In hockey, it is a huge deal if a player is scratched from the lineup for a game on the road in his hometown.
In baseball, apparently not so much, because when the Yankees skipped Phil Hughes in the rotation a week ago Friday in Los Angeles even though the pitcher’s home is just miles away, there were no eyebrows raised, only acknowledgement of manager Joe Girardi’s decision serving as the first execution of the plan to limit the young right-hander’s innings.
“It was unfortunate that it happened there instead of someplace else, but there’s not much I could say or do about it,” Hughes told The Post after the Yankees survived a banana-peel afternoon at the Stadium to defeat the Blue Jays 7-6 in 10 innings. “It didn’t leave me with bad feelings or anything, that’s just the way it broke.
“And I hadn’t bought tickets [for friends and family] yet.”
Hughes, however, could get the opportunity to pitch in his backyard on an even bigger stage a week from tomorrow, for he will be part of the AL All-Star team for the extravaganza in Anaheim after being voted onto the club by his peers.
“It’s really cool to be on the team and have the game in my backyard,” the 24-year-old said. “It’s really special.
“I’m excited about it.”
There’s no doubt Hughes, 10-2 with a 3.83 ERA, is worthy of the honor after the swath he cut through the league through the first week of June. But the last month, including his start yesterday, has been less successful.
Hughes is yielding home runs at an alarming rate, three more yesterday in six innings to elevate the total to seven over 23 2/3 innings in his last four starts after having yielded only four in 69 2/3 innings in his first 11 outings. Indeed, Hughes is pitching to a 6.53 ERA over his last five starts after sitting at 2.54 following his first 10.
“[The home runs have] usually been on pitches up,” Girardi said. “If they’re high-high, you can get swings and misses, but when they’re thigh-high to the belt is where you get into trouble.”
It will be trouble for the Yankees if this stretch represents more than a bump in the road for Hughes, who described yesterday’s start as “progress” from his effort on Tuesday, when he allowed seven runs (six earned) on 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings in a 7-4 loss to Seattle in which he worked on nine days’ rest.
The Yankees can’t afford it to be more than that because it’s the rotation, with Hughes as a dependable and often dominant performer, that pretty much carried the Yankees to their current 50-31 record over the season’s first half.
They have the majors’ best record, even though Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Jorge Posada have all had sub-par seasons so far, Curtis Granderson has been MIA at the plate and the bullpen has been a hit-and-miss proposition (with more hits than misses against Chan Ho Park).
“I feel we can play better; I do,” Girardi said. “I don’t think we’ve hit on all cylinders.
“The starting pitching has really influenced our record. I think we can pitch better out of the bullpen and hit more. But we’re 50-31 and have the best record in baseball.”
Cream rises to the top, water seeks its own level, spilled oil flows into marshlands and ballplayers generally reach the numbers on the back of their Topps cards. But players have off-years, too.
And if so many of the Yankees’ prominent bats are inconsistent to the end, the very last thing the club can afford is for the rotation to spin off its axis in this three-team game of musical chairs with the Red Sox and Rays for two playoff spots.
This is why Hughes is so important. This is why Hughes must return to his early form, even as he returns home to Southern California as an All-Star.
This time, he can buy tickets in advance.
