Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
. . . you're not in Trenton anymore.
Hughes warming up in the outfield with a bullpen catcher.
Taking the long walk in from the pen with pitching coach Ron Guidry.
Hughes taking the field for his first major league game. In the lower right corner, bench coach Don Mattingly heads to the dugout after handing in the lineup card.
Hughes places his glove on the grass behind the mound before the national anthem.
Standing for "O Canada" with Mientkiewicz, Matsui, Damon, Abreu and the ball boy in the background.
Digging in.
Taking his warmups.
And finally, Phil Hughes' first major league pitch:
That first pitch was low and inside to Alex Rios. Judging by the Yankee stadium radar gun, Hughes was otherthrowing in the first inning (two runs on three hits and a wild pitch). He was throwing his devistating curve for strikes, but missing with his fastball, which the juiced Stadium gun clocked as high as 96 miles per hour. He settled down after the first, easing up on the fastball and throwing it 92-93 mph for strikes (one walk, one hit, no runs, 3 Ks from the second through fourth innings). By the fifth, he had passed 80 pitches and the excitement of the day plus his raw pitch count clearly had him winded as his velocity dropped to 90 mph (again on the juiced Stadium gun). Hughes worked in his changeup, which is close to ten miles per hour slower than his heater, but that curve is a good 20 mph slower than the number one and a truly impressive major league out-pitch. The Yankees are expected to announce today whether or not Hughes will make a second start before being sent back down to Scranton.
Great photos, Cliff. My fav is Hughes & Guidry walkin in from the pen.
There are still NHL teams in Montreal, Toronto,Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. The last time I checked those cities were in Canada.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/goddam/sets/72157600137077972/
There were more assheads than usual in the stands last night. I hope it's not a trend this year.
I like the "taking his warmups" action shot.
Maybe he'll sign that for you someday.
The MY 9 (sorry!) radar gun had him around 94 mph early on, and I suspected that might have been a bit generous, but whatever the speed, the fastball looked pretty good until he ran out of gas.
I've never felt as good about a player following a 6-zip loss.
vr, Xei
11 More than the standings I think weather is keeping fans away.
It seems there have been more late arrivals this season, but that's probably due to the construction of the new stadium. Stadium traffic is more of a nightmare than usual.
or
the fact that someone felt the need to point them out to you (you can count them on one hand, which seems to prove your point even more).
Weird deal.
I haven't checked the attendance stats, but crowds tend to be thinner this time of year, no?
I'm noticing more and more media types jumping on the "yanks are doomed" and "cashman should have prepared better in the offseason, shame on them for losing out on DM" bandwagon.
Sadly, I was at the O's-Red Sox game last night, with my wife & some of her family members - Boston-ites all of them. All the sox fans there were in a tizzy about the shilling-bloody sock thing, and get this, there was an O's fan with a blown up photo (2 feet square poster, at least, great quality) of shilling's ankle/bloody sock, walking around taunting the sox fans. Maybe not the classiest move, but the reaction was hilarious - Sox fans yelling at him & getting all crazy mad, and some chick was screaming at him & dumped her beer on him. Classy bunch!
Couldn't avoid staring at the away scoreboard though, my heart sank as Hughes gave up 2 in the first, but i was lifted a bit as he settled down. Not a bad debut.
http://tinyurl.com/32az38
many came out blurry too
http://tinyurl.com/yskkpe
I can see it now... CSI Cooperstown
classy bunch?
http://graphics.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Original_Photo/2004/10/14/1097732061_7130.jpg
(borrowing from yesterday's ration of puns)
26 Yup, I remember.
The Yanks could be the Knicks.
Here they come.
SI's Jon Heyman checks out the rumor that the Dolans have been sniffing around the Yanks.
http://tinyurl.com/yun976
That's got to almost be like taking a whiff of smelling salts these days the way we are playing...
Weeknight games in April and May are a tough sell. There are $5 ticket specials for many weeknight games just to fill the seats. Bad weather does not help. You can check craigslist of stubhub for good deals.
I always thought that the "Evil Empire" + "Who's your daddy" = "Pedro, I am your father" stuff was pretty clever and funny.
i dont know... maybe?
that whole "unclassy" term gets thrown around so loosely these days its hard to identify when its referring to fans taunting, obnoxious behavior or criminal behavior, pitchers brushbacks, homerun struts etc. etc. etc.
34
i guess so... certianly more clever than "yankees suck". I thought the "whos your daddy" baby bibs were pretty lame though ;)
But I have to say, I think "the MFY" is good.
http://i13.tinypic.com/470ejcj.jpg
;-)
I ask again, what the heck is it going to take Torre to stop playing Minky and get Phelps regualr at bates. Phelps has done nothing but produce, and Minky has done, well, nothing. You would think joe would want to try and get us a win here, but nooooooo....
"He did well, he only had one walk," the elder Hughes said. "His control of his secondary pitches didn't look as sharp [as the fastball], but I thought he worked through that."
I think I'm in love.
http://tinyurl.com/32plfa
They rate the Yanks second [!] for talent in the minors, and a still very respectable 6th for the broader category of all under-25 talent in the organization
Phelps as the everyday 1B, or even he and Giambi swapped between 1B/DH, with Minky playing when Tiger Wang pitched, is probably the most optimal use of assets.
Of course it leaves the bench completely devoid of hitting - but Phelps is too good a hitter to rot on the bench while Minky starts 90% of the time. Especially when the only guy in the lineup worth pinch-hitting for is Minky himself!
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