Oct
25

Eiland: Hughes’ problems mechanical

By Benjamin Kabak

One of the main reasons why we’re anxiously waiting for the clock to strike 8:20 tonight is Phil Hughes. The Yanks’ youngster who dominated the 8th inning this year couldn’t get the job done against the heart of the Angels’ lineup on Thursday, and he has now allowed nine hits and three earned runs in 4.2 innings this October. Speaking with MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli yesterday, Dave Eiland said that Hughes has to fix a mechanical flaw in his delivery. “[It's] just a minor adjustment and he knows it,” Eiland said. “It’s just staying within yourself — just trust it and not trying to make that good stuff you have even better. Because you do that [and] you get a little jumpy, you get a little quick through your delivery and you affect your command. And that’s what is happening.”

The Yankees still trust Hughes, as they should, and odds are good that he plays a key role in tonight’s Game 6. Hopefully, the work Eiland and Hughes put in yesterday and today have solved the problem, and the Bridge to Mo will remain ever strong.

Posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 5:45 pm in Asides, Pitching.

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35 Comments »

Joe D. says:

Mariano is going to spit on Hughes’ balls for him.

Joe D. says:

Wow, that little bit of satire-slash-fun-poking at the expense of the so-called “12th most important baseball blog” quickly turned into a graphic depiction of something I’d rather not visualize…

…not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Bryan says:

….No, no, of course not! People’s personal sexual preferences are nobody’s business but their own!

thurdonpaul says:
 
 
 
thurdonpaul says:

maybe jorge can piss on phils balls too

 
 
dkidd says:

great news if phil’s post-season struggles are not fatigue related

dave eiland earning his money

Joe D. says:

I hope they don’t tinker too much. It seems to me Phil’s struggles are more luck-related (balls finding holes, crazy BABIP, etc.) than anything else.

Even Vlad’s hit that tied up game five wasn’t hit hard. It was a bouncing ball up the middle rather similar to Luis Sojo’s 37-bouncer against Al Leiter way back when.

(Granted, Phil did miss his spot there. But still essentially did the job with regards to that at-bat: he got the guy to hit a weak grounder.)

 
 
Teix is the Man says:

C’mon Hughes, let’s bury these fuckers tonight!

thurdonpaul says:

7+ innings out of andy, then mix together a little d.rob, joba, phil and Mo, that equals a world series starting on wednesday

Teix is the Man says:
 
Randy A. says:

That would be the girardi strategy to use 4 relievers to get 6 outs. Nice

thurdonpaul says:

well , my guess is, andy 6 1/3, d.rob 2/3, joba 1/3, phil h. 2/3, and the Greatest 1

i goofed in my earlier post, it should have said andy for 6+

the only reason we will use all those relievers is to get them some work, cause we will be leading by 8 to 10 runs by the time andy comes out

 
 
e mills says:

D-Rob for an inning and Mo for the remainder is my wish

e mills says:

and Hughes for an inning

 
 
 
 
TheZack says:

Hopefully it won’t matter and Guadin will be pitching in the 8th and 9th!

Or, hopefully it won’t matter b/c we’ll go right to Mo!

 
Ivan says:

Hughes hasn’t been great but he hasn’t been terrible either. I think eventually he’ll be ok. He just need to control his FB better. His curveball in the postseason has been rather devastating however, which is good news for the yanks and bad news for the opposition.

 
David says:

Robertson..Robertson.. Robertson This kid knows the strike zone, knows how to target it, have nerves and guts. He already has proven it. Lat’s GO.

 
crapulent aka I said good day sir says:

If D-Rob isn’t the first arm out of the pen tonight I will strangle Girardi with the long lease I’ve given him.

Accent Shallow says:

Still hoping the Yankees are up big and it’s Gaudin.

Mike Pop says:

+1 I don’t want to be stressed out tonight.

Just get this shit over with by the 5th. Put up a 7 spot in the 4th and call it a game.

pat says:

Agreed. I.CAN.NOT.DEAL.WITH.THE.STRESS.

We need crooked numbers and we need em early.

 
 
 
 
Mike Pop says:

the game thread isn’t up yet but let’s go Yanks baby!!!!

Won’t be around tonight, don’t feel like dealing with those mean, evil jerkfaces.

Have fun!

pat says:
Joe D. says:
 
 
 
TheLastClown says:

Less than an hour kids!

thurdonpaul says:

yep, gettin close

time for a: we play today………

thurdonpaul says:
 
 
 
 
Salty Buggah says:

I really hope Eiland has fixed Hughes for sure this time because Phil had the same problem last time he struggled (forgot when it was…game 3?)

 
Drew says:

I think he’s tipping his pitches.

/Dave Duncan’d

 
Stryker says:

at first i thought that hughes’ and joba’s problems in the ALCS was a matter of fatigue and going above and beyond their absolute limits but glad to see it’s a mechanics thing.

TheLastClown says:

Who said anything about Joba?

I think that Joba’s got a much greater chance of being fatigued at this time of this year.

Joba 158.1 IP

Hughes 90.2 IP MLB, 19.1 AAA

TheLastClown says:

Joba’s # w/ postseason is 160 IP even, actually.

Simple arithmetic fail.

 
 
 
Mike HC says:

A couple of days ago, David Cone said that the Yanks will tell Hughes that he had a mechanical problem, although there really is no mechanical problem. Apparently this is done to keep the guys mental confidence up. If you think it is a fixable physical problem, then you take care of the issue, and you feel as good as new. I don’t know if this happened, but it is what David Cone predicted would happen.

 
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