Rays cut it to one game

The Yanks’ lead in the AL East was trimmed to one measly game — the smallest it’s been since July 3 — after a 3-2 setback to the Rays on Friday night.

Phil Hughes pitched very well sans a two-out 2-2 mistake to Matt Joyce in the sixth inning. Philthy gave up just the three runs on four hits with six strikeouts to two walks over six innings, but the offense just wasn’t there. Even Joba turned in a great pitching performance, tossing two innings of perfect relief while fanning three.

Girardi:

"Both these guys threw really well, Hughsie threw really well except for one mistake. I thought it was the best game he threw all year…After this series there’s a lot of baseball left."

Cano had two of the Yanks’ four hits, while Swish Dog belted a two-run bomb in the first inning. A-Rod has now gone 34 at-bats since hitting home run 599.

Oh well, not much you can do about that. They just gotta come back tomorrow and get back at it. The Yanks got Javy going on Saturday against Matt Garza at 7:05.

On another note, the Yanks made a couple of moves prior to the game, as they acquired Lance Berkman from the Astros and Austin Kearns from the Indians for a player to be named later.

LET’S GO YANKS!!!! Amp that lead back up to two games.