It’s hard to understand why Phil Hughes threw Vladimir Guerrero that 1-2 fastball after the Angels slugger had just swung and missed so miserably at the curve. Guerrero still didn’t miss as badly as Dave Eiland says everybody is missing the point, however.
“People want to second guess pitch selection,” the Yankees pitching coach said yesterday, a day after the Yankees’ 7-6 loss to the Angels in Game 5 of the ALCS. Game 6 is scheduled for tonight. “It’s location of the pitch. He’s throwing pitches he wants to throw, just has to execute.”
The least patient of Yankees fans already wants the date set and all appeals exhausted, while Hughes, the wunderkind who gave the Yankees dominant setup pitching this year, struggles during the postseason.
After retiring his first two batters in Game 2 against the Twins, a walk to Carlos Gomez and singles by Brendan Harris and Nick Punto put Minnesota ahead 3-1 and forced Alex Rodriguez to untie Hughes from the railroad track just before the train arrived.
After two initial scoreless appearances in the ALCS, Hughes could not ride to the Game 5 rescue of either A.J. Burnett, who started the seventh inning against some logic, or manager Joe Girardi, who subsequently had to bring in Hughes with two on and nobody out.
A walk to Torii Hunter, then the debatable 1-2 pitch to Guerrero that ended up on the ground in center field to tie the game, was followed by Kendry Morales’s game-winning smash past Mark Teixeira. Hughes subsequently got the last out, but two batters too late.
“If you look at the 12 or 13 pitches he threw, the one mistake he made was a ground ball that finds a way to the outfield,” Jorge Posada said. “Of all the positive things that he did, I don’t think we can really look into that. It’s going to happen. It happened during the regular season.”
It didn’t happen much in the regular season, when Hughes held hitters to a .217 average. His postseason average is .391, and with Joba Chamberlain, who has given up five hits over an accumulated inning, surrendering hits at a .714 pace, the Yankees bullpen has lost two games in the ALCS, something not supposed to happen.
Hughes was not at the Yankee Stadium workout yesterday to defend his pitch selection, so his manager did.
“Location,” said Girardi, who earlier had described Hughes’ confidence as very high. “He got to some good counts and wasn’t able to put the hitter away. He made some mistakes in the zone. This time of year, outs are tough to come by. Hitters put great at-bats on you. There’s a reason teams are in the playoffs.”
The eighth inning is big reason why teams win and lose in the playoffs. Hughes has up to two games left in this series, perhaps seven in the next, to demonstrate his confidence hasn’t taken the hit it appears to have. Eiland suggested the larger the moment, the more challenged the mechanics can become. “Just staying within yourself, not trying to make the good stuff you have even better,” Eiland said. “When you do that, you get a little quick with your delivery and it affects your command. That’s what’s happening. It’s a minor adjustment, and he knows it.”