Ah, what to do with Phil Hughes. He was back to his mediocre self last night. Yanks gave him a 4-0 lead and he coughed it up and later gave him a 10-5 lead and he gave up another run. He got the win but the start was a regression for Hughes. He was picked up by Shawn Kelley who was dynamite, facing seven batters and striking out six.
The star of the game was the offense, led by Lyle Overbay who had two doubles and a home run. The Yanks had 16 hits in all–it was one of those “All Too-gether-Now” nights, made even more enjoyable by the announcing team of Ken Singleton and David Cone. A fine Friday night indeed.
Final Score: Yanks 11, Royals 6.
[Image Via: This Isn’t Happiness]
"The star of the game was the offense, led by Lyle Overbay"
Anyone have that sentence in the office pool, going into the season?
[0] yeah, the Kenny and Coney pairing was a definite treat. I also like the look of KC's stadium on TV. It's one of the ballparks I hope to visit someday. The waterfall and vistas are appealing to me.
Hughes is a guy who will occasionally command a game, but most often is going to need run support.
[1] I had "$%$#, why the &*%$@# did $%$%#@ Cashman think it was a good idea to pick Lyle Overbay off the scrap heap???" So, close.
The Hughes Problem is that he gives up homers. Every game I say, half joking, the important thing is to keep guys off base so the home runs will be solos. But it really does mean that when he gives up two solo homers it can still be a good game. And when (like the game before this one) he gives up three really long outs instead of the home runs, it can be an excellent game. Or, this game, with multi-run homers.
[3] It will be interesting to see how Cash is able to keep him when Teix gets back; that is if he's still mashing by then. If not, what can you possibly get for him?
Overbay, Tex and Hafner for DH and first base is just fine. Rotating older players is good for them. Tex's ability to bat right handed makes it work. Same for the outfield with the 4 players when Grandy comes back. Of course, if past is prologue there will be injuries to most of them along the way.
That's fine if you can fit them all on the roster at the same time. Nunez probably gets optioned to Scranton to make it work. They'll have the same problem with Granderson, Jeter and dare I say it A-Rod.
I wouldn't count on Arod, "Hips don't lie".
Rockies being no hit through six. Had a hit in the first inning yesterday, since then, bupkis.