LOL – and I try and keep it under control too!

FWIW, when I heard ‘Thirsty Turtle’ – my first thought was…that sounds like something that you’d find in a Kama Sutra book.
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You have a very sick mind, Mr. Lombardi. Jussst kidding…

FWIW, when I heard ‘Thirsty Turtle’ – my first thought was…that sounds like something that you’d find in a Kama Sutra book.

Is it me, or is there a ‘Thirsty Turtle’ in just about every city in America?

What lightning flash went off in the minds of Phil and the organization that they finally had him throw all his pitches? He had been throwing the change a bit more in recent starts, but tonight we saw some sliders too. Phil was mostly a two-pitch pitcher in Trenton, and he specifically said he needed to work on his change in AAA after a disappointing spring training. He did do that and we saw a great change in his near-no-hitter, but after that it seemed to disappear. When he came back from the DL all we saw were curves and fastballs. It stayed that way even through a few bad starts. But now, finally, he’s using all his pitches again and he looks great.

“I think Al Leiter made a good point on YES when he said that Hughes using all his pitches made his fastball feel electric – even though it was on the gun around 88-91.”

That’s true of all pitchers, so it’s true of Hughes too, but it also doesn’t make sense. When Hughes was in the minors, he was always clocked at 90-94 (that’s according to his pitching coach, who never exaggerated what Phil brought to the table — in fact, he tried to keep him humble with his assessment). Before Phil throws a single breaking ball or off-speed pitch, he’ll throw a fastball to a hitter that registers 90 or 91 and they swing through it like it’s 95. Batters swing through his fastball or foul it off like it’s 93+ even before they SEE his other pitches. So that theory doesn’t exactly hold with him. Whatever it is — if something prevents him from clocking right, if it’s his motion — Hughes may in reality somehow be throwing 90, but he’s not — it’s not the same “90″ you see coming out of the hand of Mike Mussina or Ian Kennedy.

Torre said this was his best start, even better than Texas. I don’t think so. But I would put it up there in the top three. He looked very confident, which is the best thing.