Understanding Hughes

Josh Kalk of The Hardball Times has a great read on Phil Hughes. Kalk looks at Hughes’ release point and also examines the movement of his pitches as he attempts to understand his struggles in 2008. He has some especially interesting info about Hughes’ fastball as well. Nice stuff.

Jeter’s Hot Hitting Continues

The Yanks salvaged the series with a win today thanks to a great pitching performance by Andy Pettitte (6 IP, 0 R, 4 K’s). At first, after seeing Cueto out there, I thought the Yanks were in trouble again, but they certainly came through against the Cincy bullpen (thank you rain delay). Derek Jeter went 1-for-3 and has extended his hitting streak to 11 games. A lot of people were worried Jeter’s performance this year, however, he has quickly quelled those worries as he’s batting .300 (not counting today’s numbers) this month with a .776 OPS. In the end, the Yankees do not have to worry about Derek Jeter (they have other things to worry about, namely pitching). He’s pretty much a sure thing.

Blog Bounce: Abreu’s Slump (RAB)

The guys at RAB have an interesting post up about Bobby Abreu’s recent troubles. Apparently, ever since Abreu hit a liner that grazed Nick Blackburn’s face (Twins pitcher), he’s been mired in a deep slump. I could certainly see how that could effect a batter, but come on Bobby, Blackburn is fine and he’s actually pitching well (that liner hasn’t bothered him). Hopefully this is nothing and he’ll snap out of it soon (he’s got 2 hits today).