Liveblog 2: It's Been Ugly

Since the loss to Boston I blogged, the Yankees lost five more of their next six games. That's eight out of nine, and they're looking pretty horrible. The starters are still not going deep. That's overworking the bullpen, and along with Joe Torre's awful management, that's kept them ineffective. Even the offense has slacked off of late. Alex Rodriguez cooled off before he could set the April home run record (he only tied it), and Bobby Abreu isn't swinging well, and now he's compounding the problem by trying to bunt too much. Don't bunt Bobby, it's bad. Statistically, it almost always hurts your team, and the only time it's ever acceptable is to get a runner over to third with one out and you only need one run. Otherwise, just try for a hit, you'll get out of your funk sooner.

Phil Hughes, the Yankees' young blue chip prospect, is making his second big league start tonight. He wasn't great his first time out, giving up two runs in the first and another two before getting out of the fifth. But in between, he showed off his stuff and was dominating for three innings, and he totaled five strikeouts, so he gave me a lot of hope for the future. The Hardball Times had an article today that has me a little worried about his mechanics, but it could have just been an off night. Hopefully tonight he can keep Texas' lineup at bay and get things going in the right direction for his team.

Top 1 - Bobby Murcer is back in the booth announcing, which is good to see. Michael Kay isn't there either, so very enjoyable commentary situation. Kameron Loe is starting for the Rangers, and his name looks like it belongs to a Jedi or something. Abreu is batting first. And he actually squared to bunt with no one on base. Who replaced Bobby with an evil doppelganger? Questionable called second strike. He takes a couple balls before chopping out. Jeter is up, and he's had a hit in 56 of his last 58 games. What does this mean? Nothing. After DiMaggio's streak was broken, he had another right after that lasted into the teens. He grounds out. Giambi draws a walk, as he is wont to do. Rodriguez grounds out, and the inning is over.

Bottom 1 - And here's Phil. He leads off Kenny Lofton, playing for his 38th team, with two called strikes, but then walks him on the next four pitches. Michael Young takes a couple strikes before grounding into a double play. He strikes out Teixeira on three straight nice change ups, and Mark had no idea what was going on.

Top 2 - Matsui leads off the inning. Apparently the only reason a hitter slumps is from "pulling off" the ball, because that's how they're explaining why no one is hitting. Matsui flies out while the cameras are watching the dugout. Posada gets the game's first hit with a single the other way. Cano lines another single and Brad Wilkerson misses the ball, letting the runners advance to second and third. Melky grounds to the right side to drive in Posada, 1-0 Yanks. Loe is nibbling against Doug Mientkiewicz, who he's apparently mistaken for a good hitter, and the count is full. Minty Fresh grounds to Young, who bobbles it, and Cano scores the second run. A lot of people think Young is underrated, because he's a very good hitter that doesn't get a ton of attention, but he's actually a bit overrated because his putrid defense brings him way down. Abreu flies to left to end the inning.

Bottom 2 - Hughes faces his first major league batter with a lead, and strikes him out with his sick curve. Ken Singleton doesn't know what he's taking about. He called a change up a fastball and a curve a change up. Hughes walks Blalock, and he's looking a little wild, bouncing some curves and missing some spots. Ian Kinsler, who is apparently the Rangers' best hitter so far, grounds into another double play on the first pitch, inning over. 6 batters, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, 2 GIDP, 24 pitches.

Top 3 - Jeter lines the first pitch up the middle for a single, 57 in 59. After getting Giambi 0-2, Loe hits him. That's gotta annoy a pitcher. A-Rod grounds a single through the left, and the bases are loaded with no outs. Matsui grounds into a fielder's choice, but avoids the double play and gets the run in. Acceptable. Posada smacks his second hit, somehow for a double, and the Yankees lead 4-0. In the next few years, Posada could build a serious argument for Hall of Fame consideration. He's always been one of the best hitting catchers in the league, and last year he made strides forward defensively. If he can maintain this level for some time without the usual dramatic drop-off a lot of catchers face in their mid-thirties, he deserves at least a good look. Cano lines a double just inside the line and drives in two more runs. Cabrera strikes out, bringing up Mientkiewicz. This is the second time Loe went 3-1 against him, and I don't know why. A couple pitches later Doug grounds out to first, and the inning's over.

Bottom 3 - With a good lead, hopefully Hughes can just work on his pitches and get outs without worrying too much about the score, and hopefully Joe lets him stay out there for a bit. He makes Wilkerson look like a fool staring at a third pitch strike fastball right down the plate. I like that confidence. Cruz (Cruz?) hits it back at him for the second out. Laird (Laird?) grounds out to Jeter on the first pitch, and I am ecstatic about this start.

Top 4 - Notice how Loe is still pitching? It's because his manager is aware that he might as well just get innings out of his ineffective starter while the other guy is dealing, so he doesn't waste his bullpen. Joe Torre is terrible. Abreu singles to right. What is Abreu doing stealing (actually, getting caught stealing) with a six run lead? He's a good hitter playing small ball, and it makes no sense. Jeter strikes out. Giambi flies out to deep left center, and that's it.

Bottom 4 - Second time through the lineup. Two quick strikes to Lofton, but Hughes waits until the fifth pitch to get him to ground out. One pitch later, there's another ground out. Teixeira makes the third ground out of the inning. No ball has left the infield.

Top 5 - Rodriguez doubles down the left field line. He's 1st in slugging and 5th in average, but only 9th in OBP. No one is walking him, which I find odd. Matsui hits one that eats up Teixeira and it's 7-0. Posada hits the third double in the inning, and Loe's gotta be coming out soon. And here it is, Ron Mahay's coming in. Cano just misses a home run on the second pitch. He settles for a dunked single into center, and the Yanks have scored nine runs. Cabrera walks, and I wonder to myself what it must be like to be a fan of a team at their stadium while they're getting destroyed. I was at a Yankee game once in Toronto while they were ripping the Blue Jays' bullpen apart, but I was in a section with all Yankee fans so it was kind of like a home game without triumphant music. Mientkiewicz just misses a homer himself, but has to settle for a pop out. Abreu grounds into a double play to end the inning.

Bottom 5 - There's the sixth straight ground out by the Rangers. I can't tell if Hughes is magnificent or they're terrible. Blalock makes the first fly out of the game to left field. He runs Kinsler to 3-0 on what I'm calling at least the third time tonight Hughes has been squeezed. He throws a few more pitches before walking him, and I wish he had just walked him on the fourth, since he's on a strict pitch count. He's thrown ten balls this inning, and I wonder if he's been babied too much on pitch counts in the minors. Wilkerson strikes out, and I am in love with Phil Hughes. K:BB isn't great but he's still been economical and the Rangers can't figure him out.

Top 6 - Jeter leads off with a walk. Giambi flies out again. This is the first time I've seen the Gameday for a Yankee game include the pitch speeds and breaks and stuff. I don't get it. A-Rod draws the second walk of the inning. I don't know if I've ever seen a hitter ground into a double play situation but beat it out more frequently than Matsui. He just did it again. Posada draws the third walk of the inning. If I understand the pattern here, Cano will get out in some fashion. And he does, with a strikeout, making it a fancier pattern. Mahay walked three right handers and retired three left handers.

Bottom 6 - Cruz flies out to Cabrera in center. Laird strikes out. I've never seen a pitcher do this well with such a small strike zone. Simply dominating. Lofton strikes out, the sixth by Hughes in the game. The Phil Hughes era is here and it's magnificent.

Top 7 - Melky harmlessly grounds out. Mientkiewicz smacks the team's 12th hit of the game. Abreu strikes out, and he doesn't look great lately. Cruz is wall shy and misses catching a foul ball from Jeter, who strikes out to end the inning.

Bottom 7 - I don't understand how those two pitches are balls, but okay. Young skies it to center for the first out. And this is awful. Hughes tweaked his hamstring on an 0-2 pitch to Teixieira and he gets taken out of the game. He had a no-hitter going. I was concerned he was going to be pulled for pitch-count reasons, but this is 100 times worse. Not only is the dream over, but he could end up with a real injury too. Now that it's over, I can vent about annoying media people. There's a superstition that talking about a pitcher throwing a no-hitter or a perfect game can jinx them, and be the cause if it gets broken up. This is silly of course, what we say has no effect on what happens on the field. But still, it's more fun and adds excitement to avoid mentioning it while we all know it's happening, but news sources can't help themselves but shout about it from the rooftops. The Yankees announcers tonight mentioned it every five minutes from about the fourth inning on, it was a headline on mlb.com, and Baseball Tonight talked about it freely. Do these people not know about this rule? Just play along. Mike Myers comes to pitch in relief and finishes the inning with two outs.

Top 8 - The tension is pretty much gone, this has gone from a flirt with destiny to a normal blowout. The Yankees as a team could still no-hit the Rangers, which would be the second time it happened to them this season (Mark Buehrle did it while facing the minimum with only one walk). This might partially explain why only two Rangers have batting averages over .250. If they did it, it would be impressive, but not completely amazing. Giambi flies out for the third time. It seems like he's just missing. A-Rod gets a hit, and I am unimpressed, as this Rangers pitching staff seems very keen on giving up hits. Interesting, tonight the Yankees have 13 hits, 9 runs, no homers. Matsui flies out. Posada gets out for the first time, inning over. I want my Phil Hughes back.

Bottom 8 - Blalock breaks up the no-hitter. Apparently, the trainer was saying Hughes' hamstring "popped". What if this injury is enough to change his delivery, or make him less effective as a pitcher? We could be getting robbed of something amazing here. Devastating. Myers loses the shutout on the next hitter, 9-1. Hairston grounds into a nicely done double play. This was supposed to be a momentum changing, season-saving win, and now Phil Hughes is never going to pitch again. I'm going to die. Another ground out, inning over.

Top 9 - What's the point of finishing this game? Cancel the season. The Yankees are doomed forever. Cano doubles. Good job, Robinson. Cabrera moves him to third. Good job, Melky. Can any of you guys magically make Phil's hamstring problem go away? I would just love it. Blalock makes his team's third error and another run scores. Abreu lines out to short. Jeter walks. That seemed like it took a while. I'm not paying too much attention, I'm trying to find any tangible info on Phil's condition. Mientkiewicz and Jeter move up on a wild pitch to Josh Phelps, pinch hitting our DH for some reason. He strikes out.

Bottom 9 - A bit of a silver lining on the injury, if we can assume he's out for a bit (or maybe longer than a bit) and can come back the same pitcher, it will mean he'll have more innings left in him for the rest of the season, so we don't have to worry too much about overusing him. Of course, as long as he's injured, he can't actually pitch in that time to stay on the right track, so I don't really know what's going to happen. I still feel awful. Vizcaino is pitching, because Torre doesn't know what he's doing. He gets someone out. I just want this to be over so we can find out the details. There's a second out. Ken Singleton calls it a break out night for the Yankees. Yeah, the offense was great. But we potentially just had a very bad injury. Shut up, man. There's your third out, game over. Hughes gets his first win and first hamstring problem. But it's like the Yankees' 49th this year.

Wrap-up - Kim Jones asks Posada how badly they needed a game like this. I know what she meant, but they needed this specific game like they needed a second asshole. Still waiting for real information. He's going on the DL, no question, so what I'm wondering is who's pitching in his stead. Matt DeSalvo has been great in AAA this year, so he seems likely. I hope they don't go back to Rasner, he's fine if you have four good pitchers, but at this point the Yankees have maybe two.

Hughes is the Chevy Player of the Game. I'm surprised they even asked the fans to vote on it. Boston lost late after Papelbon blew his first save of the year, so that's pretty good news. Thank God today's the first of May, or else his amazing April streak would be over. The Postgame show is wasting my time with a recap instead of getting to the injury. I just watched the game, you dicks, tell me what I want to know. I will kill time by writing some more. Andy Pettitte starts tomorrow, that should be a win. Mike Mussina comes back the day after, I hope he can be effective. Who knows when Pavano is coming back. I felt reasonably okay with a rotation of Wang, Petttitte, Mussina, Hughes, Igawa, but now that Hughes is a big question mark. I wonder who will make it back first, Hughes or Pavano. I'm going to go with Pavano, which depresses me.

Oh my God, YES. Stop stalling. Stop talking about the game. Find someone who knows something, and ask them how serious the problem looks. I'd like to know so I can move on and do something else tonight.

I can't believe how great he looked tonight before he left. It was his second start against big league hitters. He's not even 21 yet. He cut through the Rangers like a knife through butter. Did they not scout him at all? The Blue Jays hit him, and he faced their AAA team in his last game, so they probably had some good info. They had to know something about him, right? They were swinging a lot at the first pitch and when they were ahead in the count, and they kind of resembled a minor league lineup.

Twenty minutes into the Postgame and still nothing. Okay. Apparently, it's not horrible. Joe says Hughes said something similar happened in high school. He's going to be out, but I feel pretty sure he'll be back and dealing in time. I'm gonna do something else now before I develop an ulcer.