Can Phil Hughes Be David Cone?

This is a really terrible comparison and I say that before I even go any further with this post so with that said let's get to business. As bleak as things look right now in Yankees land this is not the first time the Yankees have faced a situation like this and felt quite like this. Does anyone remember the 1996 World Series? The '96 World Series team that got spanked in Game 1 at home and then shut out 4-0 in Game 2 at home before going to Atlanta for the next 3 games?

Game 3 would be a great pitching match up featuring David Cone facing off with Tom Glavine for the Braves. The Yankees would end up winning the game 5-2 behind a gutsy performance by Cone who rushed back from a surgery in his shoulder that removed an aneurysm that was expected to keep him out the entire season. While Hughes has not had a similar surgery is it out of the realm of possibility that Hughes, like Cone in 1996, could defy the odds and win a game he probably was not expected to? I do not see why not. I mean it is worth noting that Andy Pettitte lost game 1 of the 2012 ALCS and 1996 World Series and is lined up to start the 2012 ALCS Game 5 while the Game 5 of the 1996 World Series game was the 1-0 duel with John Smoltz that turned the series around for good.

Long story short as bleak as things look now we have done it before and can do it again but it HAS to start tonight.