5.08 PM: Kevin Cash gets the start tonight with Hughes on the mound. Otherwise the line up is the same as it's been for most of this winning streak. As they say, if it ain't broke...
Swisher could really use a day off; my guess is that Gardner's shoulder is probably still bothering him.
No word on how the Yanks made out in the kangaroo court. Maybe later.
6.57 PM: Aha! Here we go:
The Yankees held their first Kangaroo Court since 1995 this afternoon at Yankee Stadium, with Mariano Rivera - the elder statesman of the clubhouse - doing the honors as judge. Xavier Nady served as the secretary and court stenographer, and Derek Jeter, A.J. Burnett and Johnny Damon served as the jury.From Bryan Hoch
[...]
The guys seemed to love the process. Nick Swisher did a television interview in Detroit shirtless and Burnett hit him with a $20 fine for that. Phil Coke's wallet was $30 lighter as a result of the home run he served up to the Twins' Joe Mauer. Coke pointed to the drive off the bat, thinking it was a fly ball that could be easily tracked by center fielder Brett Gardner, but the ball carried out and hit the netting over Monument Park. Johnny Damon was fined $100 for showing up late to court, blaming New York City traffic. But no fine was crueler than this one -- Alex Rodriguez got hit for being late ... for the season. "
For the first time, in a long time, it's way easy to fall in love with these guys.
7.17 PM: Whoa. Guess Phil doesn't want to lose his spot or something. We can have eight more of those? Please Phil?
7.23 PM: Mark Teixeira is on all sorts of fire.
7.27 PM: After an A-Rod HBP, Matsui lines into a DP. Still, Yankees head to the second with a 1-0 lead.
Some sad news: the wife of pitcher Scott Schoenweiss was found dead. Thoughts and prayers are with his family.
7.40 PM: An odd play there to end the second inning, but no harm as the double came before the walk. Not the domination of the first inning, but getting out of it without letting runners score is not something Hughes was able to do last year--or the last time he played Baltimore.
7.45 PM: Now, Swisher just hit his first HR at the new Stadium (finally!), but did you see the air time Markakis got at the wall?
7.47 PM: And now Robbie Canó makes it back to back. Chicks dig the long ball.
7.49 PM: Guess Melky heard me. Three jacks in a row! Alas, I don't think Cash will keep the streak alive, but you never know.
7.56 PM: Interesting to see what Phil does here.
8.04 PM: Again, Hughes gets out of trouble. Runners on the corners with no one out, he gets a strikeout and then a strikeout-throw-em-out double play. Still 4-0 Yankees.
8.12 PM: Two walks and then an RBI single from Canó and now it's 5-0 Yankees.
8.14 PM: Melky just fouled one off his...junk. Ouch. Looks like he's staying in. Ballplayers are pretty tough.
8.22 PM: Deep two run shot for the Orioles. Yankees lead now 5-2, but Phil's got to make some pitches. Don't let the Orioles back in this one.
8.28 PM: That wasn't quite the inning the Yanks wanted to give Guthrie. Kay barely had time to get the trivia question answered.
8.35 PM: Phil doesn't get a call on a pitch and next thing Jones hits it out. Phil's got 8 K's, but has thrown over 80 pitches and isn't yet through the fifth.
8.37 PM: That's nine strike outs for Hughes. Hard to decide what to make of the performance. Not dominating by any stretch; he's thrown too many pitches, but we're through five and the Yankees still have a two run lead. Yankees fans will sit a lot easier if the offense can score some more runs, however.
8.42 PM: Thanks to a double play from A-Rod, Guthrie threw only 7 pitches that inning. The Yanks need to get him out of the game and get into Baltimore's bullpen, but their not doing themselves many favors. Still, a two run lead is still a two run lead.
8.51 PM: Nice inning for Aceves, with some considerable help from Johnny Damon's throwing arm. Yes, you read that right.
8.54 PM: Really wish Yanks would stop swinging at the first pitch there. Guthrie's at 90. 91. Make him work.
8.56 PM: So are the Yanks trying to avoid Baltimore's bullpen? Or something?
9.02 PM: Aceves is ace. Speaking of which, we need a catchy nickname for the shaved heads of Bruney, Coke and Aceves. "The three guys that can get outs" doesn't quite have a ring to it.
9.10 PM: Man, the Yankee offense kinda went dead, didn't it? Here's hoping the bullpen can (continue) to do its job.
9.13 PM: And Adam Jones hits Coke with a liner back to the mound and Coke can't find the ball. Tying run is now at the plate.
9.16 PM: "Mo how close are you?" That's all you need to know about Girardi's faith in Veras.
9.19 PM: Asking Mo for a four out save here.
9.31 PM: Robinson Canó has lifetime pretty bad numbers with the bases chucked, but if there was ever a time to get an RBI, even just one, that was it. Well done. 6-3 Yankees.
9.35 PM: Melky keeps the carousel moving.
9.37 PM: Kevin Cash gets in on the action with a sac fly. 8-3 Yankees.
9.39 PM: Some more Jeterian clutch. Now 10-3 Yankees. They need a home run to cap it off.
9.43 PM: Okay, no home runs that inning, but six runs scored anyway, 11-3 Yanks, and Mo doesn't have to pitch the ninth. If Albaladejo can't get it done I'm sure one of Bruney or Tomko can.
9.45 PM: Okay, Mo is still in there. I know the bullpen's been problematic...but I have to believe this was Mo's call.
9.49 PM: Mo serves up a solo HR but in an 11-4 game, that's not a huge deal. They have won eight in a row now.
