There's a bit of panic around New York this morning because of the continuing struggles of their phenom starter Phil Hughes. He's floundered through his six April starts, culminating in a three and two-thirds innings mess against the Tigers last night that dropped his record to 0-4. The key part of that sentence may be last night. Hughes, taking a page from Troy Glaus admitted that he's having a hard time seeing at night during games at his home park.
Hughes said he has been checked several times and that he has "perfect vision." He said his troubles come from the glare of particularly strong lights at night, which he finds problematic at Yankee Stadium. He said there has been some talk in the past of outfitting him with neon glasses to counteract the glare.It's hard to know what to make of Hughes's complaints. Until last night, all of his poorest starts were on the road while his only Stadium outing, a night game, produced his only quality start of the season. Last year, his nine night starts resulted in an ERA three and a half runs lower than his day starts. At Yankee Stadium, however, he was much worse than on the road.
Thos conflicting stats and Hughes's precocity may mean that Hughes is grasping for answers about why his stuff isn't working. Be it neon glasses, a trip to Scranton or something else, the Yankees need to find the key to Hughes turning in better performances soon.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-30-2008 @ 7:29PM
Molly said...
Come on, now I have heard everything. He shakes the catchers off anyway. There is NO WAY this guy is a major league caliber talent no less the future of the Yankees.
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