It was bound to happen at some point, it’s just unfortunate it had to happen against the Yankees. The Red Sox won their first game of the 2011 season on Friday, eight days after New York captured its first W. It was a fairly typical Yankees-Red Sox game in that it featured a lot of offense, a lot of pitching changes, and lasted about four hours.

The Phil Hughes Problem

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

For the second straight start, Hughes was simply awful. He was actually worse than his first start against the Tigers, both in line score (2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 0 K) and overall look. Phil’s fastball was fast in name only, topping out at 91.9 mph (one of just eight pitches over 90) and averaging just 89.84 mph. His breaking balls just tumbled, they didn’t have any sharp break and were just spinning in place it seemed. Of his 47 pitches, 30 (!!!) were cutters, and that’s no way for a non-Mariano Rivera pitcher to live.

“[I was] just trying to find a way to get [batters] out,” said Hughes after the game, essentially admitting that he has no answers for his troubles. He pitched defensively, afraid to come near the zone and challenge hitters, and he paid dearly. The Yankees can talk all they want about not being worried because they believe he’ll find the missing velocity, but they should be concerned. You almost hope he’s hurt in some way (not seriously, of course), because at least then we’d have some kind of explanation. I assume the team will have Phil checked out medically (MRI or whatever) just to be certain; they’d be foolish not to.  Their prized 24-year-old right-hander looks like a shell of his former self.

What’s the solution? I wish I knew. In my completely amateur opinion, I think they should let Hughes take another turn or two just to see what happens, because maybe it is something as simple as building up arm strength. If that doesn’t work, then you consider a disabled list stint or a trip to minors since Kevin Millwood’s opt-out date will be fast approaching. The Phil Hughes that was on the yesterday was not a Major League pitcher, and there has to be concern.

Like a boss. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

The Bartolo Colon Solution

Hughes was relieved by a guy who knows all about losing stuff and fighting back, and boy, was Colon sharp. He worked both sides of the plate with two fastballs, a straight four-seamer and a running two-seamer that resulted in quite a few called strikes. Colon used the Greg Maddux pick rather effectively a few times to strike out lefties, throwing that two-seamer inside and having it dart back over the inside the corner. For my money, I don’t know if there’s a prettier pitch in baseball. Here, look. Gorgeous. (thx Rich Iurilli)

Colon threw 62 pitches over 4.1 innings, striking out five against just two hits and one walk. He allowed an unearned run in the fifth then one earned run when he wasn’t even on the mound, but we’ll get to that in a bit. After Hughes’ awful two innings, Colon gave the Yankees plenty of time to get back in the game, and frankly he looks like he belongs in the rotation. It was only one outing of course, but if the Yanks do end up having to yank Phil from the rotation at some point, Bartolo made a fine case for a starting spot today. Give that man a round of applause.

The Boone Logan Problem

With Pedro Feliciano on the shelf for what I’m just assuming is indefinitely at this point, Logan is the guy Joe Girardi is going to turn to to get out tough lefties. Three appearances into the season, he hasn’t come close to doing that. With a man on first in the seventh, Logan ran a 3-1 count to David Ortiz before allowing a double off the monstah. A full count to J.D. Drew and an RBI single followed that, a run that was charged to Colon. Logan allowed the first five left-handed batters he faced this year to reach base before retiring Jacoby Ellsbury to end that inning.

I saw some people jump on Girardi for lifting Colon, but I don’t agree with that for a second. That’s all on Logan, he’s got to get the job done there, plain and simple. For a guy whose track record of success in the big leagues consists of like, 20 innings at the end of last season, Logan needs to improve his performance and fast. He’s not exactly an indispensable cog in the machine.

General Awfulness

Mark Teixeira went 0-for-4 with a walk and is now hitless in his last eleven at-bats. Jorge Posada took an 0-for-4 as well and is hitless in his 14 at-bats. That dates back to his second inning homer off Scott Baker in the first game of the Twins’ series. Russell Martin has two hits (both singles) in his last 13 at-bats, and Curtis Granderson has just three singles in his last 20 at-bats, though one came in this game. That’s a lot of slumping bats in the lineup at one time.

Derek Jeter‘s 1-for-5 effort was marred by sixth inning double play that ended the inning. The Yankees had men on first and second at the time and were down by just a run, and former Yank Al Aceves was asking for trouble, missing his spots badly. Jeter let him off the hook though, the double play checked in at -.143 WPA. The only play that decreased New York’s chances of winning more was Dustin Pedroia’s two-run single in the second (-.176 WPA). If that wasn’t bad enough, the Cap’n popped up a first pitch bunt after John Lackey walked Brett Gardner to lead off the game. Lackey walked two batters in the inning and the Yankees ended up scoring two runs despite Jeter gift-wrapping Boston an out.

For the second straight game, Tex let a playable ball slip under his glove for a run scoring hit. Maybe we’ve set our standards too high because of his glovework over the last two years, but those are balls he’s got to scoop up to save some runs. Just knock it down at least.

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Bright Spots

We’ve talked enough about the bad stuff, let’s make sure we mention the silver linings as well. Brett Gardner was awesome, reaching base four times thanks to a double, a triple, and a pair of walks. He also stole a base and saw 23 pitches in five trips to the plate, and has reached base in six of his last eight plate appearances. That’s more like it.

Alex Rodriguez clubbed a solo homer to lead off the fifth, and he also reached base on a walk and a hit-by-pitch. A-Rod scored half of the team’s six runs because Robbie Cano was doin’ work behind him. The second baseman had two doubles, the first clear over Ellsbury’s head in center and the second off the big green wall. Only he could start the season with multiple hits in nearly half his games and still make it appear as if he’s slumping.

Believe it or not, David Robertson did not get dry humped. He warmed up and actually pitched in the game, working a scoreless eighth inning after Logan let things get out of hand. The Red Sox mustered very little offense against non-Hughes and Logan pitchers in this game, which I suppose bodes well for tomorrow, right?

WPA Graph & Box Score

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs the nerd score and no video highlights.

Up Next

Game two of the series will be broadcast on FOX tomorrow afternoon (boo) at 1:10pm ET, not the usual 4pm start FOX throws at us. Ivan Nova gets the ball against Clay Buchholz.

With a disappointing loss and a rain out in the rear view mirror, the Yankees needed something to make them feel better in the final game of their season opening homestand. Francisco Liriano is a tough assignment more often than not, and he lived up that reputation in the first few innings of this one. But the Yankees eventually got to him by doing something they haven’t done a whole lot of so far in 2011: they scored runs without the help of a homerun.

Biggest Hit: Andruw Jones, True Yankee™

Andruw made a nice sliding catch too. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

The Yankees imported Andruw Jones for one reason: to hit lefties. He marked his territory by homering off Brian Duensing in his first plate appearance on Tuesday night, but that was a measly tack-on run in a game his team eventually lost. On Thursday though, Jones’ efforts were much more important.

The Twins jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning thanks to a trio of doubles, but Liriano started the bottom half by walking Alex Rodriguez with a series of breaking balls. A-Rod swung and missed at a 1-1 slider down-and-in, but he settled in and took the same pitch when Liriano threw it again on 1-2, 2-2, and 3-2. Robbie Cano jumped all over a first pitch fastball and grounded it through the right side to put men on first and second with none out. After Jorge Posada got caught looking at a backdoor slider for strike three, Andruw came to the dish after Joe predicted he’d go 0-for-4 in yesterday’s podcast.

Liriano was offspeed heavy all game, and he certainly was in this particular at-bat against Jones. A first pitch slider was fouled off for strike one, then a changeup dropped in at the knees for a quick strike two. Jones fouled off another slider to stay alive then took the only fastball he’d see for a ball. The fifth pitch of the encounter was a total mistake pitch, a slider that hung up in the zone and about thigh high. Andruw yanked the pitched into the left field corner to score A-Rod and set the Yankees up with men at second and third with just one out. Although it only tied the game, the double improved the Yankees chances of winning by 16.9%, the biggest WPA swing of the game.

Honorable Mention: Gardner gets some BABIP luck

It’s no secret that Brett Gardner is off to a slow start this year, as he came into this game hitting just .125/.176/.125 in 19 plate appearances. He’s definitely hit a few balls hard that found gloves, namely the extra base hit Delmon Young robbed earlier in the series. Batting ninth against the lefty, Gardner finally had things break his way for once. Two batters after Jones’ double tied the game, the Yankees’ left fielder blooped a 2-1 fastball into shallow right field for a single, driving in the team’s fourth run, the eventual game-winner. It was perfectly placed, a nice little correction for his .182 season BABIP.

(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

A.J. grinds it out

We’ve written more words than we care to count about how important A.J. Burnett is to the success of the 2011 Yankees, and two starts into the season, things are going okay. A.J.’s biggest jam came of the game in the second inning, when he looked to be headed for one of his patented meltdowns. Justin Morneau led the inning off with a four-pitch walk, and before you knew it, Jim Thome was ahead in the count 2-0. Russell Martin came out to the mound for a quick talk, but Burnett eventually walked Thome to put men on first and second with no outs. This was it, here comes the A.J. meltdown.

Except it didn’t come. Burnett fell behind Michael Cuddyer two balls to no strikes but retired him on a routine fly ball two pitches later. He then went after Jason Kubel with a variety of fastballs and offspeed pitches, striking him out with a curveball down in the zone. Sophomore third baseman Danny Valencia got no respect; he saw five straight fastballs clocked between 93 and 94 and eventually popped out on the infield. Credit A.J. for keeping it together and to Martin for helping him battled through it after the early inning struggles. The three outs recorded that inning were the three biggest of Burnett’ day according to WPA.

Of the 99 pitches the Yankees’ right-hander threw, 64 were fastballs, which isn’t all that unusual for Burnett. What was unusual was the dozen changeups he threw, since he’ll typically throw maybe three in a given start. Eight of the 12 were strikes, including two swings and misses, one of which was by Joe Mauer, arguably the best pure hitter on the planet. The Twins swung and missed just four times against Burnett, who struck out five, but it can only help if he starts incorporating that change more often. It’s only been two starts, but Burnett’s performance has been encouraging so far. That’s better than the alternative.

(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Leftovers

Unfortunate play in the seventh inning, when Nick Swisher took out second baseman Tsuyoshi Nishioka with a slide trying to break up the double play. It was a clean slide – you can see in the photo that Swish was close enough to touch the bag, less than an arm’s length away – but hard, and Nishioka ended up on the ground in obvious pain. He had to be helped off the field, and after the game we learned that he suffered a fractured fibula. Swisher said afterwards that he was expected him to jump, and Nishioka told him it wasn’t his fault. Ron Gardenhire declared it a clean play as well. Swisher was obviously concerned in the dugout and I’m sure he feels bad. It sucks, you don’t want to see anyone get hurt, but it happens. It’s part of the game. You have to figure Nick will get one in the ribs the next time these two teams meet. It’s only fair.

(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

The Yankees scored their first run the old fashioned way, by manufacturing it. Gardner drew a walk  and stole second, then Jeter moved him over to third with a ground out. Swisher completed the rally with a sacrifice fly, the old school way. The offense didn’t do much outside of this run and the fourth inning rally; Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez combined to go 0-for-6 with a walk (A-Rod) and a hit-by-pitch (Tex on the right quad, he’s fine). Posada’s day was particularly awful, 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. He couldn’t figure out Liriano if he knew what was coming. Jeter’s new old swing resulted in a first inning double and an infield single.

Another day, another dry hump for David Robertson. It’s an epidemic at this point (note the D-Rob Dry Hump Counter in the sidebar). Joba Chamberlain gave up an unearned run but ultimately he, Rafael Soriano, and Mariano Rivera shut things down over the last three frames. Soriano gave up a hit to Mauer (excusable) then got three fly balls to escape the inning, two of which were long. Those are going to be a problem when the weather warms up.

That was straight up bad defense on Thome’s fourth inning double. Not by Gardner, who had the ball get by him on the carom off the wall in center, but where the hell were Jones and Swisher? They’ve got to back him up on that play, someone more mobile that Thome would have been on third and probably thinking about an inside-the-parker. Poor form, fellas.

And what the hell, why in the world are they bringing the infield in with Thome (!!!) at third base in the fourth (!!!) inning?! Good grief, sometimes you have to ignore the book and use your brain a little.

The Twins still don’t have a first inning hit this season; they’re now 0-for-18 with two walks in the first inning after Burnett sat them down in order yesterday. They still haven’t won back-to-back games in the Bronx since 2000. Sucks for them.

The Yankees did not set a new record low attendance today since 41,512 people allegedly showed up. It didn’t look like that many, so I assume they counted the season ticket holders regardless of whether or not they attended.

WPA Graph & Box Score

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some other stuff.

Up Next

Time to head up to Fenway Park for the first time in 2011. Phil Hughes will take on John Lackey in Boston’s home opener tomorrow afternoon starting at 2pm ET. Can’t imagine the natives will be happy with the 0-6 start.