Thursday, September 18, 2008
Yankees.com: Offense wakes up late to lift Yankees
NEW YORK—It wasn’t exactly the start the Yankees envisioned Wednesday night—from the mound or the batter’s box.
While the New York bats sat silent through the first five innings, starter Phil Hughes built up a pitch count of 89 through four innings to make an earlier exit than he would have liked.
But when the Yankees turned to their bullpen with a one-run deficit, the relievers came through, delivering five shutout innings to keep the score close. And the offense came alive to back them up as the Bombers rallied in the late innings for a 5-1 comeback victory over the White Sox (84-67) on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium. As the lineup cycled through, bats started connecting, and the hits came together.
Offense? What is offense?
I thought Hughes looked ok, although obviously his pitch efficiency sucked. He was hitting 92-93 consistently and featuring a cutter more often. Obviously his command was not right, but I’m more concerned about his physical health and tools right now as far as what that means for his future, and for that I think last night was encouraging.
Phil Coke relieved Hughes and continued his scoreless innings start to his career. If only he had more time he could challenge John Hiller for most scoreless innings at Yankee Stadium over the start of one’s career.
It was a rare day where the Yankees’ tragic number did not go down, still sitting at three. If Boston goes 2-5 over their next 7 games and the Yankees go undefeated over theirs’, that sets up a meaningful first game at Fenway for the final regular season series at least (provided Minnesota/Toronto lose at least one game as well). And that’s not happening, but it’d be cool if it did…
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