The Yankees’ 8-3 loss to the Rays Wednesday night at the Stadium officially ended their slim playoff hopes, and likely Phil Hughes’ Bomber career as well.
For anybody wondering precisely the worst possible way for a player to head into free agency, this season — and this game — was it.
Hughes likely ended his stay in pinstripes on the wrong side of a lopsided loss to Tampa Bay, lasting just two-plus innings in a microcosm of this lost season.
“It’s been a long season, it’s been rough,” said Hughes. “Hopefully there are things to learn from it. I’ll think about that later.
“For me personally to have the year I did it was extremely tough to go through that. … A lot of good times, a lot of bad times, I guess. That’s the only way to put it.”
This season was mostly bad times for Hughes, and it ended ignominiously. With the Yankees needing to win to stave off elimination, Hughes allowed seven hits and three earned runs.
Manager Joe Girardi had a quick hook, pulling him after just 51 pitches with the bases loaded and nobody out in the third.
“Hopefully for Phil he takes something from this year and finds a way to get back on track,’’ Girardi said. “He’s had some good times and some rough times. He’s a guy that had a couple big years as a starter, had a big year out of the bullpen, but struggled this year. This year’s been a struggle for him. From a personal standpoint if you’re going to pick a year to struggle as a player, this is not the year to do it.’’
Clearly. Hughes finished 4-14 with a 5.19 ERA.
“You never know what the future holds,” said Hughes, 27. “It’s just a tough way to end this year not making the postseason. [2008] was the last time we did that. It was tough then and it’s tough now.
“I haven’t thought about it yet. We still have some games to play, and obviously from there it’ll be a long winter, longer than I’m used to being here. There will be time for that.”
After Hughes shared the team lead with 13 wins last year, he never got on track this season, his spot in the rotation was temporarily lost and his confidence waned.
“It’s difficult when things snowball the way they did, bad start after bad start,” he said. “Sure you start doubting yourself at times and that’s tough to bounce back from. Getting taken out of the rotation, certainly you question your ability at times.
“This game can humble you really, really quick. That’s something that was hard to bounce back from.’’