Phil Comes Up Hughes

Last night Phil Hughes made his first major league start since going on the DL April 29 with a fractured rib cage. In his early stint in the majors this season he was an extremely disappointing 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA. So after time well spent in the minors, Hughes finally got recalled by the Yankees and was called on to keep the Yankees extremely dim playoff hopes alive last night against the Chicago White Sox, wearing his old jersey number 65. Hughes was not lights out like he was against the Texas Rangers in a 2007 start (remember that no-hitter he had through 7 1/3 innings), but he pitched well. Even though he was very uneconomical, throwing 89 pitches in 4 innings, Hughes silenced the critiques and showed glimpses of why he is considered the future ace of the staff. He featured a fastball that topped out at 94 mph, a servicable curveball and a pitch he developed in the minors, the cut-fastball. Hopefully Hughes can continue the trend. We'll see.