Despite all the haters out there, nobody
is harder on Phil Hughes than Hughes himself.
If I hadn’t seen Wednesday’s game, I
would have thought that he had gotten smacked around Yankee Stadium from the way he evaluated his performance in his post-game interview. The old
Hughes might have been in for a rough day if, as Phil said, he didn’t have his
best stuff. But the new and vastly improved Hughes managed to get out of
several jams en route to pitching six-innings of one-run ball in a game that the
New York Yankees desperately needed to win to preserve their sanity and that of
their fans.
Hughes got a more positive review from
his manager Joe Girardi, who thought his pitcher did a good job of managing
innings and minimizing the threat with runners on base. Girardi is obviously
willing to criticize one of his players, as he chastised Ivan Nova for his
dreadful performance and loss of focus on Tuesday evening. The Yankees manager
seem thrilled that Hughes did what Nova could not, get past the feeling that
his stuff was not up to par and pitch a good game when his team staked him to a
sizeable lead.
How ironic is it that Hughes, despite
all his struggles and the calls to trade him away, is the one keeping the Yankees afloat during this rough
stretch? The Yankees have won two games during the current home stand, both of
which Hughes started. He lost a tough luck game to a hot Oakland A’s team
despite a strong outing the week before. But this week he managed to do what
the Yankees’ top starters CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda could not: beat a
division rival, two times no less. Hughes should give himself a little credit
for that. But he won’t.
Hughes’ performance against the Baltimore
Orioles was overshadowed in the news by the offensive outburst of the Yankees
and the long-awaited return of Joba Chamberlain. But I’m sure his teammates
appreciated his effort.
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