YOUNG GUNS
CLEVELAND – Last night at Jacobs Field, the Yankees’ pitching future was so bright you had to wear shades. And the glaring present still penetrated the lenses.
Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain, a pair of 21-year-old right-handers, were asked to take on the AL Central-leading Indians and help the Yankees get their most important stretch of the season going in the right direction.
Not only did the neophytes respond, they dominated the Tribe, pitching the Yankees to a 6-1 victory that was witnessed by a sold-out crowd of 41,675.
“Age is just a number,” said Chamberlain. “But they have confidence we can do it.”
Chamberlain faced six batters in the seventh and eighth and retired them all. He fanned four and whiffed the side in the eighth, featuring a filthy slider that was clocked at 88 mph and a fastball that reached 99.
In his fourth major league start and second since coming off the disabled list, Hughes was decidedly better than last Saturday, when he was inconsistent against the Royals. Thanks to moving toward the middle of the pitching rubber from the right side and tightening up his body more while in the stretch, Hughes (2-1) limited the Indians to one run and four hits in six innings. He walked one, fanned six, and proved he is more than a thrower by listening to the scouting report that the Indians handled fastballs. Consequently, he went to the curveball more often early in the game.
“It’s exciting,” Andy Pettitte said of watching Hughes and Chamberlain (with Mariano Rivera handling the ninth inning) pitch the Yankees to their ninth victory in 11 games. “I was very impressed. Phil’s command was much better tonight than the other day.”
The victory, combined with the Red Sox’s loss, pushed the Yankees to within five games of the AL East leaders. And because the Mariners also lost, the Yankees (64-51; .557) moved into a tie with Seattle (63-50; .556) for the wild card lead.
Hughes and Chamberlain certainly have impressed with their stuff, but their emotional makeup has opened eyes, too.
“They don’t handle themselves like youngsters,” said Derek Jeter, who had three hits and scored a run. “They have been very poised and outstanding so far.”
No one knows what’s in store for the pitchers, whose combined age is three years short of Roger Clemens. But to do what they did in the middle of a pennant race against a division leader on the road doesn’t happen very often.
“It’s a good feeling, the young guys contributing, especially for this team because it hasn’t happened in a while,” said Hughes, whose only mistake was allowing a homer to Josh Barfield in the fifth.
Alex Rodriguez homered (his 37th of the season and 501st of his career) leading off the second and Jose Molina plated a run with a ground out against Fausto Carmona (13-7), the Indians starter lost his third straight. Bobby Abreu drove in a run with an out in the third and Jeter added an RBI single in the fifth. Abreu’s triple and Matsui’s ground out drove in two runs in the eighth against Aaron Fultz.
Hughes, the Yankees’ first-round pick in 2004, didn’t put much stock in the Indians spanking him in spring training. It would have been the same had he dominated them.
“Spring training is spring training,” he said.
And pennant races are pennant races. Places not normally reserved for a pair of 21-year-old pitchers in pinstripes.
“Pressure is what you make of it,” said Chamberlain, the 41st pick in last year’s draft. “I want to keep the team in the game and get it to Mo [Rivera].”
