Do you want the bad news or the worse news?
Do you want to hear that Phil Hughes lacked velocity or that he compounded it by being unable to locate?
Or do you want the really, really, really troubling news? That this has been going on for weeks. That pitching coach Larry Rothschild and Hughes already have tried a bunch of remedies throughout spring training and — as of this moment — have unearthed neither a reason why the righty has lost fastball life nor a way to solve the deficiency.
Hughes thinks his arm swing is too long. Rothschild says that maybe more long tossing will provide a solution. Joe Girardi talks still about Hughes needing to build arm strength when we just finished that little thing called spring training which — above all else — is stretched to six weeks so pitchers can build arm strength.
“It’s a little disconcerting, right now,” Hughes said.
Of course it is because of the really, really, really troubling news: Hughes is not a fifth starter anymore, like at this time last year. Yes, A.J. Burnett pitched in the second slot, but in a sodium- pentothal moments Yankees offi cials would reveal it is Hughes they imagine falling in as the No. 2 man behind CC Saba thia.
Instead, Hughes has emerged as the early No. 1 rotation head ache, wresting the crown from the reigning champ: Bur nett.
“This is going to be a concern until you see [velocity],” Rothschild said. “When you get going and start to see velocity, you can relax a little.”
Suffice it to say, this is no relaxation moment for the Yankees. Hughes was terrible yesterday in a 10-7 Tigers victory; running scared from a fastball he rightfully had no faith in.
He threw 40 fastballs in all — and never got a swing and miss on a single one. He hit 91 mph five times in the first inning, and then never again. He pitched mainly at 87-89 and admitted he does not locate well enough to excel at that speed. Translation: He is going to pay for more mistakes at that speed than at 91-94 mph.
For example, he thought he had gotten inside enough with a fastball to Miguel Cabrera in the third inning. At 93 mph, maybe. But at 88, Cabrera was able to get to the pitch for his second two-run homer off Hughes in this game.
And, of course, as he realized the lifeless quality of the ball coming out of his hand, he tried to “grunt” and manufacture speed, leading to even less control. Eventually he all but abandoned trying to muster a fastball. He threw 12 in each of the first, second and third innings, and just four in the fourth; his final frame in a five-run stinker in which he did not get a swing and miss until his 64th pitch and produced just two (both on cutters) in 90 pitches altogether.
“I hope in the next two or three starts it [the velocity] comes around and it is not a story,” Hughes said.
But that means the story already has changed. Because Hughes and Yankee officials kept saying the fastball would be there when the season began in response to multiple scouts wondering where Hughes’ fastball was in spring. The Yankees said Hughes had the same issue last spring and that it did not manifest in the regular season. As late as this March 23, Hughes said: “if the fastball is 89-91 [mph] when we start [the season] I will be concerned.” Earlier this week, he offered that adrenaline would jolt his fastball.
However, there was no defibrillator moment. In his first start last year, Hughes averaged 92-93 mph with his fastball and got seven swings and misses on the heat. But that was on April 15 as he was the No. 5 starter and got in some extra work in Tampa even after the season had begun.
So maybe this is just about more time. Hughes insists he is not hurt, that he does not feel the burden of being a more important component in 2011 than 2010, that he does not feel his heaviest workload ever last season has deflated life on his pitches.
“It is tough for me to pitch at this velocity,” Hughes said, “so I have to turn it around.”
Considering his importance to this team, Hughes has to find that speed — and fast.