Sunday, July 1, 2012

Yankees.com: With Yanks’ stars out, Hughes shines brightest

Hours after the Yankees honored some of the greatest players in the franchise’s history, Robinson Cano celebrated the here and now of his fourth All-Star selection with a tiebreaking two-run home run in Sunday’s 4-2 win over the White Sox.

The home run was enough for starter Phil Hughes, who battled 95-degree heat for much of the afternoon but was sharp after a two-run first inning, striking out eight and walking one across eight innings.

“I thought he made some mistakes with the location of his fastball and then he corrected it, and that was the big difference,” manager Joe Girardi said. “He threw an outstanding game in the heat. He stayed consistent. To be able to give us eight innings on a day like today is extremely difficult.”

Between the temperature, pregame events and a battle between first-place teams, Sunday was an eventful day in the Bronx. Before the game, the Yankees hosted some of the best to wear pinstripes during the 66th Old-Timers’ Day in franchise history and celebrated four of their players—Cano, Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson and CC Sabathia—earning spots on the American League roster for the July 10 All-Star Game at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

After two of the more annoying losses of the season (including possibly the worst loss of the season), the Yankees rebounded nicely to salvage a split of the four-game series. Phil Hughes joined Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova by also throwing a very good game. If these three can keep it up, the Yankees might very well make it through the loss of CC unscathed. I am glad that they changed the All-Star Game rules slightly so that being available to pitch in the game is not as important as it used to be. The change made is so that CC Sabathia got named to the team despite being injured. Congrats to CC, Derek, Robinson and Curtis!

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