A Tip Of The Cap To You, Mr. Hughes

(Photo courtesy of Charles Wenzelberg/NY Post)

Let's take a look back at what I said I wanted to see from Phil Hughes before his start last night:

"But if he is aggressive towards batters, hits his spots with all his pitches, and shows enough confidence to try to work in his new changeup, I'll be happy with 5-6 innings and 3-4 ER allowed."

That's a yes, yes, and yes. A job well done by Hughes last night in his season debut. He pounded the zone, used all his pitches, and didn't get rattled after giving up an early homer to Godzilla. The 5 walks are more than you'd like to see, and that surely contributed to his high pitch count of 108 and exit after 5 innings, but Hughes did his best Andy Pettitte impression, bearing down and making pitches to get the outs he needed when he put runners on. That tells you more about a pitcher than pitching with nobody on, and for 23-year-old Hughes to be able to get the job done in those situations in his first start after transitioning back to the rotation, that bodes well for him and the team moving forward.

Just a quick side note, can everybody stop this talk about how Scott Kazmir is a Yankee nemesis? The guy beat them a couple times back when Tampa was still the Devil Rays and ever since they became relevant and he got shipped to LA, he's done nothing but get his dick knocked around by the Bombers time and time again. 8 hits, 3 walks, 6 ER in 4 innings? Are you kidding me? Go put your bullpen jacket on and sit in the clubhouse.


P.S.- ESPN can cut the "Yankee killer" stuff with Josh Beckett too while they're at it.