Soggy, Disappointing Night

I was pumped up at 7pm to see Phil Hughes take the mound again after his stellar debut against the Tigers. At 9:20, when he finally threw the first pitch, my excitement hadn't ebbed all that much. By about 9:35, I knew it was going to be a long night.

Hughes has really worked hard to develop his cutter. He's mixing his pitches better, and he's changing speeds brilliantly. His mechanics look sound and his fastball has more than enough zip on it. Unfortunately, none of these things have really been his problem in his brief career with the Yanks. His problem has been mostly mental. In the first inning, home plate umpire Jerry Meals squeezed Hughes on a couple of pitches, I mean blatantly squeezed him. He wound up getting through the inning only allowing one unearned run, but he didn't emerge unscathed. He was rattled.

The tight zone continued in the second and he was cooked. You could just tell that he wasn't going to be effective. Honestly, getting through 4 innings while only giving up 4 runs was more than I expected. Don't get me wrong, Meals called one of the worst games behind the dish you'll ever see. His strike zone was inconsistent from batter to batter, inning to inning and sometimes pitch to pitch. You know it's bad when Derek Jeter is on the verge of being tossed due to a blown call. It's equally bad when Girardi does get tossed for that same call.

The Yanks finally called up a long man, and it paid dividends. Aceves went 4.1 innings, striking out 7 while giving up two on a ball that was inches away from being a loud strike. Unfortunately, those two runs would prove to be the difference in the game.

The Yankee bats came to life after Girardi was run. Damon went deep immediately after the ejection, Teixeira followed that up with his first bomb of the night. He'd connect for another solo shot later on. Unfortunately, when Teixeira had a chance to win the game, he whiffed on fastball down and in.

When you take a step back and look at this game, though. It was pure luck that the Yanks were even in the game with a chance to win it at the end. Yet again, the arms just didn't get the job done. You cannot allow 20 base runners in a 9-inning game. 11 hits, 8 walks and 1 hit batsman. Unacceptable.

Since we're talking about unacceptable, is anyone else more than a little perturbed by all the empty seats we've been seeing at the "New House?" By the way, how long is Kay going to call it the new house? I mean, they were what, 6K short of a sellout against the Sox tonight. I realize they cut the prices on the top-end seats, and it was a rainy night, but would the rain have stopped the Yanks from selling out a Sox game last year, or two years ago? The new stadium is starting to look like the old stadium circa 1983.

Joba gets the nod tomorrow against Beckett. Let's see if we can get a split in this short series, huh?

Player of The Game: Teixeira, I suppose. Two solo bombs is better than none.
Team Record: 13-12
Shocker of The Night: Youkilis sissies out of the game.