Seattle stops skid at 17 against Yankees

Joe Girardi backtracked almost immediately, but it was too late. Ears had perked up and pens already had begun scribbling furiously on notepads.

The Yankees manager was asked if there could be a competition between Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova in the near future.

"There could be," he said, during his postgame news conference Wednesday.

Moments earlier Girardi had praised Hughes for performing "better," despite a 9-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners, who had lost 17 in a row. Girardi said he liked what he saw from Hughes, who gave up two runs and nine hits in six innings. But with Nova expected to be recalled for Saturday's doubleheader against Baltimore, the manager couldn't deny that both righthanders could end up battling for the fifth spot in the rotation.

"I'm not going to say that there will be. We want our guys to compete all the time, that's the bottom line . . . But as far as saying there's a competition for Phil Hughes' next start, I'm not saying that. No . . . Let's just see what Nova does."

With this weekend's trade deadline nearing, and the Yankees reportedly a long shot to land Colorado ace Ubaldo Jimenez, Hughes' spot in the rotation will remain a hot-button issue until he consistently resembles his old self.

He was decent Wednesday, but nevertheless was outdueled by last year's Cy Young winner, Felix Hernandez (9-9), who won for the first in over a month by allowing just one run on five hits in seven innings.

"You never want to be that guy," Hughes (1-3) said of losing to a team that had been winless since July 5. "But Felix was on it today."

And while Hernandez, who has won his last five decisions against the Yankees with a 1.29 ERA, cruised, Hughes admitted he's still trying to find himself.

"I was on the DL for a long time and I'm trying to go out there and be in midseason form," Hughes said. "I fell into some spots where I tried to overthrow and made a couple mistakes."

He needed a quality start after allowing seven earned runs in 42/3 innings in his last start. But the Mariners took a 1-0 lead in the third when Ichiro Suzuki (4-for-5) singled, stole second and scored on a triple by Dustin Ackley. They tacked on another run in the fifth when Hughes gave up three straight hits.

Hughes wasn't satisfied.

" 'Better' doesn't really say all that much compared to last outing," he said. "Personally, I felt I was better in the early innings and kind of tapered off in the end. But I thought I was able to make some decent pitches with guys on base."

He also didn't appear to be bothered by a potential competition with Nova, saying: "That's how it always is . . . If I go out there every time and am not good, there's obviously going to be consequences for that."

The Mariners, who had a season-high 17 hits, put up a five-spot in the seventh against Boone Logan thanks to a Robinson Cano error and Curtis Granderson's misread on Mike Carp's three-run triple.

Girardi said he thinks Hughes can still improve the command of his fastball (which peaked at 93 mph in the third) and curveball. "Phil Hughes just needs to be Phil Hughes," he said. "We want him to try to get back to who he was last year."

With the Rockies demanding a king's ransom for Jimenez, Girardi said he believes his rotation is good enough to compete in the playoff.

"We've gotten this far with them and they've pitched pretty well," he said. "When you look at our starting rotation, the ERAs are pretty good for the most part. I'm not sure what's going to happen in the next four more days, but these guys have pitched well."