Hughes Can't See, but the Opposing Offense Sure Can

Another night, another brutal start by Phil Hughes (and of course another 100 runners left on base - Cano makes me want to fucking puke everytime he steps in the box, but I digress). Over the past year, we've been flying the Phil Hughes flag pretty hard. I'll even admit to arguing that he could be a better starter than the almighty Joba. Well, I'm not too big a man to admit when I'm wrong and as of April 29, 2008 Phil Hughes is flat out terrible. Tonight's line - 3.2 innings pitches, 8 hits, 6 runs, 2 home runs, 3 walks and only two strike outs, is another representative of the problem Hughes is having: namely, that when opposing batters step into the batter's box they're getting busy on the salad and staying through dessert. Unfortunately, Hughes is not fooling anyone, guys are teeing off him. It is not just the amount of hits, it is the lack of strike outs and the fact that almost every hit Hughes gives up is smoked, the kid is not getting beat on seeing eye singles.

So what do we do? Hughes is only 21 and just months removed from looking awfully good in the playoffs against Cleveland. Hughes has talent, it is just a matter of whether or not he is ready for the majors. Interestingly, the new Yankees pitching coach is Dave Eiland who was also Hughes pitching coach in the minors. I'd love to know what Eiland is saying on the bench. Is he looking out and wondering, "gee, these same pitches got an awful lot of minor league batters out." Or is he going "Hughes is just missing, it is a matter of time." Some have suggested that Hughes has lost something off his fastball, if he has, then Eiland should step up and either fix his motion or perhaps send him down to develop another pitch. But something has to give.

The bottom line is that the Yankees are struggling to score runs, I'm pretty sure they lead the world in making bad pitchers look good and they are in the bottom 5 in batting avg with runners on base; the defense is dreadful, Jorge and A-Rod are hurting, Cano swings at every pitch regardless of how close to the strike zone it actually is, and Hideki Matsui is playing with giant chopsticks sticking out of his back. The team cannot afford to only be able to rely on Wang, Andy Pettitte and perhaps Mike Mussina again for quality starts. If Hughes and Kennedy are going to continue to set the ball on a tee for opposing hitters then Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi has to make a change. Ross Ohlendorf, especially after striking out 5 in 3.1 innings tonight, is starting to make a case for starting and there other arms in the minors. Oh, and there is that Joba guy only pitching an inning a game.