Yanks' Hughes takes hill vs. Herd

Hey, didn't you used to be Phil Hughes? As in Yankee pitching prospect we-wont-trade-for-Johan-Santana Phil Hughes?

Now Hughes, one of the guys who was supposed to be saving the rotation in New York this season, is back in Scranton trying to come back from a rib injury and doing a pretty poor job of it. He's the starter tonight for the Yankees against the woebegone Buffalo Bisons and a game against the Herd might be what Hughes needs.

Hughes is 0-0 with an 8.47 ERA in his four starts for Scranton. In his last two, both against Lehigh Valley, he emerged with a pair of no-decisions even though he gave up 13 earned runs and 18 hits in a combined seven innings. Wow. Left-handers are hitting .436 against him in the four games while righties are at .206.

With Victor Martinez and Josh Barfield in the lineup on rehab, the Bisons have a big left-handed bat on the bench in Jordan Brown. And the Herd needs all the help it can get as it's dropped four straight -- and has scored in just three of the 36 innings in those games. Tonight's game is on TWC 13 and I'll have another thread for updates on Martinez and the Yankee connections.

Here are tonight's lineups:

Scranton-WB                         Buffalo

Justin Christian, lf                Trevor Crowe, rf

Melky Cabrera, cf                  Josh Barfield, 2b

Juan Miranda, 1b                  Victor Martinez, dh

Shelley Duncan, dh              Michael Aubrey, 1b

Ben Broussard, rf                  Tony Graffanino, 3b

Nick Green, ss                      Chris Gimenez, c

Eric Duncan, 3b                     Brad Snyder, cf

Chad Moeller, c                     Jorge Velandia, ss

Bernie Castro, 2b                  Jason Cooper, lf

SP: Phil Hughes (0-0, 8.47)    SP: Bryan Bullington (5-8, 5.24)

---Mike Harrington

(Photo: Associated Press)