After twice surrendering the lead yesterday in what emerged as his fourth straight winless start, Yankees right-hander Phil Hughes is welcoming a road trip to his native California where he can exhale, relax and clear his mind.
And then hopefully make his next start as a Yankee.
“I surely hope so,” Hughes said. “That’s my plan.”
With free agency beckoning this off-season — and the non-waiver trade deadline looming Wednesday — Hughes’ future with the Yankees is uncertain. He could be like the majority of folks and sit and fret. Or he can take that California approach and simply go with the flow.
“Things not in my control, I don’t concern myself with. As far as I’m concerned, I’m here to help us win,” said Hughes, who pitched four-plus innings, surrendering nine hits and five runs, twice being victimized for homers by Rays rookie Wil Myers.
“I’ll be going home, have an off-day at home, which is good, kind of relax, take my mind off things for a while. I don’t really think about the deadline or anything like that. It’s out of my control. I just have to worry about what I’m going to do five days from now or six days from now.”
When he hopes he still will have the interlocking NY on his hat.
The Yankees gave Hughes a 3-0 lead in the first. After surrendering a second-inning run, Hughes was touched by Myers for a three-run bomb in the third. Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run homer to put the Yankees back ahead, 5-4, but Myers took Hughes the other way in the fifth to make it 5-5. One walk later, Hughes exited. He wound up with a no-decision in the 6-5 Yankees victory, but his ERA rose to 4.58.
“The big blow was the three-run homer on a slider I left out over the plate,” Hughes said. “The solo homer was a first-pitch fastball. I don’t second-guess that one that much. It’s disappointing to have a lead and give it away twice.
“I thought overall, I located decently today other than obviously the two balls that didn’t come back. Mechanically, I was in and out of sync. The couple I missed on hurt pretty bad. I felt pretty good in the first inning, but after that, I left balls up in the zone.”