Will the real Phil Hughes please stand up.

Phil Hughes was once a Yankees 1st round draft pick. He was expected to the future ace of the Yankees pitching staff. So far in his 7 big league season, he's shown that he has the ability to be the big man in the club house, but he hasn't given enough consistency to show he can do it.

In the midst of a contract season, Hughes has gone out in several starts and pitch like a man looking for a lot of money, and in other starts he looks like a man that might have a tough time finding a job next season.

The biggest question surrounding Phil Hughes is that maybe he's just not capable of pitching in the AL East and at Yankee Stadium.

Lifetime against the AL East, Hughes has posted a record of 20-21. So clearly he can at time have success as well as having just as much complications with pitching against the Yankees division foes.

Hughes allowed one unearned run over 7 innings on Thursday

Sure, the record doesn't exactly reflect on Hughes' true pitching abilities but I'm not doubting that the Yankees will take a good look at those numbers when deciding if they should bring him back this winter.

Something else I'm sure the Yankees should take a big look at is Hughes' stat line at home, compared to on the road.

Hughes is known as a flyball pitch and that's something that won't help you when pitching in Yankee stadium. Hughes has allowed 66 home runs in 355 2/3 innings pitched at Yankee Stadium, but only 34 in 344 innings pitched on the road.

"I think every pitcher is going to maybe give up a few more home runs in our ballpark than maybe some of the other ballparks that you go to, especially on the west coast. There just aren't as many home runs hit here," Girardi said. "I think he's the same guy (wherever he pitches)."

Well, pitching on the west coast must be what works for Hughes, as he fired off a stellar performance last night Seattle. Tossing seven plus innings, allowing only one unearned run on three hits, while striking out seven.

Watching Hughes pitch through the first few innings in Thursday night's game, I really noticed how precise he was, keeping the ball down in the zone and hitting a lot of his spots given by Romine behind the plate.

It was certainly a different Hughes than the one we've seen so often this season, and even in his last start against the Mariners in which he didn't even make it past the 1st inning.

Phil Hughes might not have turned out to be the next big pitching prospect for the Yankees, but he's still a guy with a lot of pitching ability. Although his ability doesn't give him success in his own home ballpark or against his team's division rivals, they Yankees should still look at re-signing him.

All he needs is a little work on keeping the fastball down and adapt his style to pitch in Yankee Stadium. But if he can't get that fixed, then he's just not meant to be a Yankee.

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