The Yanks won their second ST game this afternoon, thanks in large part to Jorgie Porgie's homer and RBI dub. My sympathetic shoulder pain is subsiding with each successful Jorgie at-bat and I'm feeling very optimistic about his role on the team this year. He wasn't catching yet, of course, but he'll get there. At least his swing is working.
My main concern for today's game, though, was Hughsie. In his short time on the major league roster he admittedly hasn't given us much reason to expect greatness out of him, but I'm not giving up yet. He's only 22 and wowed everyone who saw him in the minors, and I think there's plenty of time left for him to get it together and contribute to the team. Now that the Yanks have added CC and AJ to the roster, Hughes's success is not quite as crucial as it was last year (it was both unwise and unfair [and cheap] for the Yankees to expect Hughsie and IPK to fit right into the rotation last year - did we really think that was going to work out perfectly?! Man we're stupid) but he could certainly be a vital part of the rotation at some point.
So how'd he do today? Well... the good news is that he pitched two hitless/scoreless innings! He threw 33 pitches and 22 of them were strikes. Unfortunately, he somehow managed to hit two of the first three Rays he faced. Never mind, though - still a positive outing overall and Girardi thought he did well for his first time out.
IPK tomorrow! Yeah, I'm still holding out hope for him too.
I think if the Yanks were to give Hughes the #5 spot in the rotation you would see drastic improvements in his game. Putting him in a staff with veterans CC and Pettitte and basically having no pressure on him to win, i think he'd breakout in a big way. Also keeping Joba in relief gives the Yanks the best pen in the league in my opinion.
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