HOME RUN HUGHES & THE YANKEES ARE LIFELESS

The lineup needs some CPR because it was lifeless. Yesterday's game was a combination of the perfect storm. Phil Hughes pitched pretty well, but not well enough. He gave up his usual home runs but he went 7 1/3 innings with 10 strikeouts also. Just imagine if the Yankees offense would have showed up. This recap would be a lot different.

It's nice to see Hughes get ahead of hitters and actually finish them off. He did that for the most part yesterday. He did make some bad pitches though that ended up giving the Minnesota Twins all of their runs. This time it is hard to blame Hughes alone, because there really was no run support and this sounds like a broken record now.

It started out looking good. The Yankees scored in the first inning when Ichiro Suzuki doubled and scored a run off of Robinson Cano. It didn't last long though because Trevor Plouffe answered with a solo shot off of Hughes in the top of the second inning.

The Yankees blew it in the fourth inning. Billy Martin wouldn't approve of the base stealing blunder but Joe Girardi said it was his fault later. If Zoilo Almonte would have stopped in the middle of the baseline and gave Vernon Wells time to get home they would have stolen a run. I guess in the long run it didn't matter because that run didn't cost them the game.

The Twins hit two more home runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Ryan Doumit hit a solo shot and Pedro Florimon hit a two run shot...and that is all it took. All runs scored on the long ball.

Hughes was Hughes again yesterday....giving up home runs. It's easy to say that this was his fault, and he needs to take part of the blame. But you don't win ballgames on one run. The Yankees had eight hits yesterday...eight! After the first inning none of those hits crossed home plate. The Yankees need to figure it out. Kevin Long needs to figure out how to help these guys make the changes.....because there needs to be a change in the second half.

Final Score: Twins 4 - Yankees 1.

--Jeana Bellezza, BYB Senior Writer and Editor
Twitter: @NyPrincessJ


 
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