M. Kay, I was fully prepared to blog my disgust at what was a terrible effort for the Bombers this past weekend. However, I am now hopeful with the re-emergence of Phil Hughes last night.
For those of you who missed it, the young Mr. Hughes demonstrated an arsenal that he was not thought to have possessed previously. He actually has a cutter now, and a pitch that has been called "Uncle Charlie". It is a dirty pitch, with lots of movement. Probably a lot like your Uncle Charlie. He had command of his pitches, and I couldn't recall being this excited about one of his outings since I watched his body all of a sudden break down during his no-hitter.
So, can we finally put a stop to this crazy Joba as a starter experiment yet? I love Mariano, but we and the front office need to recognize that this is not the same "seven pitches and thank you very much you can all go home" Mariano. He is probably the best closer I will see in my lifetime, but we need to start thinking about the future. Let's put Joba back in the middle relief spot. Based on the events of this past Friday night, let's even see how Joba would do in that closers role against the Sox. Mariano has become to the Sox what Byung-Hyun Kim once was to the Yanks. I hate that.
