Chien-Ming

Wang

He has a slight tear in his rotator cuff, but threw on flat ground again yesterday in Tampa. It’s a longshot, but he may be back.

The Yankees are still holding out hope that Wang can return in September, but more than likely he’s out for the year.

Wang threw 10 pitches from halfway up the mound, then went all the way up and made 26 throws. ''He felt good,’' manager Joe Torre said. ''We’ll see. I don’t know where we go next from there, but that’s certainly the first step in getting into a pitching mode.’' Wang might be back in September.

He remains on track to return in September.

Ron Villone ruined the shutout bid by giving up a two-run homer to Troy Glaus in the ninth. Wang walked three and gave up a single in the second, but the Jays didn’t score because Glaus was thrown out on an ill-advised steal attempt. They never seriously threatened again. Wang remains vulnerable whenever anyone gets on base against him -- the league is hitting .320 against him with runners on -- but he just isn’t letting that first hitter reach lately. He’s now 13-4 with a 3.58 ERA.

Alex Rodriguez and Wang both should have been credited with errors on separate plays in the Angels’ three-run first, though they weren’t. The errors wouldn’t have led to unearned runs anyway, as Howie Kendrick was eventually erased at home plate after reaching on A-Rod’s miscue. Wang’s error preceded an inning-ending double play. Wang was better after that, but it was still his second straight mediocre start. He’s 13-5 with a 3.84 ERA.

Wang was brought in after Mike Myers got the first out of the 10th. He gave up a pair of singles, but he got Javy Lopez to fly out to end the game with the Yankees up 6-5. Wang remains scheduled to start Tuesday against the Red Sox.

He can thank Melky Cabrera for the victory, as the left fielder went over the fence to take a game-tying homer away from Manny Ramirez with Kyle Farnsworth pitching in the eighth. Mariano Rivera finished the 2-1 game. Wang gave up eight hits, and at 9:8, didn’t have his usual GB:FB ratio. Still, he got two double plays -- one on a hard liner to first -- and he was aided by some terrible baserunning from Manny Ramirez, who tried to take second on what was a single all the way.

Wang has lowered his ERA from 4.82 to 4.15 by allowing one run in 14 1/3 innings over his last two starts. He got 14 groundball outs tonight, and the only walk he issued was intentional.

With a 2-1 lead entering the ninth, manager Joe Torre allowed Wang to go for the complete game even after Mariano Rivera began to loosen. Ryan Zimmerman ended the game with a one-out, two-run blast to hang Wang with the loss. Wang has yielded just four runs in his last 22 2/3 innings of work and can be used in mixed leagues against the Marlins next time out.