*coughs*

Umm… ahhh… mmm… *points to the game tonight*

~~~Steve, thanks for the blog. ….Keep up the good work.~~~

Thank you. I’ll try!

~~~Steve, Steve, Hello….are you out there? Steve, Steve…..Please report back to your blog.~~~

Hey, I’m alive. VAC-day today. We took the kids to Adventure Aquarium down in Camden. We left at 11:30 and got home around 6 pm…just in time for dinner and bath time – before the game.

I wasn’t hiding. Just busy.

baileywalk – we’re cool. I’m not singling out anyone. It just gets me when people, in general, say that I’m saying something that I did not write. It’s my issue, in the end, I guess. Don’t sweat it.

Just glad you didn’t say Elaine Benes

I remember when Andy Pettitte came up and there was no hoopla surrounding his arrival. Nobody was calling Pettitte “The Future.”

That said, Hughes had better stuff than Pettitte did. But what Pettitte had (and still has) was the intangibles: a great head, durability, and a knack for not blowing up games in crucial spots.

Andy Pettitte is going to win well over 200 games in the majors and had a shot at being the winningest pitcher in Yankee history before he went to Houston. And many others who have come through the farm system have had better stuff than him.

So my wish for Phil Hughes is Andy’s intangibles. Intangibles that guys like Ben Sheets and A.J. Burnett and Carl Pavano will never have. Hughes showed us more than enough “stuff” last night. Now we just have to cross our fingers and hope that the pitching gods of good health, good make-up, and an occassional good bounce (or a Paul O’Neill catch in right field) smile on him.

Steve, Steve, Hello….are you out there? Steve, Steve…..Please report back to your blog.

If I’m included in the people who “attacked” you (I don’t really see any of that myself), I apologize. You know I enjoy this blog and my intent, even when I’m sarcastic, is never to insult you. I guess I just find your attitude toward Hughes to be incomprehensible. Not “wrong,” I suppose, but totally at odds with my own feelings and emotions.

Don’t compare Hughes to Gooden and Clemens. Gooden was an otherworldly talent. The only person in recent history to be that good at such a young age was King Felix (and Hughes is not THAT). Clemens is one of the greatest pitchers in the history of the game. Let’s not worry if Hughes matches THOSE guys.

A realistic comp for Hughes is a healthy Ben Sheets (good control and a lot of strikeouts).

If Hughes ends up being Josh Beckett instead of Roger Clemens, that doesn’t mean he failed?

When our last heralded pitching prospect, Pettitte, came up, I was still in middle school. So I didn’t get to watch him pitch in the minors and I didn’t get to follow his minor-league career and I never felt a certain sense of pride with him. I did have this experience with Hughes, however. I’ve grown to like this kid a lot and I respect his ability. And when someone seems to be dismissing him after seeing him for the first time, after just four innings, it frankly pissed me off.

But no hard feelings. As I said, your attitude toward him is a little baffling to me, but I know ultimately you want him to succeed.

I don’t think you need to have Yankee blinders on to spin things positively for him — after all, we’re the only one who want him to do well; the rest of baseball wants to see him fall on his face.

So why not support him? It’s not his fault the team needs him already.

I’m a fan of this blog and am very grateful to be able to check the state of the Yanks without a ton of rah rah crap about how handsome Jeter is, or whether he and Alex were seen together, whatever. It’s a great forum. Bottom line we need a win. Yanks fans second guess with the best of them. Out here, the Giants started the season about as badly as a team can play, they just looked like dog meat. The whole fan base had their undies in a bunch. Fire the GM trade everyone. Now they’re the hottest team in the league, and instead of the geritol jokes, now they’re a “veteran team.”

Phil Hughes is a long term project. Ideally the Yanks stake him to a big lead and take the pressure off. But they didn’t score so it was all on him. But he’ll come around fine. I compare him a lot to Matt Cain. The kid’s clearly the real deal, but last year he definitely had his inconsistencies. This year, so far he’s a rock. I expect about the same from Hughes. No one’s rotation can stand a bunch of injuries, no matter what. We’re taking our lumps because we had three injuries to our 1,3 and 4 starters. But I do echo some recent comments about Torre jerking the bullpen around and not leaving Wang in to finish the 7th against the Devil Dogs. And Farnsworth – Feh. I credit Cash for dumping Sheffield, he should have dumped Farnsworth too.

I love that some guy takes tiem out of his day to write this blog, something he loves doing, and allow himself a place to express his opinions but when those opinions don’t match up, he is attacked. And that is what happened, the first few replies were venomous.

Sure the Yanks Lost, but does that mean we lose all decency as human beings? if you don’t agree with Steve, cool. I personally don’t totally agree with him but he has his opinion and I respect that.

I think Hughes looked good considering the circumstances. I also think that given some more starts, he’ll be just fine. He’s ina league where it’s too difficult to be dominating and you all know that. Johan, one the best pitchers out there right now, only managed 19 wins last season. No one went over 20. This is a tough league to pitch in and throwing a 20 year old out there and expecting miracles is ridiculous. In time, just like the Yanks, he will be fine.

The venom here reminds me of a Red Sox/Yankee trash forum. Don’t bring that here.

Steve, thanks for the blog. I check it at least 6 times a day from work and four more when I get home. I enjoy your opinions and I enjoy most of the feedback you get. Keep up the good work.

I’m objective.
——————

That’s objectively false.