Hughes just had a great first inning, which he needed. A decision could be coming tomorrow on Wang; perhaps the Yankees didn’t want to make an announcement prior to Hughes’ start. Girardi says they see Hughes as a starter, which would seem to suggest he’ll go back to AAA, not to the bullpen, when Wang is activated. (Cone mentioned on the broadcast Monday that he could see Hughes as a reliever.)

Girardi says they’ll slot Wang in as soon as he’s ready. The question is, is he ready? The velocity and sinker aren’t where they need to be, apparently because of lingering issues from the lisfranc injury last June.

Lisfrancs are tricky injuries. Bruney, like Wang, declined to have surgery and is fine. Michael Strahan and Justin Tuck both lost part of the 2006 Giants football season to lisfranc sprains; Tuck had surgery, Strahan did not. (Strahan said if he had required surgery, he would have retired. He’s awfully glad he didn’t.) Tuck wound up limping through the end of last season with bone spurs in his foot, which he said were a result of the lisfranc two years earlier.

Anyway, Wang’s leg strength was a problem while he was giving up a million runs a start. But part of this just has to be the mental hurdle of getting over such an injury, trusting your right (push-off) foot and relearning to pitch without favoring the formerly injured part of your body. The way the Yankees are playing these days, you would think time is one their side when it comes to making sure Wang is right before bringing him back.

Nady took limited BP today and could go on a rehab assignment when the Yankees leave town Sunday. Nady had other duties as well, serving as stenographer for the Kangaroo Court, which convened at 3:15 p.m., lasted an hour and included everyone from players and coaches to trainers and pr folks.

Mariano was the judge; the jury was comprised of Jeter, Damon and A.J. Rob Thomson was fined for pushing Swisher back to third base to avoid a pickoff in Baltimore. (Turns out, that’s not legal in MLB or in Kangaroo Court.) Alex was fined for missing the start of the season; so were the others who didn’t begin the year with the big club.

Players who’ve been around long enough to know said it was the first Kangaroo Court since 1995. Fun times, especially when you’ve won seven in a row.

Melvin Mora was raving about Cervelli, his fellow Venezuelan, today. He said he kept waiting for CC to shake off Cervelli last night, “and he NEVER did!” Mora said. “The kid is good.” Cervelli says he was 5 when he first watched Mora play in Venezuela – that’s nice – and that Mora was his “idol.”

Speaking of (American) Idol, how much do Brian Roberts and Kris Allen look alike? Jeter’s been wearing Roberts out over their likeness since the WBC.