Down on the Farm - Scranton

Due to a hectic schedule, we haven't been able to give as much attention to the Yankees farm system as we had earlier this season. Hopefully, we can make up for that in the coming weeks.

Scranton

A big rehab start for Chien-Ming Wang last night. He threw 82 pitches against the Charlotte Knights in a six inning stint. Wang had his sinker working nicely as he limited the Knights to 3 hits, walked 3 and struck out 6.

"He's definitely heading in the right direction," (Brian) Cashman said. "He had great mound presence and showed some great tempo. I thought his slider was terrific. Obviously he did a great job."

Former teammate Andy Phillips almost ruined Wang's night when he hit him in the leg with a comebacker, but Wang was all right afterwards.

Hitters

Top prospect Austin Jackson continues to have a fine year. He hasn't shown home run power, but all other parts of his offensive game are clicking. His splitsof .361/.426/.444 have been helped by 5 doubles, 2 triples, and 11 walks. Jackson has also stolen 7 bases without being caught. Jackson will need to cut down on his strikeouts, as he has been rung up 29 times in 108 at-bats.

Juan Miranda has tailed off after his red hot start and is batting .283. But Miranda has shown significant improvement batting against left-handers (.278), which is his biggest roadblock to the majors. (Obviously Mark Teixeira is his biggest roadblock with the Yankees.)

Pitching

Ian Kennedy underwent successful surgery yesterday to correct the aneurysm that was discovered in his right shoulder. He won't begin throwing until a minimum 6-8 weeks.

Anthony Claggett didn't let a rough major league appearance affect his pitching for Scranton. The 24-yr old has allowed just one earned run in his last 9.2 innings.

George Kontos has had a couple of rough outings since his promotion from Trenton. Kontos has struck out 11 hitters in 10.2 innings, but has allowed six earned runs.