MLB

HUGHES LOSS

BALTIMORE – When Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner disagreed with Hank Steinbrenner about not including Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy in a package for the Twins’ Johan Santana, they understood the neophyte right-handers would have stretches of inconsistency.

A product of those struggles would be the Sky Is Falling Mentality that surrounds the Yankees, who have spoiled so many for so long. However, the hardest thing to do in baseball is develop young pitching while still being expected to win.

Welcome to the Yankees’ dilemma. They want Hughes and Kennedy, two-thirds of Generation Trey, to cut their teeth in the big leagues while knowing Yankee fans don’t want to hear about patience.

Most in the organization firmly believe Hughes and Kennedy will be successful major-league pitchers. Yet the question is: When? And how long can the Yankees afford to wait?

When Hughes took the mound last night at Camden Yards against the Orioles, he was coming off two dreadful outings in which he lasted a total of five innings, gave up a dozen hits and allowed nine earned runs.

Compared to those ugly numbers, Hughes’ performance in an 8-2 loss that was witnessed by 40,653 was an improvement. However, moral victories vanished from the Yankee universe the moment George Steinbrenner took over the team.

Yet that’s what it sounded like listening to manager Joe Girardi and Hughes after the Yankees’ record dipped to 9-9.

“It was a much better start,” Girardi said of the 51/3-inning stint in which Hughes allowed five runs and nine hits and fell to 0-3 with an 8.82 ERA. “He worked better ahead in the count. It’s a lot better than it has been.”

But still not good enough for a victory.

After five solid innings, Hughes allowed hits to four of the first five hitters in the sixth and was replaced by La Troy Hawkins, who allowed the two runners he inherited to score. Edwar Ramirez, called up earlier in the day, allowed the one runner he absorbed to score, and the Orioles had a seven-run frame that put the game away.

“My fastball was a lot better,” Hughes said. “Command-wise and velocity-wise, it was fine. We want to win games, but I think it’s good that I pitched better. I commanded the fastball and was in better counts.

“[Pitching coach] Dave [Eiland] told me, ‘You do that every time, you are going to win a lot of games.”

Maybe. Hughes, 21, has a lot of learning to do. Just like Kennedy, tonight’s starter.

Yet if they pitch on nights when the offense goes into sleep mode, it won’t make a difference. After showing signs of life against Tampa Bay and the Red Sox, the Yankees managed two runs and six hits off Daniel Cabrera (1-0) across six-plus innings.

“When he was younger he just threw,” Derek Jeter, who went 1-for-5, said of Cabrera. “Now he has a two-seamer and a sinker. You can’t take anything away from him. The only time he gets in trouble is when he struggles with his command. Tonight he didn’t struggle with his command.”

george.king@nypost.com