Bombers Bomb and get their Phil from the Bullpen (Postgame Notes 08 June 2009)

When Andy Pettitte's pitch count shot up past 70 in the fourth inning, there wasn't much question that the Yankees had the perfect opportunity to get Phil Hughes some much needed work from the bullpen.

Pettitte ended up staying in for six innings (and striking out seven along the way; the first six in the first three innings), but in the top of the seventh Phil Hughes came in, and Phil Hughes threw gas.

At the time the Yankees had a one run lead, and Hughes pitched out of the bullpen perhaps even better than his 2007 ALDS performance, though, granted, the stakes tonight were a bit lower.

No doubt, those who tune into WFAN tomorrow will likely hear a litany of "Hughes to the bullpen" phone calls, but the fallacies of that argument are for another day.


Still, Hughes was not to be outdone.

Phil Coke came out for the 8th, and other than one walk, also threw gas. A tremendous outing for him given his struggles on Saturday.

Mariano Rivera had another 1-2-3; he's probably unavailable to pitch tomorrow, but, it should be noted, the weather forecast for Boston tomorrow is something awful, so the game might not even be played.



The Yankees scored all their runs today via the home run: Mark Teixeira, Nick Swisher, Johnny Damon and Darek Jeter, with Swisher's being a two-run shot. Teixeira's and Swisher's were out in any park, and even Damon's and Jeter's were out in most parks.

The only knock was that the Yankees could not sustain a rally, but I'm not sure they're worried about that right now--when they got their hits, they made them count.

Hideki Matsui, 0-his last-16 could probably use a day off.