Josh Beckett beat the Yankees in the 2003 World Series.

"The star of the Yankees' season isn't Robinson Cano, or CC Sabathia. The star of the Yankees' season isn't one of the Core Fore, Jeter or Rivera or Pettitte or Posada. It isn't A-Rod or Mark Teixeira, not yet, anyway.

The star of the Yankee season is Phil Hughes."

The star.

The Yankees only have one star and it is Phil Hughes.

I'll bet you didn't know that a team can only have one star, but this has been decreed in Lupica Land.


"He has been the best pitcher in town, the best pitcher on the Yankees, he has been the best pitcher in the American League, he has been as good pitching in the American League - and the American League East – as Roy Halladay has been for the Phillies."

Which is a roundabout way of saying Hughes has been the best pitcher in the American League.


"This doesn't mean that Hughes must now be designated as a future first-ballot Hall of Famer the way Joba Chamberlain was when he first starting coming through the bullpen doors a few years ago."

Very easy to ridicule all the people who put Joba in the Hall of Fame after 25 big-league innings.

But those people don't exist because it never happened.


"What it means is that Hughes has the chance, off what we have seen so far this season, especially what we saw last Friday night at Fenway Park and on Wednesday night at Comerica, to be the first power starting pitcher the Yankees have developed out of their own farm system since Ron Guidry, and the first elite starter they have developed on their own since Andy Pettitte."

I guess this is true; I haven't given it too much thought.

But how many elite starters exist in baseball since Andy Pettitte? How many were you expecting from the Yankee farm system?

There are not many elite starters in MLB in the past 15 years.

That's the definiton of elite.


"Three pitches, the last a fastball, up, against which Cabrera had no chance. It reminded you of a high fastball Josh Beckett threw past Derek Jeter in Jeter's last at-bat, Game 6 of the 2003 World Series, one Jeter still hasn't seen."

This guy. Still talking about the 2003 World Series.


It's like Game Six of the 2003 World Series was the first baseball game Lupica ever watched. It was the only time a pitcher pitched well in the World Series. It was the only time Jeter ever struck out on a fastball.

Now, every time a player strikes out, it reminds Lupica of his First Love, Josh Beckett, in Game Six of the 2003 World Series.