The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins by a score of 5-4 on a walk off single by Melky Cabrera. Wow, what excitement. This game had it all. It had an inside the park home run, it had a walk off single. It was just great to watch. It was the young guys that came through and helped the Yankees win, Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner. The atmosphere in the stadium changed after Gardner hit the inside the park home run and it lifted the Yankees’ spirit. The Twins walked Robinson Cano to get to Melky and he made them pay to end the game. The Yankees still had problems through out the game however especially when it came to hitting with men in scoring position. They had 20 base runners and scored five runs. I was a little surprised at how the Yankees let Francisco Loriano off the hook because he had no control. Phil Hughes hung in there and usually had games like this blow up in his face but by him getting out of a lot of jams tonight, it lead to a high pitch count. He made the pitches when he had to but his command was not there. He didn’t have good command of his breaking ball and after he threw a breaking ball to Justin Morneau in which Morneau hit a home run, he stopped throwing it well and he didn’t throw it with conviction. He doesn’t have a change up to left handed batters and he needs to develop one to get them out. He only threw first pitch strikes to 12 out of 24 batters. Tonight Phil Hughes had a terrible ball to strike ratio. He had great velocity on his 4-Seam Fastball that reached 92 to 94 mph but he had a hard time locating it which resulted in four walks in five innings. His curveball had a 13″ to 15″ break on it and he threw that pitch for a lot of balls as well. He wasn’t able to get his knuckle curve over for a strike consistently. Phil Hughes is going to have to make adjustments as a pitcher. Through the first time through the lineup in his career, hitters are batting .225 off of him. The second time through the lineup, hitters bat .313 off of him. He has to learn to be a better pitcher. He has to mix it up and give batters different looks. It would be better if he was to save his curveball until the third time through the order especially if it’s a big at bat. It’s a good way to get batters out. You can’t use all of your pitches in the start of the game. You have to save some of them for later. On the major league level, there is no one way to get guys out. He’s going to have to throw his curveball when he’s behind in the count and pitch backwards sometimes. However, with two outs and runners in scoring position, opposing hitters are only batting .192 off of Hughes through out his career. That shows mental toughness and a grind it out mentality but like I said, it also leads to a high pitch count. Sure, Phil Coke gave up a home run but he is fearless. He attacks the strike zone and doesn’t walk guys and fall behind in counts. For the rest of Yankee relievers, it has been the complete opposite. They walk guys and get deep into counts. Phil Coke doesn’t do that and that’s why Girardi trusts him so much. Oh yes, and let me say it again, the Yankees won.
