Thursday, May 01, 2008

The Yanktriots no more?

Ok, we'll take back a bit of our commentary on the Yanks playing funny with the DL -- I'm still suspicious of the Betemit situation, but the bad news for the Yanks is that Phil Hughes is down and out for another half-season. Last year, he popped a hamstring while pitching a no-hitter; this year he has a stress fracture of a rib. That means no pitching for a month and probably no Phil Franchise until after the All-Star break. It also means that the Yanks will lose a year of building up his arm strength -- further delaying his development.

Hughes looked horrible Tuesday -- the fastball was flat, the breaking ball had no bite, and he was releasing his pitches with his hand on the side of the ball and his arm virtually tucked into his side. The injury may explain everything or nothing, but it gives the young pitcher some time to get his head straight, relax, rehab in the minors to rebuild his confidence, and hopefully rejoin the team for a stretch run.

In the meantime, we'll see if Darrell Rasner, who has embarrassed AAA hitters this year, can build upon the occasional success he had with the Yanks last year before he suffered a season-ending injury.

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