The revulsion was all over Joe Girardi's face.  The furrowed brow, the penetrating and threatening eyes, the clenched jaw, the crossed arms, the right foot twisting a crevice in the Baltimore dugout floor.

If we've learned anything about Joe Girardi in the early part of the 2008 season, it's that he is a straight-forward man. There is no tentativeness, no equivocation in how he goes about his business. He demands the same from his players.

So when Girardi watched young Ian Kennedy pitch in a hesitant and uncertain fashion against the Orioles, as if he were afraid to confront the patient, yet potent Oriole bats, the youngster felt his wrath. There were no soothing words when Joe yanked Kenendy out of the game, no reassuring pat on the back. There was just a cold, icy stare as he grabbed the ball from Ian.

Call it tough love, but Kennedy is learning the hard way.

Girardi told reporters: "It's hard to pitch the way he's pitching." You have to attack the zone. Five walks, 17 hitters and 10 three-ball counts -- you can't pitch that way. You have to attack the zone and throw strikes. ... You make all hitters better when you're behind them."

Girardi's message is clear. The team realizes it's asking a lot of Kennedy-and Hughes. The team surely realizes that the duo should still be honing their skills at Scranton. But what the team won't tolerate is a lack of gumption, or "cow sense" as Ross Ohlendorf's dad calls it.

In 14 innings of work this year, Kennedy has surrendered 19 hits and has handed out 13 bases on balls. You don't need to be Voros McCracken to figure out that 32 baserunners in 14 innings is not a recipe for success.

Kennedy answered back: "It's all mental…I would think."  (The irony is that even that statement is tentative and unsure.) 

Kennedy continued: "Also sometimes, the counts can make you get like that. That's when I've got to kick myself in the butt and say, 'Go right after it.' I just didn't do that tonight."

On the Oriole broadcast, Jim Palmer said: "He [Kennedy] has lights out stuff, but he seems afraid to use it."

Coming into the season, Kennedy was the more "polished" of the two in many people's eyes. The PECOTA projections (put out by the folks at Baseball Prospectus) called for a 9-7 season, with a 4.24 ERA. In 141 innings, he is projected to strike out 120, walk 68, pitch to a 1.40 WHIP and hold opponents to a .234 BA.

Right now I think the Yanks would sign up for that.

Phil Hughes, of course, is also struggling, having allowed 35 baserunners in 16 1.3 innings. PECOTA has this in mind for 2008: 152 IP, 129 K, 65 BB, 4.42 ERA

That seems a little optimistic now as well.

However, none of these early-season troubles, in my mind, reflect negatively on Brian Cashman. The airwaves and message boards are filled with knee-jerk reactions from fans calling for Cashman's head because he did not pull the trigger on any of the Santana trade proposals this winter. In various versions the Twins wanted Hughes, Kennedy, Cano, Melky…and I think Gehrig and DiMaggio too.

The direction that Cashman has the team on now is a course for the future. And the future will be based on home-grown talent, particularly when it comes to pitchers. Laugh all you want right now, but the Yanks will also get their payroll more in line with the Tigers, Mets and Red Sox. The payroll is a huge ship to turn around and it will take years, but as much as $80 million is eligible to come off next year, led by Jason Giambi's $23 million per…..Man overboard indeed.

Getting back to Kennedy and Hughes, it is simply not practical to expect these kids to be even league average right out of the gate. There will be numerous ups and downs, and ugly bumps….and-god forbid-the team may not make the playoffs this year as it transitions to a saner approach. Kennedy and or Hughes may even spend some time at Triple A Scranton, with Kei Igawa and Darrel Rasner taking their places in the rotation.

If young Kennedy and Hughes are in need of a pitching tutorial, they need look no further than Andy Pettitte's gem on Sunday. It's very simple: throw strikes. Get ahead of hitters. Trust your stuff. (By the way, after Sunday's game Joe Girardi announced that Pettitte will move between Hughes and Kennedy in the rotation. Monday's off-day allows them to do keep Pettitte at his normal rest and slide Kennedy behind him. The will help on bullpen fatigue since the kids won't be pitching back to back.)

As I've mentioned before in this column, pause and remember that 303-game-winner Tom Glavine went 7-17 in his first full season with the Braves. John Smoltz was 2-7 and Steve Avery was 3-11. In Greg Maddux's first full year with the Cubs, he was 6-14.

Imagine if the Braves traded those guys?….they wouldn't have had the honor of seeing their "team of the decade" moniker obliterated by the Yankees of the late 90s.

But the Santana non-trade can not be judged in April of 2008, or in April of 2010 for matter. It will be at least a decade before it can be adequately analyzed.

For now, Yankee fans will have to watch the two kids struggle while the real phenom, Joba Chamberlain, languishes in the bullpen.

It will be a glorious day in my house when Joba is taken out of the pen and thrust back in the starting rotation. Joba has ace material right now. He has command of four pitches. Cashman has constantly re-iterated that he sees Joba as a starter in the long-run, and that he is the pen right now just to keep his innings count down.

That's certainly all I need to hear to know the team is on the right forward path, bumps and all.