changed his number, but the Yankees would prefer he alter his numbers.
As soon as he returned from a personally distasteful road trip last week, Wohlers retired No. 57. The real problem was he didn’t retire enough hitters with other jerseys on.
“It [stunk] – for me personally,” said Wohlers, sporting No. 39 of late. “[No. 57] wasn’t doing it.”
The right-handed setup man has not adjusted well on the mound to The Bronx, causing him to overanalyze and probably lose some sleep. That’s a problem that affects the rest of his Yankee teammates, and may eventually be the determining factor in the AL East race.
Wohlers, 0-0 with a 10.80 ERA, had meltdowns in back-to-back appearances on the road last week. He allowed three hits and four earned runs in Philadelphia on July 15, never recording an out. Then he allowed four hits and four earned runs in two innings in Detroit four days later.
His last two appearances have been scoreless, and he retired the side in the ninth after allowing a leadoff single on Monday night.
“We’re hoping that Wohlers is Wohlers, basically,” Joe Torre said. “He proved before we got him [from the Reds on June 30] that he had turned it around.”
In only 8 innings, Wohlers has allowed 14 hits, five walks and 10 earned runs. With Jay Witasick (1-1, 6.75 ERA) not pitching much better in a setup role, the Yankees don’t have a better option – unless they want to keep working lefty Mike Stanton (50 appearances) until his arm falls off.
Some people thought the marriage of Wohlers and the Yankees was doomed from the start because of Wohlers’ past loss of control. That hasn’t been the problem.
In fact, if anything, Wohlers is throwing the ball over the plate too much, because opponents are hitting at a .341 average against him. To be blunt, they’re raking him over the coals.
Wohlers recently studied video from 1996, when he was the best closer in the National League. He also sought a number of opinions, from pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre to Roger Clemens and even Goose Gossage. Wohlers talked to Gossage about staying closed during his delivery, using his front side more and taking his body towards the target.
“Being around here, being on the pitching staff I’m on, surrounded by the people we are, there’s a lot of knowledge around here,” Wohlers said. “You’d be an idiot not to use it.”
The Yankees have turned their offense around during a two-game win streak. But other concerns linger (Ted Lilly and Randy Keisler, Mariano Rivera’s health). With all that, the foremost concern may be Wohlers, whom Torre needs to have confidence in for the rest of the season.
“It’s not my confidence; it’s his you worry about,” Torre said. “We have 25 guys, and I’m going to play them like they’re the best players in the world, the best pitchers in the world.
“That’s the way I do things.”
Wohlers, who can blow hitters away with a fastball close to 100 mph and a devastating split-finger pitch when he’s going well, needs to improve fast.
“When you’re going good, you don’t analyze things,” he said. “You get warm, you get out there, you throw the ball.
“You go out and throw some pretty horrible outings, you try to magnify everything.”