I think its time......

...for super prospect Phil Hughes to hit the bricks back to AAA or AA. It hurts me to say it, I love the kid. I think he will in the near future be a rock solid anchor in the Yankee rotation, but that time is not now. Phil continued his string of poor outings tonight, giving up 6 runs in 3 and 2/3 innings. This totals his stats to:

      W   L   IP     H     R     ER    BB   K    ERA   WHIP
      0   3   18.1   26    17    16    10   11   7.85  1.96    

To me his biggest problem seems to be that he is scared of challenging batters. He seems to be pitching like a Greg Maddux, just with out the pin point control. When that happens you throw a lot of pitches, walk a lot of guys, and end up in a lot of jams. Add all those things together and it sure as hell ain't looking good. Hughes is supposed to be a power pitcher, a guy who says "I dare to you try and hit this, bitch!!" So whats the problem? One problem seems to be that he has lost about 3 to 5 mph of his fastball. If he realizes he has lost his velocity then he might be scared to throw a strike because he doesn't want a guy to shell him.

So Hughes needs a trip to the minors, and very soon so he can get his career back on track. Down in Scranton he can regain his confidence and his velocity. One extra thought with the velocity. It seems like a lot of previously successful pitchers(Zito, Bret Myers, Hughes, there are more) are not doing so well, and the main culprit is a unexplainable drop in velocity. I certainly hope these unexplainable situations are not so very explainable if adding steroids and HGH to the conversation.

So if the Yankees are going to send Hughes down who do they bring up? I hate to say, I really hate to say it, but I think its time to see Kei Igawa. I don't like him, never did, but I think he could at least give the team 6 innings, if not a win or two.

Ahhh soon I feel I will be cursing Kei Igawa soon too. I hate the Yankees pitching staff, but am still glad I don't see Johan Santana every 5 days.