Hughes Looks Good

Phil Hughes looked good in his first live batting practice session of the spring according to the LoHud Yankees blog. Pete Abe rights about Hughes:
Hughes was, in a word, terrific. He made Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu and Francisco Cervelli look foolish at times. He got Abreu to swing and miss at a curveball and had Damon fouling balls off the other way, a sign of how late his swing was. Jeter only swung at 3 of the 10 pitches he saw and fouled all of them off.

Now, keep in mind, the hitters have been facing live pitching for four days and Hughes started throwing off a mound in Tampa in mid January. But what was encouraging is the confidence with which Hughes threw his curveball.

That was the pitch he was throwing when he blew out his hamstring in Texas last May. For Hughes to throw the curve the way he wants, he has to follow through with his body and “snap” the pitch off. Without confidence that your legs will hold up, it’s a hard pitch to throw.
As he said later on, he never had his true curveball last year after the injury. Now it’s back.

Hughes is working out with Pettitte six days a week and has dropped 10 pounds since last season. You can never say never, but all the work he has done should help him avoid leg injuries.

I know it’s Feb. 25. But if you’re a Yankees fan you should be just as excited about Hughes as you are Joba Chamberlain. Phil Franchise is the real deal.

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A few notes:
The AP reports that Cashman and Hank Steinbrenner will talk about an extension at some point this season ... In addition, Hank brought up several topics in a lunchtime interview ... Also in the report, Mo will be on his own schedule regarding throwing in the spring, Girardi said "He won't work in the first couple of games, we'll get him going, but there's no rush like it's been every spring. We know what Mo is going to give us." ... In this post by Pete Abe, in the coments section, from a fan who must have been there, said the Girardi played long toss with Pavano ... Yahoo Sports Jeff Passan had this story on Kyle Kenderick of Philadelphia who was punked in the first wee of spring training ... Yankees.com had a story on Posada.