Hughes will probably need one more start

by 20 Comments

New Yankee Stadium coming along
The Phil Hughes Rehab Tour hits a speed bump

Mike will have more in DotF later tonight, but since the masses are clamoring for it, here you go: Phil Hughes lasted just 3.2 innings today in what could have been a final AAA tune-up. While he struck out four and threw 63 of 91 pitches for strikes, he allowed five earned runs on eight hits, a home run and a hit batter. Chad Jennings reports that Hughes’ velocity was down a tick or two today, and after a strong start, he just didn’t have his stuff. Considering that Hughes is still coming back from a very long lay-off, this sounds like a dead arm period for the righty. Needless to say, another AAA start is probably in his future.

New Yankee Stadium coming along
The Phil Hughes Rehab Tour hits a speed bump
  • Radnom

    Ugh. I hate that I’m asking this, but how did Pavano do in his last start.

  • Clemson Rob

    Ben, question. As a Clemson grad myself, where should I expect to see recently drafted DJ Mitchell playing this year? The guy is still raw, playing outfield as well as pitching.

    • http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.

      The Staten Island and GCL seasons are over in a week or two, so I don’t think he’ll get any playing time this year. More likely he headed straight to instructional league and will start next year in either Charleston or Tampa.

  • Steve

    Final line
    IP 3.2
    H 8
    ER 5
    SO 4
    HR 1

    He threw 91 pitches.

    Its possible he was working on some things and not overly concerned with the results. He did throw a ton of strikes (63), but pulling him at 91 tells me they thought he was gassed. That alone is reason to give him one more start.

    And that may also mean we don’t have a starter for this Friday. Geise is on the DL.

  • mike b.

    lets get real here. why rush him back?

    • Steve

      We don’t have a starter for Friday?

  • http://yankeesmtom.blogspot.com steve

    Does Chase Wright win it by default?

    • Steve

      It looks like its between him, Kennedy or Phil.

      I go with Phil. He’s allowed a bad outing. If he feels good, give him the ball.

      • mustang

        At this point I rather see Igawa then IPK. At least if Igawa makes a dumb ass comment after the game it will be in Japanese and no one will understand him anyway.
        LOL

        • Steve

          Those comments were totally misconstrued by the NY media, and Girardi knew what he was trying to say.

          If you think IPK didn’t care about how poorly he pitched, check this out from Chad Jennings blog

          “I really thought Chris Stewart was exaggerating to make a point. I knew Ian Kennedy (left) was down here to work on his secondary pitches, and I could tell he was throwing a lot of breaking balls, but still…

          “He really wanted to make sure he worked on the curveball,” Stewart said. “Especially when he was behind in counts, get a strike over and get back into the at-bat. Someone said he threw 30 something, and that’s probably 10 times as many as he’s used to throwing, but a lot of them were strikes and he was able to get back into counts like he wanted to. It was effective.”

          The actual count from pitching coach Rafael Chaves was 28 curveballs, but that’s still a lot of breaking balls from a guy who usually leans heavily on his four-seam and his changeup. And like Stewart said, the curveball was a very good pitch for Kennedy tonight.

          “I told Chavy, I said, here’s what I want to do: My two-seamer and my curveball, I want to throw them as much as I can,” Kennedy said. “If I threw a two-seamer at 0-0 and I got a ball, I threw it again or I threw a curveball. Next time around I might do something totally different because I think I did overkill on some of that stuff. We only have a short amount of time until the season ends, and I’m trying to make sure every start counts so I can improve as fast as I can.””

          He’s been working his butt off to get back to the bigs as fast as he can.

          • mustang

            Relax I was joking, but don’t be surprise if you never see IPK in pinstripes again.

      • Steve

        Add Pavano to the candidate list. He pitched great tonight for 6 innings. I dont have a pitch count, but he was supposed to be the same as Phil, around 100.

        You’d have to think Girardi will give the nod to a veteran over a kid who’s still learning at this late stage of the season.

        How unbelievable would it be if CARL PAVANO ends up giving us some quality starts AND we end up making the playoffs as a result?

        • mustang

          “How unbelievable would it be if CARL PAVANO ends up giving us some quality starts AND we end up making the playoffs as a result?”

          I said the same thing 2 weeks ago that’s my sleeper baby. I don’t see why they wouldn’t give the ball to Pavano other then Hughes that’s their best choice.

  • Steve

    Despite prior reports, Carl Pavano pitched beautifully tonight

    IP-6
    H-6
    R-1
    ER-1
    BB-1
    SO-6
    HR-1

    Maybe . . . . Carl pitches Saturday?

    http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_08_17_treaax_reaaax_1

    • http://www.riveraveblues.com Ben K.

      “Despite prior reports…”

      Are you actually trying hard to push my buttons tonight or are you this passive aggressive by nature? I had last week’s start in mind; you didn’t. Shoot me.

      • Steve

        Notice the time on this post and the one where I responded to you above. I posted this one first, and then thought I should reply directly to your post to give you an opportunity to respond.

        I haven’t intended to push your buttons once, Ben. Maybe you’re just being a little overly sensitive after everybody (not just me) killed you for your Melky article?

  • Nickel

    Can they sign Michael Phelps?