If successful, Phil Hughes could put Joba Chamberlain back in Yankees' bullpen

Updated Tuesday, April 28th 2009, 8:32 AM

So tonight Phil Hughes gets a chance to begin recapturing his can't-miss status of a couple of years ago, and maybe this is where the Yankee season begins to find its footing. Hughes could solve so many problems if he is ready to mature into a dependable major league starter, directly and indirectly.

Obviously he plugs the Chien-Ming Wang spot in the starting rotation, but beyond that, he gives the Yankees flexibility to make the move they may need to save their season.

Yes, Joba Chamberlain. It's an old debate but with a new twist, since Brian Bruney is out now with an elbow injury, leaving a bullpen - in front of Mariano Rivera - that could be hazardous to Joe Girardi's job status at some point.

But if the Yankees learned anything from their lost weekend in Boston, it's that they need a much better bullpen to match up with the Red Sox in the late innings, where their head-to-head meetings are so often decided.

For now, at least, they seem firmly committed to keeping Chamberlain in the rotation. But part of the equation here is that he shows no signs of being a dominating starter.

Indeed, during the weekend at Fenway Park full of ugly pitching numbers, the most alarming number of all came from Joba's pitching line on Friday night:

Of the 91 pitches he threw, only two produced a swing-and-miss. He used to get two per at-bat, it seemed, as a blow-away reliever.

Soon after his conversion from the bullpen at midseason last year, he blew away the Sox over seven innings, allowing three hits while striking out nine hitters as he outdueled Josh Beckett.

On Friday night, meanwhile, Chamberlain allowed 14 baserunners in 5-1/3 innings, and struck out two. In his three starts this season he has allowed 32 baserunners in 16 innings, while getting 11 strikeouts. Although he has managed to limit the damage to a 3.94 ERA, it's clear this is not the Joba who was automatic out of the bullpen.

Since spring training the fastball velocity has been an issue, as he throws mostly around 92-93 mph now as opposed to 96-97 when he was relieving.

"There shouldn't be that kind of difference in velocity between starting and relieving," one AL scout said Monday. "When (Josh) Beckett is right, he's topping out at 96-97 from start to finish.

The Yankees have to be thinking this way themselves, so you wonder how long they'll give Chamberlain before deciding to try him in the bullpen again.

Perhaps it all depends on what happens in the next few weeks with Bruney and Melancon, as well as Wang and Hughes.

Likewise, assuming that Wang isn't a lost cause and A.J. Burnett's meltdown at Fenway on Saturday wasn't an omen, the starting pitching should be among the best in the league over the long haul of the season.

The bullpen is the trouble spot. Even if Bruney returns in a couple of weeks, the Yankees don't have enough depth, unless Melancon's power arm is ready to make a huge impact.

At some point it's hard to see how the Yankees deny the obvious, that they need Chamberlain back there to have any hope of winning a championship. Maybe starting tonight, Hughes can help convince them.