May 25th @ The Rangers
Against all odds, Phil Hughes, in this contest, pitched the best game in his major league career, according to Game Score. See below for a list of every start Hughes has made for the Yankees, to date – including today, ranked by Game Score (G Sc):
Date Opp Pit G Sc 05/25/09 @TEX 101 81 05/01/07 @TEX 80 76 04/28/09 @DET 99 72 09/24/08 @TOR 100 70 09/27/07 @TBD 102 68 08/10/07 @CLE 95 65 04/03/08 TOR 87 59 09/11/07 @TOR 106 58 09/05/07 SEA 97 58 04/24/08 @CHW 23 55 09/17/08 CHW 89 52 05/20/09 BAL 89 51 09/17/07 BAL 96 50 08/26/07 @DET 97 49 08/15/07 BAL 94 47 08/20/07 @LAA 92 44 09/22/07 TOR 99 43 05/15/09 MIN 93 41 04/26/07 TOR 91 37 04/08/08 @KCR 87 33 05/04/09 BOS 94 32 08/31/07 TBD 94 31 04/18/08 @BAL 97 29 08/04/07 KCR 92 29 04/29/08 DET 82 20 04/13/08 @BOS 65 18 05/09/09 @BAL 53 5
Interesting: The best six games of Hughes’ big league career have all come on the road. And, eight of his ten best games have been as a visiting player. Maybe Phil doesn’t like the Bronx? My theory: Lefty-batters have a BA/OBA/SLG line of .326/.406/.562 in (102 PA) against Hughes at Yankee Stadium – in his career to date. To put it simply, lefties bat like Babe Ruth against Phil in New York…
Back to today’s success…it seems like aggressively swinging teams are no match for Hughes – if you believe that teams like the Rangers, Tigers, Blue Jays, Rays, and Indians of recent note are aggressively swinging teams…
Me? Dunno. I would have to look into that some more before I signed off on that one. What do you think?
The Rangers, Indians, and Tigers, I think the label will fit. Not sure about the other two, especially the Jays. I think the issue is that Phil does not trust his stuff when behind in the count. It really seems like a confidence issue with him when he struggles.
OK, that’s two good starts, two bad ones and two mediocre ones.
Sounds like a young #5 starter to me. Hopefully, he’ll gain confidence at the big league level, and learn to trust his stuff when behind in the count…and after he gives up a long ball.
Oh; I’d still send him back to AAA when Wang is ready, just to work on commanding his offspeed stuff, for about 8-10 starts until the break, and bring him back to pitch in long relief to get ready for next season when Andy, presumably, retires.
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One last thing, Phil turns 23…about a month from now.
Phil’s ERA without the awful Baltimore start is 2.89. Seeing as we are in the business of discounting relevant performances to make a point, I thought I might share that little tidbit.
Hughes pitched great but anyone else think Girardi should have let him try to complete his first major league shutout? Give the kid a real confidence boost on a day that he was dealing. At minimum I would have let him get the complete game under his belt, and he had a good chance to finish off the shutout. I thought he had every reason to act a little miffed when Girardi stuck his hand out. Finishing off a game like that can pay dividends in the future, imho.
OnceIWasAYankeeFan wrote:
I would have liked it, but I get the decision. Phil is injury prone, so I understand the care. I really think that it may have been more about Aceves, in that he had not worked in three days, and the Yankees said today that they want to start using him in back to back days. I would rather a guy who hasn’t pitched in a while get his work in a blowout than a close game.
You shouldn’t coddle him though, and at 102 pitches, this isn’t some extraordinary effort. I didn’t understand Aceves coming in when Girardi said he’ll be part of the bridge to Mo, but if he hadn’t pitched in that many days I guess it makes some sense. Could have used Veras though and just had Aceves throw a bullpen. You wouldn’t see Okajima or Ramirez finishing off an 11-0 game!
Against all odds, Phil Hughes, in this contest, pitched the best game in his major league career,
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Sorry, Steve, no ‘odds’ apply to him yet. He’s too young and still establishing whatever turns out to be his ‘game’.
@ OnceIWasAYankeeFan:
Maybe Girardi’s holding some late-game bullpen auditions? I realize they were up by 11 and it wasn’t the same kind of pressure, but to uphold a shutout and get the last 3 outs is sort of like nailing down a save in a close game.
yagottagotomo1 wrote:
Nice try. But, that’s totally misleading.
Prior to today’s game, here’s Hughes OPS allowed by opponent this season:
Baltimore Orioles 1.330
Boston Red Sox 1.222
Detroit Tigers .317
Minnesota Twins 1.101
He’s sucked against everyone this seasons sans the Tigers and now the Rangers.
And, those are ALL the numbers – and not discounting any.
@ Steve Lombardi:
I dont think he sucked against Baltimore the last time out. I think he has had two really good starts, a few mediocre starts, and one awful start. He has been an adequate 5th starter. He has kept them in every game outside of the Baltimore game. For now, good enough for me.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Those aren’t really ALL the numbers, Steve. Here are a couple of interesting ones:
I) 6 HR allowed in 29 IP, 5 of them in 14 home innings. Let’s be fair. If you’re going to call the new Stadium a launching pad, and it is, then you have to make some small adjustment for home run rates, and the home run rates clearly skew the OPS numbers, especially as 4 of them are solo HR.
2) The Yanks are 4-2 in his 6 starts. That’s not that bad, is it?
I’ll take 4-2 any day. Keep us in the game Phil…let the hitters do the rest!
“Nice try. But, that’s totally misleading.”
much like a lot/most of the numbers you offer to support your arguments, which was kind of yagotta’s point if i am reading correctly. even here, we all know ops against is not the only statistic by which to measure a pitcher’s performance. buy since it is favorable to your argument, you use it and only it to say he’s sucked, as if it’s some air-tight reasoning. laughable.
Although I’ve been known to sip on Haterade from time to time and I am by no means a Hughes fan, I think he might be turning the corner. I can’t discount what he did yesterday facing that fierce lineup in a hitting friendly park. I only wish that Girardi would have let him finish the game and allow him to experience that feeling of supreme confidence that would naturally follow after a complete game shutout.
Although I’ve been known to sip on Haterade from time to time and I am by no means a Hughes fan, I think he might be turning the corner.
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I’m glad you’re finding some faith in Phil, but let’s be entirely honest here. Phil is 22, a very young starter pitching in the AL East. We need to be careful with what we expect and what we take from each start. He’s going to have good starts, he’s going to have bad starts and he’ll have a lot of mediocre starts…that’s what kids do while they’re developing. As excited as you are with this start, don’t expect him to repeat it next time out.
Let’s just be happy we’re getting these starts from Phil instead of fill-in starts from Sir Sidney Ponson.
Phil Hughes and Melky for Grady Sizemore…. Time is right to make this trade..
Hmmm…You got something compromising on Mark Shapiro, Lou?
LoL.. No Evan.. but it could work.. No?…. Trade when the value is high and right now, how much higher can we get with these two?..
Evan.. One last note.. Sizemore is about to break out of this slump.. Nice to see him do it in pinstripes!!..