early on

今天王建民終於又出賽了，洋基對太空人 4比1

Wang learns quickly from poor outing
洋基新投手Burnett建議他多練幾種球路。
The suggestion is not a new one for Wang, who was tinkering with his offspeed pitches leading up to a season-ending injury last season.
就在他受傷之前，他正在調整他的變速球。
He made some adjustments in this game," Girardi said. "Early on, his sinker was in the dirt a little bit. Then he got up a little bit and found the right release point. That's what pitchers have to do. Sometimes you're going to be a little bit off and you have to make adjustments."

lead up to [lead up to sth]
if a series of events or a period of time leads up to an event, it comes before it or causes it
有兩種可能，就在發生之前或是引起的原因
to gradually introduce an embarrassing, upsetting, or surprising subject into a conversation
如果你不想直接談論一個話題，而是用引導的方式。
beat about the bush 旁敲側擊， 複習一下，但是完全不一樣，只是聯想到而已。
三月24日補充
In the days leading up to her death there were newspaper stories on a hammer-wielding woman getting into her room, the baptism of her sons, her last view of "sun-kissed" fields and final farewells with family.
就在她之前的前幾天
early on
At an early stage or point

這句片語讓我想到
in the first place-----
a) used to talk about the beginning of a situation, or the situation before something happened
b) written used to give the first in a list of reasons or points