Can Hughes average <20 pitches per inning? Stay tuned!

Can Hughes keep the ball in the disgraceful bandbox ?

We must really be old since we seem to run out of gas after the first inning of course when there are only three players the opposing pitcher has to pay attention to that makes his life easier.

Marcum era+ 126, Hughes 99

Good start, Phillip.

No homers for the Jays so far???

Follows the trend of the first 2 games of this series. I expect a 2-run homer in the bottom half, followed by 8 innings of suck.

[6] only a matter of time.

ground ball….finds a hole

See, I’m just a positive person.  I see the broom, and I do this:

*Players say take it one game at a time
*SG posts a broom
*The Yankees are going to sweep this one-game series.

How did Hughes’s stuff look first inning?  Gamecast says he was around the plate…

A HR here would be awful for the Yankees given recent trends.

[11] Teix heard you…

WTF?

Game over.  Jays win.

YESSSS!!!!  The one game I’m not home to see it!!!! (I’ll stay away for #700)

Dammit, it had to be a 2 run shot in the bottom of the first….

Finally, now we get to stop hearing about it.

[14] Now when was the last time ARod hit a HR to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning?

Bad call at first.  Hopefully it will be overturned right away by the replay umpire…..oh, right.

Fortunately, Alex didn’t follow Tino’s advice to bunt.

this is the first AB I miss since he’s at 599

Did I miss something?  If Serling blew that call I was going to assassinate him

Oh right 2-0 in the first hmmm

did the place go bananas when he hit it?

At least Hughes did not allow a run in the next inning. Hurrah.

someone call Jayson Stark and find out the last time the 2-3-4 hitters in a line up hit 2 run home runs in the first inning on consecutive days all driving in the same teammate.

It’s going to be tough for Cano to hit a 2-R homer to drive in Jeter tomorrow.

[27] Not if one of Teix/ARod has the day off and Cano bats 4th…

[27] Not if one of Teix/ARod has the day off and Cano bats 4th…

It’s going to be tough for any Yankee to hit a HR tomorrow.  At least one that counts…

I had tickets to this game…..Oh well. Maybe I’ll be there when he gets his 700th, which at this pace should be 7 years from now. Good thing they gave him that long contract.

And so it begins…

John McDonald is way past due.

[29] Hmm, how unusuall is it for BOTH teams to be off the day following a mid-week day game?  I just assumed they were playing…my bad.

youse showed good cumposhuh dare.

Only 17 pitches per inning!

Miraculous!

Okay, now trash WOE and pile on here.

Jeter doubles! Jeter doubles! Oh my Goodness Gracious!

Two doubles in one inning????

[37] Does that count? It is WOE afterall.

[38] Scorched that groundball.

Video of Alex’s shot is on yankees.com. It looks like he’s closed his stance a little.

Phil Nibbles.

John Buck is way past due.

[40] God, isn’t it awful that it even might?

Lyle Overbay looks like he knows a lot about motorcycles.

Nibble a little more, Phil.  You’re almost at twenty pitches per inning; don’t let up now.

He really needs a changeup for LH hitters.

Ooh, so close to 20 pitches/inning.

Maybe he’s taken managing his innings into his own hands, and decided he needs to get out of games faster?

[46] This is new?

49 strikes from 79 pitches, or 62% (and at least one of those called balls from just the last couple of batters (per GD) was a clear strike) - isn’t that a sensible rate?

Ball one to Berkman is called a strike to Gardner.

79 pitches in 4 innings isn’t good- it’s not like he’s getting unlucky and being forced to throw to more hitters (3 hits on 9 balls in play, no errors). How many of those are foul balls with 2 strikes?

If it were just one start, sure, but I have a feeling that Don is right and Hughes has never been particularly efficient. Which means the bullpen gets in the game faster.

“79 pitches in 4 innings isn’t good”

Sure, but he’s throwing what I thought was a reasonable rate of strikes.  If he doesn’t have a put-away pitch, that’s not a nibble issue.

Granderson can look so bad at the plate sometimes.

[54] Sometimes?

Every pitch thrown by Hughes this inning has been fastballs.

Why a coaching visit now?

Also, does anyone have mlb.tv? Is it as bad as I’ve heard?

49 strikes from 79 pitches, or 62% (and at least one of those called balls from just the last couple of batters (per GD) was a clear strike) - isn’t that a sensible rate?

It depends.  S/B ratio isn’t really the best indication of command.  There are good strikes and bad strikes.  A pitcher can have a 100% strike ratio and pitch horribly.
  The Jays aren’t exactly a patient hitting team, either.

[57] MLB.TV was better last year, but I like it very much now.

Thanks. You don’t run into issues like the feed dropping out or being slow regardless of internet connection, or unnecessary blackouts? I’ll probably wait till next season to get it.

Also, does anyone have mlb.tv? Is it as bad as I’ve heard?

I just got it for work this week.  It seems ok.  My big issue is that the HD stream has serious problems if you want to stop, rewind, or fastforward.  Occasionally it’ll “hiccup” and switch off HD and then rewind to some random point in the game.  Very annoying when you’re trying to do video analysis.

And today it just won’t work at all.  So maybe it is that bad.

weird ground out.

Making the groundball an art form.

I had mlb.tv on a month-by-month.  Dropped it as the playoff race heated up.  Granted, I’ll be signing a contract with Time Warner that includes Yes in mid-September, but that should give an indication of my frustration with the service even on a VERY FAST connection

Derek Bunting Jeter

If it were just one start, sure, but I have a feeling that Don is right and Hughes has never been particularly efficient. Which means the bullpen gets in the game faster.

IDK, he’s averaging 6.175IP/start.  So over 32 starts that’s 197.6 IP, which last year would have put him 20th in the AL.  I mean sure, he could get more efficient, but it’s not like he’s a failure or anything.  Maybe it means he’s just a #2 instead of an Ace…I’ll be OK with that.

What’s he averaging over the past 2 months or so, after the BABIP correction?

Nice.  Good boy, Teix.

Teix takes the ball the other way.

With 2 more hits, Jeter will have as many as Babe Ruth.  If he plays until he’s 128, he might tie him on the HR list, too.

I like gap hitting Teixeira.

[66] He’s also 24. Efficiency is a pretty common problem amongst young starters. Maybe he’ll remain a guy who generally lasts about 6 innings. Maybe he’ll turn into CC/Halladay.

The person people with the 601 signs should be ejected.

Just checking in.  Figures I’d miss this game.

From the replay on Yankees.com, he looked more relieved than anything else when he got back to the plate. Let’s hope it’s spreading to the rest of the team?

The person people with the 601 signs should be ejected.

Especially since Jeter won’t likely approach 601 groundouts on the season for another 20 or so plate appearances.

I googled “Phil Hughes fangraphs” and came across another page, apparently he’s been hooking up with this girl (mods, please delete if this is too irresponsible):

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs060.snc3/14755_586456050667_45604776_34201508_4718616_n.jpg

Not bad, Phil.

[75]+1

Fangraphs currently has the Yankees chances of winning at 94.3%. That’s at least 70% too high, right?

[72] Trust me Claybot, you don’t have to argue w/ *me* on this!  I was just pointing out that “inefficient Hughes” would still through as many innings as most non-Ace starters.  And if that’s “all” he is, well okay then.  But yeah, I expect him to improve next year.  Whether better command/control, adding another pitch, or whatever.

Molina is a genius

Has this team had even 5 out of 9 hitters hot (or even performing at expectations) at the same time at any point this season? It hasn’t seemed like it, and it appears Cano has now joined the ranks of the slumping.

[79] Not arguing, just adding on.

*exhales*

I really thought that one was outta there.

why is Phil out? innings limits or something terrible?

He threw 99 pitches

[85] 6 billion pitches. Yay Logan!

And dammit why do I always forget about afternoon games until lots has happened already?

Life on the line, I trust Hughes in a big game more than any starter on the staff other than CC and Andy.

So you trust him more than Javy and AJ? Yahoo.

All of a sudden I don’t hate the world when Boone Logan comes into a game.

[86] ah yes.

Granderson struck out again?  I’m shocked.

Maybe Girardi didn’t like the look of the Wells fly either.

[89] It’s a decision that the manager is going to make so…

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Suzie says Joba is focused

[95] True.

Joba looks better lately.

Did anyone take me up on Joba?

Hey, that looked like the old Jeter.

Oh, cool, the relief pitcher who’s really good because his stratospheric WHIP is actually explained away by his terrible start and occasional blowups.