Game Nine: The Return of Phil (+ chat!)

Like most of you, I thought Phil Hughes was unnecessarily pulled from the rotation last year. Sure, he went on to be absolutely dominant out of the bullpen, but his last four starts consisted of a 3.91 ERA (4.37 FIP), a 9.0 K/9, and a 1.91 GB/FB ratio. What more could you have wanted from a 22-year-old?

Tonight, the now-23-year-old Hughes gets his fourth (yes fourth) shot at a Yankee rotation spot, except this time he doesn’t have to look over his shoulder as Chien-Ming Wang waits on the DL. He won the purported fifth start competition fair and square-ish in Spring Training, so the spot is his and his alone. Hughes already is a World Champion, now he’s trying to make it as a Yankee starter.

Here’s tonight lineup against Scott Kazmir, which is a discussion for another day…

No. 42: Derek Jeter, SS
No. 42: Nick Swisher, RF
No. 42: Mark Teixeira, 1B
No. 42: Alex Rodriguez, 3B
No. 42: Robinson Cano, 2B
No. 42: Jorge Posada, C
No. 42: Marcus Thames, DH
No. 42: Curtis Granderson, CF
No. 42: Randy Winn, LF

And on the mound, the patron saint himself, No. 42, Phil Hughes.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm ET, and can be seen on either MY9 or the MLB Network. I promised I would try to do one game chat per week this season, so Hughes’ first start is as good a time as any to start. Chat’s after the jump and starts at 7pm sharp, so come join in.