Well it was far from a quality outing for the Franchise. Those two plus innings were tough to watch. Mostly my problem isn't with Hughes, it's with whoever is calling the game for him. More often then not he is attacking hitters with his fastball. Not that he shouldn't attack hitters with his fastball but he pitches as if he is a reliever, primarily using only his curve and fastball. The Yankees need to utilize both his slider and his change which are both quality pitches. This is a problem I have noticed since they first called Hughes up last season. Aside from his near no-hitter his patterns are very predictable and when he gets ahead of hitters he will continually pump fastballs to them. Good hitters keep fouling these pitches off until they finally smack one or work a walk.
He needs to use his other pitches, it is just that simple. Keep your opponent off-balance. If it's Hughes deciding the pitches then they need to take that responsibility away from him because he doesn't seem ready for it yet. If it is not him that someone needs to reevaluate whoever is employed in that position and if they still deserve a job. He has the stuff, he just doesn't have the know how yet.
Besides that the only other gripes I have with the Sunday night affair was 1) Kyle Farnsworth giving up an extra run in the bottom of the eighth to make the lead that much bigger (what's new) and 2) Melky Cabrera running into the tag on the Johnny Damon double play. Someone needs to give him a base running clinic. It's bad enough he still thinks diving gets you to first base faster. Anyway that's enough for tonight. Let's see what my Sox counterparts have to say tomorrow. They should enjoy these April victories, they tend to not win many of these encounters later in the season when they matter most(The Yanks are 17-7 against the Sox after the All-Star break since '05). I love that fact.
2 comments:
Gee, one of these young pitchers with no proven track record and absurd expectations placed upon him is asked to pitch the Sunday night ESPN game against the Red Sox and gets knocked out after 2+ innings. What a shock! Who could have predicted this?
As I tried to tell you last week, Hughes and Kennedy will be lucky if they win 20 games combined this season. Same with Lester and Buchholz. And there is nothing wrong with that! That is how young pitchers develop.
I think the Red Sox should be thrilled if Buckholtz and Lester each go 8-8 or 9-9. If they can be .500 pitchers with a few solid no-decisions thrown in, then the Sox will be fine.
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