Johnson: Chien-Ming Wang's delivery "cleaner"; minor leaguer suspended

Manager Davey Johnson got a good report on rehabbing right-hander Chien-Ming Wang, who started Thursday for Double-A Harrisburg. Nursing hip soreness, Wang went 4 2/3 innings, allowed three hits, two runs, both earned, two walks and struck out three. It was the fewest number of earned runs he had allowed in four rehab starts since July 23. Wang was back in the clubhouse Friday and Johnson said the right-hander "said he felt pretty good." "The report I got on him yesterday was his delivery was cleaner," Johnson said. "He didn't seem to have any discomfort. His defense didn't help him a whole lot. He will probably get a couple of more (rehab) starts and then he will be here. When we are home, he will do his side work with (pitching coach Steve McCatty) here and run over to Potomac or Harrisburg." Johnson said he needs the Senators' defense to help Wang out a bit so he can have quicker innings, but the results were extremely positive after not pitching for nine days. "When he is right there are going to be a lot of ground balls and they need to be picking them up and throwing them out, rather than having a couple of errors and having him throw 30 pitches an inning. But he looked in great shape." Meanwhile, Major League Baseball announced today that three minor leaguers have been suspended for violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment program. One of them is recently signed catcher/second baseman Michael Albaladejo of the Nationals. Albaladejo has been suspended for 50 games without pay after testing positive for dietary supplement Methylhexaneamine. The suspension of Albaladejo is effective immediately. Albaladejo was hitting .234 in 17 games with no extra base hits and four RBIs for the Gulf Coast League Nationals.