There you have it. 36 pitches, 17 swings, 0 misses, 6 hits, 2 walks, 7 runs. Phil Hughes joined a couple of select clubs in historical Yankee and baseball futility last night and it's not difficult to see why. He was fastball-heavy again, and left almost all of them either right in the middle of the plate or way off the corners. To make matters most, a lot of those fastballs middle and away as you right to left were thrown to left-handed hitters, putting them in perfect position to extend their arms and make solid contact, which they did.
It'd be easy to try to tie this back to Hughes' issues throwing inside or his need to work his offspeed stuff more, but that would be a moot point in this instance. His offspeed stuff was just as bad, dropping right over the heart of the hitting zone or way off the corner. Phil just had nothing last night, and it was the latest in a long line of examples of how frustrating his "hot and cold" career as a starter has gone. As I mentioned earlier this morning over at IIATMS/TYA, if Hughes has officially settled at his ceiling of #4 starter, he might not be looking at offers as big as once thought after this season.
(Pitch plot courtesy of Texas Leaguers)
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