Phil Hughes does what he's supposed to...

(Extreme hat-tip to Mike Ashmore, who live-tweeted and posted video from each Phil Hughes at-bat.)

So Phil Hughes took the hitters from the NH Fisher Cats to school....6.1 IP, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8K in 88 pitches.  He sat low-90's for the whole start and was touching mid-90's.  He attacked the plate and got a bunch of quick outs, keeping the Blue Jays' AA affiliate at bay for the majority of the game.

By my reckoning Hughes looked much better on the mound than he did to begin the year.  He appeared much looser on the mound and a helluva lot more relaxed.  At the start of this year it looked like Hughes didn't have the confidence in his fastball (borne out by his DL stint and rehab) and he could not pitch around that.

(No, I'm not saying Hughes should try to pitch through injury...simply pointing out that his secondary stuff wasn't terribly sharp either.)

Anyway, this start looked much better than any start he made in the majors this season.  He's got that swagger back...like he knows he's getting you out.

He'll likely have one more rehab start to bulk up his workload - I imagine that'll be in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and will occur on July 4th.  Assuming all goes well, the Yankees have a pretty easy decision to make either just before or just after the All-Star break.  It looks like Hughes could start just before the All-Star break on July 9th against Tampa Bay to keep him on rotation, but that projects to be Burnett's regular turn (and he's not pitching terribly).  More likely I see Hughes staying in Scranton until after the MLB break, with Brian Gordon getting one more start with the Yankees before the break before they are forced to make a roster move.

I'm hoping Gordon will accept an assignment to Scranton.  He'd be wonderful to have as depth in the minors in case Garcia falters or Colon doesn't come back right away.  Nova needs to stay in the rotation because it looks like he has nothing left to learn at the AAA level...his best education will be facing the lineups of the AL East and the rest of the league once every five days.

After the break the Yankees rotation should look like CC, AJ, Hughes, Nova, Garcia with Colon on the way.  This is not a bad rotation - it has questions but there's no rotation in the majors that doesn't, even the Phillies.  With the lineup starting to get warm and the bullpen turning into something that can be trusted, I've got a feeling this season will turn into something a bit more special that the standard Yankee playoff appearance.