Hughes is Philthy once again

With his rotation spot possibly on the line, Phil Hughes turned in his best outing of the season. A complete game shutout (granted the game was called after 6 1/3 innings due to rain, but still).

Philthy went six innings (and definitely would have gone longer if not for the rain) and gave up just three hits with four strikeouts. His fastball averaged 92.52 mph; it topped out at 95 in the first, 94 in the second, third and fourth, 93 in the fifth and 92 in the sixth.

He still has not pitched seven full innings since July 9, 2010 at Seattle and the last time he went longer than 7 innings was on April 21, 2010 when he tossed 7 1/3 innings at Oakland. However, he no doubt would have surpassed that tonight if not for that dirty tramp Mother Nature; Phil was at only 65 pitches (48 of which went for strikes) through six innings.

Of course it’s too early to say that Hughes’ spot in the rotation is safe after one great start, but if he keeps this up obviously he isn’t going anywhere. And if SuperNova shits the bed on Thursday it strengthens Phil’s case, but let’s hope that’s not the case.

The offense had Phil’s back too, every Yankee except for Gardy had a hit. Plus, Tex (3-for-4) homered from both sides of the plate for the seventh time as a Yankee and the 12th time of his career, which is the most in MLB history. The bombs were his 30th and 31st of the season, which is one behind ML leader Jose Bautista. It’s now his eighth straight year with 30+ homers, and he joins Ruth, Maris and A-Rod as the only Yankees to hit 30+ taters in their first three years with the team.

Tex’ three RBI give him 82 on the year, which puts him eight behind ML leader Adrian Gonzalez. Also, since July 15 Tex is hitting .356.

Russell Martin, who hadn’t homered since June 29, went yard as well. Jeter went 2-for-4 with a double and scored twice, and Cano had an RBI double, a WALK AND STOLE A BASE to help the Yanks win 6-0.

The Yanks, who won their fifth straight game, stand at 66-42 and are one game behind the Red Sox at Game 108, AKA exactly 2/3 of the way through the season.

AJ will try to keep it going tomorrow against Gavin Floyd at 8:10.