Indeed, "let's hope tonight is the start of something good."

Win or lose I think it is.

Based on a bit of Hughes hype I heard a few guys exchanging at the deli this morning fans need to realize that Hughes will not be heating up the Stadium radar gun tonight.
With the Scranton'esque damp chill in the air figure he'll be topping out at about 91 or 92.

Hopefully his curve will be on, and his change up is big league enough to keep the Jays sluggers off balance.

Hopefully he'll keep his composure and show everybody what he can do.

Let's go, #65!

i'm glad they took the day off.

the email that mlb.com sent me about the cancellation said that the game was postponed due to "a forecast of inclement weather" or something extremely close to that.

i love that the team took a personal day.

hopefully tonight will be the night we look back upon and declare to be The Turning Point.

congrats, alex. sounds like you hit the jackpot.

i'm glad they took the day off.

the email that mlb.com sent me about the cancellation said that the game was postponed due to "a forecast of inclement weather" or something extremely close to that.

i love that the team took a personal day.

hopefully tonight will be the night we look back upon and declare to be The Turning Point.

congrats, alex. sounds like you hit the jackpot.

Did they really give Hughes 65 to wear? Pete Sheehy would have given the kid 41 or some sort of respectable pitcher number. 65 screams "Columbus Shuttle."

So, I've confirmed that Extra Innings won't have a feed for tonight's game. Does anyone know if that's also true for mlb.tv? They have a line available for it on the multimedia schedule page, but the links won't be clickable until game time. I would really hate to have to listen to the most important game of the year so far on the radio.

I find it amazing that Hughes will be the only first round draft pick to play for the Yanks since Derek Jeter. And Jeter was drafted way back in 1992.

Newsday had a rundown of the Yank's woeful 1st round picks: http://tinyurl.com/2w8xld

That's my guess. Oh, and a big fat W!

9 I'm looking for the same info. I'll gladly sign up for the free 5-day trial just to be able to see Hughes's first outing. Wish I lived closer so I too could be at the game tonight, like Cliff, Emma, and all the other Banterers who said they'll be there.

12 If you go back to the 70s, you find a bunch of halfway decent 1st round picks by the Yanks - most of whom did their thing elsewhere. Good discussion about it at the end of the last thread.

a blackout tonight would push me past all limits of my tolerance.

Soriano wore #66 for a few games when he came up.

Bernie rocked #63 for a couple minutes.

Wonder how many #65 jerseys they're selling at the Yanks prop shops today.

I'll settle for Hughes having a good game tonight. I'm becoming afraid to hope for a win.

Have you seen the dust up over the red splotch Schilling's sock? Ha. I knew it was fake.

"If I Did Doctor The Sock, Here's How It Happened"

Seriously, why would Thorn make up a doozy like that?

it was 2 years ago. why should anyone care?

not a single keystroke on it over at schilling's blog. ...the silence before the storm.

i'm guessing he'll be livid, whether he shows it or not. that sock was what he was banking on to get him to the HOF. his numbers are borderline, if you ask me.

...which none of you did.

who knows.

i also thought i read a while back that he was hoping for #35.

could you imagine what must be going on inside that kid's head this morning?

oh, to be 20 years old and have so much potential...

http://bronxbanter.baseballtoaster.com/archives/592551.html

Hughes wore #45 in high school. That was his first choice. He told Kay #34 would be his second choice.

Yo, Henn! Give Chase Wright yer mitt, and Hughes yer digits!

I really think this is a one-shot for Hughes. Moose will be activated in a week, there's an off day Monday, and the rain out prevents them from having to throw both Karstens and Igawa this time through the rotation, which also means that, if they go with Igawa Saturday, they'll want to get another look at Karstens before they decide to swap him out for Hughes (or Rasner for that matter).

Also there's the matter of his 180 innings limit. If they keep him in the major league rotation from today forward, he's going to sail by that mark without even taking a potential playoff run into account.

I really think he's going back to Scranton after tonight no matter what he does. But I also think he'll be back in a month or two, that time for good.

As Giambi or Damon might say, "I'm totally stoked."

I'd be surprised if they didn't hold Karstens for Tuesday. He already got shelled once by Boston, and I don't think they'll give up (even symbolically) on Igawa quite yet.

... but he's no Emma Span!

(I kid I kid .... they're both top notch!)

Welcome back Alex .... congrats on the nuptials.

Oh, and: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K (ND)

Gets taken out with a runner on second and two outs in the seventh with the Yankees up 3-2. Kyle Farnsworth promptly gives up a 2 run homer to Frank Thomas. I promptly give up my dinner to the garbage can.

Huge as an extra arm in the pen. If he came in twice a week for two inning stints, he could get regular work against MLB hitters, restrict his innings, and help the team.

Nah.

http://tinyurl.com/39pgl2

Over at Lohud, Peter posted how many innings of Pro ball this kid has pitched in the last 3 years: 2004: 5.0, 2005: 86.1, 2006: 152. My God! He's practically a virgin! 180 innings is a lot considering.

The kid is 20 and still growing. Stress and injuries on a body still 'developing' have much worse long term effects that do injuries you get as an adult. So the difference between 20 and 23 is huge.

What might he do in his first 1/2 year? A 3.5-4.0 ERA? That 1.5 runs better then we should get from Karstens/Rasner. Do you think it's worth the slightest chance of hurting this kid to gain 1.5 runs ever