First of all, I’d like to welcome Bobby Murcer back to the broadcast booth. Murcer battled cancer this off season and tonight was his first game back.
Now, tonight’s game. Before we talk about the horrible, horrible end of the night for Phil Hughes, let’s talk about what we saw in the first 6.1 innings.
Hughes struck out 6, walked 3, gave up 0 runs and 0 hits. He was absolutely dominating. The Rangers never had a chance. They hit into two double plays, and managed to get the ball out of the infield only three times. Phil Hughes is the real deal people.
I hope you had the great privilege of watching this game tonight, because if this story from ESPN.com is correct, we won’t be seeing Phil again for quite some time.
Hughes left the game with his no-hitter intact, and an 0–2 count on Mark Teixeira with one out in the bottom of the seventh. On an 0–2 curve, Hughes felt a pop in his left leg as he followed through. He wanted to keep going, but every coach and trainer from the Yankee dugout rushed the mound, and Hughes was lifted. ESPN is saying that Hughes will be out four to six weeks, but they don’t say what the injury is.
I can’t tell you how much this news hurts. In Hughes’ first start we saw a glimpse at just how good he could be. Tonight, we saw how good he is. He dominated with all three of his pitches. In the sixth inning he reached back for something extra on his fastball and blew his fastest pitch of the night right past Kenny Lofton. The word dominant doesn’t even do justice to this start.
If you’re looking for a silver lining, which I desperately am, assuming Hughes is out for a month, then comes back to the Yanks after a rehab start or two. He could rejoin the rotation, and throw somewhere in the neighborhood of 180 innings total this season. That’s exactly the schedule they wanted him to be on, work-load wise, for this year. Then next year they’d bump him up to 200 innings, and go from there.
I’m not buying into the ESPN story until I see something official from the Yanks, but even if it is true, all the Yankees need to do is wait just a little while longer. The future is brighter than ever. Sometime in June, the Yanks will have an ace in their rotation, and a 20 year-old ace to boot.
Player of the Game: Do I even have to type it? Phil Hughes.
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Have you heard anything more about the Hughes injury? According to ESPN, it's a hamstring, but that's vague. They say 4-6 weeks, let's hope he's back soon.
Off topic, here's Jason Stark's comments on ESPN's Mike and Mike in the morning between 8:15 and 8:30 about the Yankees:
" The way the Yankees are playing now,Torre has three weeks, a month tops, before he's fired."
"Clemens could wind up in Boston instead of NY. He's three or four weeks away from deciding where he wants to pitch."
I find it puzzling that these comments come out after a dominating win. Brian Cashman is the next guest on the show...
Peter Abraham is saying a couple of months, at least, and that it's a torn hammy, not a pulled hammy.
Great way to start the morning huh?
http://yankees.lohudblogs.com/2007/05/02/hughes-risk-didnt-pay-for-the-yankees/
Hughes said he felt "a pop"; a pop is usually indicative of a pulled hammy, not a torn hammy. Secondedly, he wouldn't have been able to walk off as easily as he did if he tore his hammy (it's a lot more painful).
It's most likely a pull, which is 4-6 weeks. That means the Yankees will probably keep him on the DL the full 6 weeks, and not mess around with their future ace.
His performance yesterday was outstanding. I haven't seen a Yankee pitcher get that many swing and misses (on pitches that were in the strike zone) in a long time. His changeup, which is suppose to be the pitch he needs to work on the most, was amazing. His fastball was good enough to blow away big league hitters, on one of the best slugging teams in the league.
BTW, the guy you linked to might want to blame the Yankees for bringing him up too soon, but he's a moron. If you are gonna blame anyone in the organization, start with the new trainers, who are under a lot of scrutiny right now, with all the injuries to players (Damon, Mussina, Abreu, et al)....
My brother actually wanted to write a guest post on the training staff.
I think this is 6 hamstring injuries for the Yanks already this season.
Seems to me like it was just a freak thing. 20 year-olds don't really need extensive training to avoid injuries like this, they just happen sometimes, no matter where you're pitching. The kid is ready, and after a rehab start or two he should never pitch in another minor league game.
Peter Abraham is the Yanks beat reporter for LoHud, he wrote that the yanks rushed hughes, he's using this as his "told ya so" moment. F him.
Interesting side note, Abraham is reporting that the yanks fired their director of performance enhancement Marty Miller today.
Check the story out, the guy has no experience in baseball. Makes sense that he was hired to train these guys, kinda like taking your Ferrari to Jiffy Lube for an oil change if you ask me.
It makes you wonder about the training staff with so many hammy injuries. Funny that with all the money the Yankees spend on their blue chip players that they wouldn't surround them with the very best conditioning/flexibility and strength trainers. The Ferrari analogy hits it perfectly.
Yep, Mike over at Green Pinstripes has a post up about Marty Miller's dismissal, check it out.
bro, do some more!! I DESIRE MORE!!! thank you so much.