Hughes to the 15-Day DL

Michael Kay just announced that Phil Hughes will be placed on the 15-day DL with a strained oblique (ribcage area). Darrell Rasner will probably get the call and if he starts and does well he could get a long look. I wonder about this injury. Before last night’s game it seemed like Hughes had turned a corner and was throwing around 93 mph. Last night he was “popping” the glove at around 91 mph. Maybe the injury occurred before the game, or maybe it occurred during the game, I’m not really too sure.

Maybe, just maybe the injury is a “phony” and the Yanks wanted to keep Hughes out of the rotation for a few weeks so that Dave Eiland, the Yankee pitching coach, could help him out and get himself fixed. Who knows, but the timing of the injury seems pretty peculiar. Either way, Hughes will not make his next start.

Game 2: Yanks VS. Tigers

Here’s the lineup:

YANKEES
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Matsui DH
Giambi 1B
Cabrera CF
Cano 2B
Molina C
Gonzalez 3B
Pettitte LHP

It’s go time. Hopefully Pettitte will rebound after his last tough start in Cleveland.

Moeller Makes It

The Yankees resigned Chad Moeller after designating him for assignment just a few days earlier. That’s definitely good news, as the Yanks optioned Chris Stewart (good riddance) back to Triple-A and recalled the enigma that is Chris Britton (again). Sean Henn was also DFA’d in order to make room on the 40-man roster.

What to Make of Phil Hughes

After last night’s loss, Phil Hughes’ spot in the rotation is quite possibly in jeopardy. Hughes looked lost on the mound, surrendering run after run. It was much of the same from Hughes and, after the game, when asked about what went wrong, Hughes had the same somber look on his face and the same ol’ story.

He didn’t have his fastball command, he threw his curveball too often, he was overthrowing, all of these things sound rather familiar, primarily because we hear it after every single game that he has started in. Many fans say that he’ll work things out and he’ll eventually learn how to overcome his problems, however, judging from what we’ve seen, I don’t know if that’s the case anymore. I too used to think that Hughes just needed a couple of starts to find himself and figure things out, but he looked strangely vacant last night and his confidence was questionable. He simply looked bad out there.

Of course, after last night’s start, every paper in NY is debating what will happen to Phil Hughes. Most writers like Joel Sherman or John Harper think that Hughes needs to be sent down in order to regain his confidence, fix his mechanical issues, and figure things out away from the NY pressure, which is mounting after every walked batter, every loss, and every 3rd inning exit. Right now, I actually agree with these guys. It’s sad to say because I have a lot of confidence in Phil Hughes, but, at this point, I don’t think Phil Hughes has confidence in himself. He looked defeated last night and that’s not necessarily healthy for a 21 year old starter that’s still learning how to pitch. Hughes’ early exits have also hurt our bullpen, a bullpen that has been particularly strong when we’ve needed them to pick up the pieces for a few innings.

Darrell Rasner has been dominant at Triple-A, thus far. With Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman being especially vague with their comments about Hughes’ rotation future, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a chance while Phil figures things out in the minors (where the game is a lot “slower”).

What do you think?