Hughes Sparkles in Win

The story of the night was not the Yankees inability to hit with runners in scoring position, nor was it Derek Jeter's ankle injury. Tonight, the talk was about how well Phil Hughes pitched against this Boston lineup. From the first inning, I could tell that Hughes had great stuff after retiring the first three hitters on eight pitches. He would continue by pitching two more innings of perfect baseball before he even allowed a hit to the Red Sox. Hughes' night would end with 7.1 innings pitched of zero runs allowed on four hits and one walk. Hughes would strike out seven batters, most of which came via the fastball. The radar was reading 90-92 MPH on the gun but the hitters made his fastball look like it was coming at them at 100 MPH. Hughes was his first half of 2010 self tonight which enabled him to get strikeouts and go deep into the game. Phil Hughes has had outings like he did today this season but tonight was his biggest start to date because of the implications. The Orioles won earlier today, sweeping Tampa Bay which gave them a guaranteed lead atop the American League East. A Yankee win would keep them tied and the Yankees were able to keep it tied with tonight's tight victory.

The offense was sluggish again tonight, which is of concern if this team wants to go into the playoffs. However, Hughes proved that with a good starting pitching performance two runs is enough to win a ball game. Jeter, after scaring Yankee fans last night with his ankle injury tied Willie Mays for tenth on the all-time hits list. He also drove in one of the two Yankee runs in the seventh inning to give Hughes a two run lead as well as more breathing room. Andruw Jones drove in the other run with a sac fly with the bases loaded. That was the only run the Yankees would get after loading the bases with no men out in the fourth inning.

The Tampa Bay Rays enter Yankee Stadium tomorrow night fresh off a three game sweep at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles. The Rays will be hungry for a victory against the Yankees to climb in the division standings. They will have to do it against CC Sabathia who has not been good at all lately. Maybe starting against a weak hitting team will give Sabathia a good outing. The Yankees will face David Price who is having a Cy Young worthy season. Price is coming off the disabled list with a leg injury so hopefully the Yankees are catching him at the right time.