The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles by a score of 11-4. Phil Hughes got the win. Phil Hughes threw a lot of pitches in this game and that’s because he had nine strike outs in five innings. When you have a high strike out ratio, you’re going to throw a lot of pitches. Early in the game, Phil Hughes was trying to establish his fastball and it worked. He had great velocity on it and hit 94 mph and had great location. The first time through the lineup, Phil Hughes threw mostly his 4-Seam Fastball. The second time through the lineup, he started throwing his secondary pitches more, his cutter and his curveball and was effective. This was the first time in a game Phil Hughes was dominating with his fastball. It was like, here it is, see if you can hit it. Ty Wigginton did hit it though with a two run home run in the fourth inning. The pitch Phil Hughes threw was out over the plate, belt high and it got crushed. I can live with a home run if Phil Hughes is going to throw a lot of strikes with his fastball and get outs. His curveball and cutter were excellent and was hitting corners with his fastball. He changed his strategy by throwing mostly fastballs to hitters the first time and then hitting them with his secondary pitches the second time around. That’s smart pitching. The Yankees offense has been explosive. The Baltimore bull pen however is atrocious. If you’re a great offense, you make bad pitching pay and that’s what the Yankees did. The Yankee lineup is capable of starting a rally, anywhere in the line up. It’s that dangerous especially with A-Rod back and Cano hitting like he did tonight. The Yankees put the Orioles away in the eighth inning. I feel the Yankees should move Robinson Cano in fifth spot in the order to offer A-Rod protection and keep A-Rod from walking. Cano is that good. The Yankee lineup is so deep that they are going to wear down pitching staffs all year and get into opposing teams’ bull pen. You better have a good bull pen when you face the Yankees or you will be in danger. The Yankees are going to put big numbers up in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, wear down the starters, get into the bull pen and open up leads. The Yankees took the lead league in home runs during the game from Texas. The Bronx Bombers are back.
