A-Rod Homers in Loss

Again, there wasn't much offense tonight by the Yankees. All they could score was two runs. One of the runs came on an RBI groundout by Cano in the first inning and the second run came via the long ball by Alex Rodriguez who took Dickey the opposite way for his third home run of the year. Dickey redeemed himself tonight after blowing a lead for his team last week at Yankee Stadium in the eighth inning. The Yankees could only amount seven hits in the entire game and Jeter went 0-3 with a walk in his return from yet another DL stint, his third of the year. Jeter has played more minor league rehab games than he has played for the Yankees in 2013. Through all of the Derek Jeter injury drama, one thing is certain and it is that Derek Jeter will definitely play out his option year for less money considering he essentially missed a whole season this year with various injuries.

Phil Hughes was awful after the Yankees gave him a run to begin the game then tied the game in the fifth inning for him thanks to the A-Rod homer. Hughes' ERA stands at 4.91 at the end of August. At this point if I'm another team looking at Hughes in the free agency market, I have to take a hard look before I open my wallet for a starter with a 5 ERA almost in September. In addition, Hughes has a 4-13 record on a team that's playing over .500 on the season. David Huff came in for Hughes and pitched 3 1/3 innings of scoreless ball, striking out five batters and walking one. Huff didn't give up a hit and based on his two most recent performances he deserves to start in place of Hughes in five days. If anything he has more of a chance to give the Yankees a win because of the pure fact that Hughes hasn't given his team a chance to win in months. A breath of fresh air would be what the doctor ordered for a team that is looking for a spark to propel them into postseason play.

The Yankees have broken their prolonged winning streak against Toronto but they will look to start a new one tomorrow night when JA Happ steps on the mound. The Yankees beat Happ last week at the Stadium in the same matchup as tomorrow night's. Andy Pettitte is looking for win number ten tomorrow to make his record for the year over .500. In order to accomplish that, Pettitte needs to pitch like he has pitched lately and the offense needs to click like it did last week against the same team they're playing tomorrow night.