LMAO. Singleton asked the gayest question to Eminem, regarding poetry. Em just looked at him blankly and was like, ummmm no, dude. He's gonna talk so much shit when he goes off air...
For those interested, Phil Coke coughed up 4 earned runs tonight in an inning and a third's work. His ERA jumped to 3.63.
I love the DVR feature on mlb.tv premium where I can just skip through the innings. I had to work until 10pm last night, and when I got home, I already knew the Yanks won and Hughes pitched great. I got to just click on the bottom half of each inning to watch Hughes pitch. The awesome thing is, as good as his line was, that's not even close to the best he's looked. He was missing his spots like crazy... on and off all night. His curve seemed to be his best pitch in terms of command. And he was still able to just mow guys down. Sick.
Hughes is heroic. I love watching him pitch, even if he doesn't have his best stuff. I just wish we'd have given some of those runs from last night to Javy in the afternoon. Vazquez didn't deserve yet another L, one bad inning aside. On another note, while it seems MLB has figured out Pena at the plate (and I can't stand watching that poor kid struggle so much,) I'm not sure anyone is ever going to catch up to Cervelli. No, he's never going to hit .300 or drive in 80 runs, but if he can keep his OBP up (currently sitting at .482) he'll have a valid argument for sticking around a while. This might make life easier on the Yankees in terms of what to do with Montero while waiting for Romine. Speaking of Romine, I just checked and he's currently hitting .313, with a .382 OBP down in AA Trenton. Montero's numbers look pretty anemic though (.230 AVG, .637 OPS.)
Seriously, I was thinking last night that he just might have a legit argument to start the All-Star Game this year. 5-0 with an ERA under two. Personally, I wouldn't want him too, because those are more innings against his limit, but it would be pretty crazy for him to be selected. Someone tweeted the question last night regarding when we could consider Hughes "elite?" Mark Feinsand said 2-3 years, and I mostly agree. However, this is at least year 2, if not 3 already. Injuries are the only reason he hasn't pitched a full year in the Bigs so far. Hughes is an ace-in-the-making. I'm looking forward to next year's Spring. It should be an interesting race between CC and Phil for the right to get the ball on Opening Day.
The money plays a factor, they wouldn't "demote" CC because of it. Same with Burnett. They should be more worried about filling the 4th and 5th start roles (assuming Pettitte retires and Vazquez doesn't throw 3 no hitters the rest of the way.)
I think the way Hughes delivers, he disguises the ball really well and it disturbs the hitters. He flails his glove hand right before he delivers. Due to his above average velocity the hitters don't have time to recover if they are looking off fastball. They showed a replay yesterday of him delivering a curveball that was hittable. He had his pointing finger up off of the ball and only the finger tip was touching the ball. It was pretty clear to see for the hitter. Yet the guy swung badly, missed and sat his ass back on the bench.
I don't think money will play any factor in the Opening Day starter role. If Hughes earns it, he'll get it. And I think CC would have no issue with it. As for Hughes, I don't attribute his success so much to his hiding the delivery as I do the ridiculous late movement on his pitches. Even if you know what's coming, you have no idea where it's going. It's like a knuckleball pitcher with crazy speed, and much more control.
I made an obscure point... My point was if they make Hughes #1 next year, they screw themselves in his arbitration.
If he keeps pitching like this, they'd be silly not to buy out his arb years +2 (or +3) before it even becomes a question. Think 6/$60M gets it done? And is it worth it?
appropo of nothing, but has anyone heard Sterling's homerun call for Randy Winn? Goodness gracious that's bad for even him.
Gotta be more $$ a year than that I would guess. Using the 6 year number, I'd say 85M...14 or so a year sounds about right. Shit they gave Igawa 20 something right?
