OAKLAND -- The stress fracture in one of Phil Hughes' ribs is healing, according to an X-ray taken this week in Tampa, Fla., and the Yankees' right-hander could resume a throwing program in about two weeks.

Hughes has been on the disabled list since April 30, after beginning the season 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA in six starts. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that because Hughes will need to start to build his arm strength back up just as though it was Spring Training, he would not appear on a Major League mound for two months at the earliest.

"You're talking sometime in late August, probably," Girardi said. "It's possible."

This marks the second consecutive season that the 21-year-old Hughes will have lost a good chunk of time to injury. He was 5-3 with a 4.46 ERA in 13 starts for the Yankees last year, but missed 85 team games after suffering a strained left hamstring during a May 1 outing at Texas, when he had thrown 6 1/3 innings of no-hit ball.

Hughes returned in time to make the Yankees' postseason roster and log the club's only October victory, winning Game 3 of the American League Division Series in relief of the injured Roger Clemens.

The Yankees did receive some encouraging news on fellow rookie right-hander Ian Kennedy, who threw his first session off a mound during his rehab in Tampa this week. New York also learned that right-hander Jonathan Albaladejo has a stress fracture in his right elbow and will not pitch again this season.