ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — So now we are up to Phil Hughes to see if better conditioning and work on his changeup are going to translate into an upgraded performance from a disappointing 2011.
It falls upon Hughes to salvage something for the rotation, in specific, and the Yankees, in general, in this first series of the year. It is up to Hughes to help avoid a sweep to open 2012.
So far the worst of all Yankees starter fears have played out over the first two games at the Tropicana Dome.
A slimmed-down CC Sabathia lacked command and hop on his fastball in the opener, and Hiroki Kuroda pitched some place between tentative and afraid in his first dabble as an employee in the AL East rather than the NL West.
Yes, it is just two games. But it sure has been two discouraging games for the Yankees, particularly their starters, who combined to yield 11 runs in 11 2/3 innings. This is not exactly against what is expected to be a fearsome Tampa Bay lineup.
Heck, in the opener, Jeff Keppinger hit cleanup for the first time not just as professional, but any time in his life, he said. Then yesterday — in what became an 8-6 Rays triumph — Matt Joyce batted cleanup after hitting ninth the previous day. Naturally, Joyce homered.
These are the Rays. Manager Joe Maddon described the team “as the land of opportunity,” because a low payroll forces chances for both creativity and previously neglected players; and also motivates the organization to pray at the altar of detailed statistical analysis that could suggest the best lineup formation has Keppinger fourth.
“I’m data driven,” Maddon said. “We play matchup. We platoon a lot. We are different from a lot of teams.”
Strikingly so from the Yankees, who in a period of what they consider financial austerity still extended Sabathia to the largest per-annum contract ever for a pitcher and expanded payroll to hand Kuroda $10 million to join the band.
The Yankees believed Kuroda’s maturity and vast array of pitches would enable him to go from a pitcher’s park (Dodger Stadium) and the NL West to Yankee Stadium and the AL East. It might not be the same culture shock as going from Japan to the U.S. But is onerous enough that even Kuroda conceded the need to “make adjustments.”
Kuroda had played in the non-DH Central League in Japan. And, in his four seasons as a Dodger, Kuroda held opposing pitchers to a .129 average. Aside from a potential interleague game in an NL park, Kuroda will not have such a luxury this year. Instead, in place of a pitcher, he will have to face someone such as Luke Scott, who the Rays splurged $6 million upon. Scott went 3-for-3 against Kuroda with three RBIs.
Overall, 12 of 28 Tampa Bay batters reached safely against Kuroda, who admitted having no pitch obeying his command. Manager Joe Girardi cited that Ray hitters did not chase Kuroda’s splitter.
This is a fact of life in the AL East, as well. The culture in the division — as the long games attest — is the long at-bat. Patience matters.
“In our division and our league, pitchers have to get outs in the strike zone,” Maddon said. “If you can’t get swings and misses in the strike zone, you have no chance.”
Tampa Bay hitters went to full counts six times against a nibbling Kuroda and drew all four of their walks off him in such counts. And when Kuroda came into the zone, the Rays turned aggressive. Four of their biggest blows were on the first pitch: both of Scott’s RBI hits, Joyce’s homer and a Jose Lobaton double that led to a second-inning run.
Kuroda handed over a 6-2 deficit, Clay Rapada made it 8-2 and so a furious ninth-inning rally was not enough for the Yankees, who have scored six runs in both games yet are 0-2. Sure, Mariano Rivera blew a save in the opener, but the beginning of their problems have been the starters — Sabathia and Kuroda.
So now they turn to Hughes, slimmer in the gut and — they hope — wider in repertoire. That combination allowed him to quickly solidify a spot in what is expected to be a deep, talented rotation. Sabathia and Kuroda did not honor that expectation in their first turns of 2012.
It has not exactly been a stirring opening statement to this Yankees season.