Newsday: Howard: Yankees’ Hughes looks too rattled to stay

It was the start of another jam, all right. But it was also the sort of moment that Hughes could’ve shown everyone something special. Instead, pitching to new Yankees catcher Chris Stewart, a Triple A call up making his first start, Hughes and Stewart seemed to get their signals crossed for the third time in the game and Hughes threw a wild pitch - not in front of the plate, or in the dirt, but, startlingly enough, off the middle of Stewart’s chest protector as a surprised Stewart couldn’t even get a glove on the ball. That allowed Polanco to skitter to third with no outs.

As Hughes waited at home for Stewart to throw the ball back to him, he clearly looked shaken. First Hughes slapped a fist into his glove. He yelled something. Then he stalked back to the mound, rocked back into his wind up and served up a fat, hanging curveball that Sheffield - a guy who’s playing with two barking shoulders and began the night hitting only .159 - smashed into the leftfield seats, stretching the Tigers’ lead back to three.

Out on the mound, Hughes sagged. When asked later if he thought Hughes’ troubles are mental, Yankees manager Joe Girardi didn’t answer directly. He just said, “You watch the player, see how he goes about his work. He’s frustrated, I’m sure. We’ll watch him closely . . . Sometimes it looks like he’s trying to do too much. Sometimes he’s rushing a little bit . . . For Phil, he’s gotta fight. You’ve gotta fight.”

I too miss Art Howe’s dull face.