Sure, he could have thrown a three-hit shutout and fanned 11, but that wasn’t realistic. As it was, the winner of the most over-hyped competition for a fifth starter’s slot in baseball history was respectable against the Angels last night: Two runs in five innings and change, striking out six.
He walked too many guys -- five -- and gave up a home run to Hideki Matsui, but (a) he had enough run support to survive the walks; and (b) giving up a home run to Hideki Matsui in his return to Yankee Stadium is probably one of the most easily-pardonable sins imaginable.
And about those walks: as the guys at River Ave. Blues point out this morning, Hughes may have been getting squeezed. Check out the pitch chart. Those little green blocks at the bottom of the zone are strikes that were called balls. This is a continuing theme, of course. It was Jerry Layne doing the squeezing last night.
That aside, Hughes’ start has to be a really encouraging sign for the Yankees. They won the World Series with three decent starting pitchers last year. If Hughes’ debut form holds for the year, they’ll have five.