A few minutes ago, in the YES lead-in to the first pitch of tonight’s game, David Cone, on Phil Hughes, said that that Hughes’ problem this season has been the second and third time that he’s faced batters in a game – meaning that’s when he gets hit. Not trusting Cone (Sorry David!) I decided to check the stats at Baseball-Reference.com – and, guess what? Cone was right. See the following for Hughes, to date, this season, in terms of what batters do after seeing him once in a game:

	PA	BA	OBP	SLG       BAbip
1st PA	37	.233	.324	.300	.269
2nd PA	33	.407	.515	.556	.478
3rd+ PA	13	.538	.538	.538	.538

That’s tattoo-city after the first time through the line-up, indeed. How about last season? Here are the numbers:

	PA	BA	OBP	SLG	BAbip
1st PA	118	.192	.316	.343	.250
2nd PA	117	.273	.308	.436	.299
3rd+ PA	71	.238	.314	.365	.250

Now, that’s much better. This suggests that whatever is happening this year is hopefully a blip type thing. It shouldn’t be a conditioning issue – after all we’ve heard about Phil really being in shape now. Perhaps it’s a pitch selection thing? At the least, it’s something for Girardi, Eiland, Hughes, Posada and Molina to think about…and maybe try something new.

I was just looking at the Yankees team batting splits for 2008 (to date) over at the SNY.tv stats page. And, I noticed this, in terms of how the Yankees batting order is doing, so far, this season:

		AVG	AB	OBP	SLG
Batting	#1	.244	82	.347	.451
Batting	#2	.237	93	.273	.312
Batting	#3	.289	90	.347	.500
Batting	#4	.310	87	.381	.529
Batting	#5	.296	81	.389	.469
Batting	#6	.227	88	.261	.330
Batting	#7	.213	75	.330	.373
Batting	#8	.273	77	.325	.403
Batting	#9	.338	71	.405	.563

Look at that BA/OBP/SLG mark for the Yankees #9 batter – it’s the best on the team, across the board. For the most part, the Yankees #9 batters this season have been Melky Cabrera (25 PA), Alberto Gonzalez (20 PA), Chad Moeller (19 PA) and Jose Molina (10 PA). Hey, way to go guys!

Ken Rosenthal thinks that Brian Cashman should “bolt” from the Yankees at the end of this season.

Did you know that the last Yankees G.M. to leave the team, and then go on to be a G.M. for another team was Bob Quinn, Sr.?

Quinn resigned from the Yankees on October 13, 1989 to take the G.M. spot for the Cincinnati Reds. Good timing for him – as the Reds won a ring in 1990.

Woody Woodward was the Yankees G.M. in 1987. The next season, he was the G.M for the Philadelphia Phillies. And, after that year, he was the G.M. for the Seattle Mariners for the next 11 seasons.

Murray Cook was the Yankees G.M. in 1984. The next season, he was the G.M for the Montreal Expos. And, after three years there, he was the G.M. for the Cincinnati Reds for the next two seasons – - until the aformentioned Bob Quinn, Sr. took over from him.

Bill Bergesch was the Yankees G.M. in 1983. In 1984, he was kicked down to be Murray Cook’s assistant. And, in 1985, he became the G.M. for the Cincinnati Reds – - until the aformentioned Murray Cook took over from him.

So, there’s an interesting study. Bergesch, Cook and Quinn were the Reds G.M.’s from 1985 to 1992. And, Bergesch, Cook and Quinn were the Yankees G.M.’s – for the most part – from 1982 to 1989. Those Reds teams finished 1st, once, and 2nd, five times. Those Yankees teams were only good in 1985 and 1986 – - but, that’s when Clyde King was the G.M. (after Cook and before Quinn).

Would Brian Cashman do better outside of New York too? It would be interesting to see how this plays out, if it happens that he does “bolt” from Hank.

On February 16th of this year, Peter Abraham had this to share on Phil Hughes’ fastball:

Watched Phil Hughes throw and was impressed with his fastball. After his leg injury in May, he said his heater was 91-92 instead of the usual 93-95 it is. “It wasn’t until the playoffs when I felt complete confidence in my leg,” he said. “That was when I got my fastball back.”

Hughes said it’s not so much velocity that he counts on. It’s more the “late life” when he can throw harder. “You need your legs to follow throw and get that little extra on the pitch,” he said. “I wasn’t getting that.”

Note the part about Hughes’ fastball being “usual 93-95″ MPH.

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Now, that’s the Javy Vazquez that I remember and didn’t love so much.

You know, coming into this game, Johnny Damon’s BA/OBP/SLG line in games that the Yankees have won this season was .342/.390/.711 (in 41 PA); and, in losses it was .125/.326/.188 (in 44 PA). Last season, in wins it was .307/.397/.463 (in 374 PA); and, in losses it was .213/.277/.294 (in 231 PA). It’s starting to look like…as Johnny Damon goes, so do the Yankees.

So, what’s up with Mussina? Should we book him for an Eddie Harris moment once every two weeks? It was Harris again in this one, right? Or, was this his Jamie Moyer moment? Either way, I’ll take it – as will Moose and the Yankees.

This was an interesting game for Joe Girardi. When he came to the mound in the 7th, and began to motion in order to remove Mussina, only to check-arm his signal to the pen upon Posada’s protest, I didn’t know what to make of it. (And, I still don’t.) Is it a good thing that he’s listening to his players? Or, should it be taken as a sign that he’s not fully in charge?

In any event, as this season unfolds, Girardi has shown one thing: When there’s a win on the table, and it’s starting to look like it may slip, he’s not afraid to lock it down – even if that means bringing in Joba in the 7th or Rivera in the 8th. If he keeps this up, and New York does well this season, Joe may go down in history as the one who broke the relief pitchers role-mold that Tony LaRussa started back-in-the-day with the A’s (and is now the norm in baseball).