Fill-in starter Sean O'Sullivan allowed two first-inning runs in the Bronx, but from there, everything favored the Angels, who knocked out 14 hits -- including a Hideki Matsui two-run homer -- to rout the Yankees.
Trish and John brought some cheap tickets online and headed to the stadium to watch Phil Hughes pitch against the Angels.
As you can see from the photos I was fascinated with the architecture.
And the sunset.
By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com
It didn't happen on Tuesday, as Hughes flopped in his first start coming out of the midsummer break. Giving back an early lead, Hughes served up a pair of two-run homers and left after five-plus innings as the Angels pounded the Yankees, 10-2, at Yankee Stadium.
Hughes' selection to the All-Star Game came via the player vote, and his peers no doubt were impressed by a surge out of the spring -- five wins in six starts, with a 1.38 ERA in the middle of May.
"You have to try to find a way to get back to that," Hughes said. "I know it's there, and I've put some good outings together. Obviously, the pressure is there, so we have to battle through this. Tonight wasn't a step in the right direction."
Since opening the season with his run of dominance, Hughes is 6-3 with a 5.51 ERA in 11 starts, and his performance has dipped a little more since the Yankees skipped his turn in the rotation in late June, mindful of an innings limit. The right-hander has struggled in three of his last four starts, allowing a total of 18 earned runs in 23 2/3 innings.
"He's trying to do too much at times and not trusting [his stuff] a little bit," said Yankees catcher Jorge Posada. "It is frustrating. He feels good and everything is healthy, so you just move forward."
Hughes is also venturing into uncharted water as a big leaguer, taking the ball as a full-time starter. His innings total (106) has already surpassed his mark from any previous season.
"It's something that we're looking at," manager Joe Girardi said. "You watch pitchers, and you look to see if they're fatigued. I don't necessarily see that I think he's fatigued, because he still has good velocity. But he has not been as sharp."
The run support Hughes has enjoyed in many of his starts this season never showed up on Tuesday. The Yankees were stymied after the first inning by Angels right-hander Sean O'Sullivan, who allowed a pair of early runs but then faced the minimum over his final five innings.
Wielding what Posada called an "outstanding changeup," O'Sullivan kept the Yankees off balance after Nick Swisher's first-inning homer -- his 17th -- and a Posada RBI groundout. The Yankees fell to 4-6 this season against pitchers they were facing for the first time.
"We had him on the ropes in the first, and he battled his way back," Swisher said. "We've got to give credit where credit is due. He went mainly changeup-slider after that, and he had our number tonight. That's the first time we've seen him, and we'll remember that for next time."
O'Sullivan completed six innings, allowing just two hits while walking three (one intentionally) and striking out four in an emergency spot start.
"I didn't know I was starting until I got here today," O'Sullivan said, having made the trip from Triple-A Salt Lake with fellow pitcher Trevor Bell, who recorded the last three outs.
A quirk of Hughes' performance came in the two homers he served up -- a two-run shot to Maicer Izturis in the fourth inning and another two-run shot to Mike Napoli in the sixth. Hughes has allowed 13 home runs this season, and all of them have come at Yankee Stadium.
"With the short porches here, it's going to happen sometimes," Hughes said. "It's going to happen on those nights when nothing is going right."
Hughes said that he wasn't affected by a first-inning Howard Kendrick grounder that struck his right calf, briefly drawing attention from head athletic trainer Gene Monahan.
But Izturis got to Hughes in the second inning for a run-scoring single, and the Angels tied the game in the third when Erick Aybar doubled and scored on a Torii Hunter hit.
"We got a lead early, and to give that up and pretty much take us out of the game was disappointing," Hughes said. "I was trying to battle back, but it just didn't work out."
Last year's World Series MVP, Hideki Matsui, was received warmly before each of his at-bats by his former fan base, with a familiar Japanese flag pinned to a fence beyond the right-field wall, where it was hung for 81 regular-season games in the Stadium's opening season.
Matsui simultaneously provided those faithful Yankees fans a memory and a reason to stream for the exits in the seventh, clubbing a two-run homer off Chan Ho Park -- his 11th of the year and second against New York since departing as a free agent.
"Hideki's been searching," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He hit an offspeed pitch, and it's good to see. It wasn't a bad pitch."
By that time, both Hughes and Girardi were watching the game from the clubhouse. Girardi was ejected in the home half of the sixth inning for arguing a call by first-base umpire Paul Emmel, who called Teixeira out on a ball that struck O'Sullivan and caromed to Izturis at third base.
It was Girardi's third ejection of the season and 11th career managerial ejection -- ninth as Yankees manager -- and while Girardi was perplexed by the thumbing, his more immediate concerns sat with Hughes.
"We'll get it ironed out," Girardi said. "He did have a long time between starts because of the break, and that can have something to do with it. His last start, he threw well in Seattle. The start where he had the long layoff, he didn't throw so great. I'm curious to see how he does in his next start."
| LA Angels | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aybar, E, SS | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .280 |
| Kendrick, H, 2B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .279 |
| Willits, CF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .247 |
| Abreu, B, RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .260 |
| Hunter, CF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .292 |
| Wood, B, 3B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .168 |
| Matsui, H, DH | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | .249 |
| Napoli, 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .261 |
| Rivera, J, LF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .255 |
| Izturis, M, 3B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .243 |
| Frandsen, 2B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .290 |
| Mathis, J, C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | .233 |
| Totals | 37 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 15 | .257 |
| NY Yankees | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeter, SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .268 |
| b-Pena, R, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .193 |
| Swisher, RF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .300 |
| Teixeira, 1B | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .251 |
| Rodriguez, A, 3B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .274 |
| Cano, 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .333 |
| Posada, C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .267 |
| a-Curtis, PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .231 |
| Granderson, CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .233 |
| Miranda, DH | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .226 |
| Gardner, LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | .302 |
| Totals | 32 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 15 | .270 |
| LA Angels | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| O'Sullivan(W, 1-0) | 6.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2.08 |
| Shields, S | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4.70 |
| Rodriguez, Fr | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3.91 |
| Bell, T | 1.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.05 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 4.40 |
| NY Yankees | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hughes, P(L, 11-3) | 5.0 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3.99 |
| Albaladejo | 1.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.40 |
| Park | 1.1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5.93 |
| Gaudin | 1.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6.81 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3.95 |
