Phil + Joba + Mo = win

First off, a Steve Phillips sighting. So I was walking in a strip mall in Corolla (pronounced Car-Allah), North Carolina, passing a Dairy Queen when I almost bumped into former Mets GM (and current ESPN broadcaster) Steve Phillips. He was with his kids. I was wearing my Yankee cap and he looked at it, then at me, but didn't say anything. And I didn't know what (if anything) to say either. It probably would have been something akin to: "You're an idiot."

As for tonight's game (which I watched on MLB.com's Gameday), it was a beautiful thing 'watching' Phil Hughes go a solid six innings, hand the ball to Joba for a perfect two, then to Mo to close it out. Phil threw a ridiculous percentage of strikes, 66 of 95 (69 %), and allowed the only Cleveland run of the game on a fourth inning Josh Barfield solo shot. He k'ed six and gave up just one walk and four hits. Joba pitched the seventh and eighth - he k'ed four and walked none. Torre should have let Farnsworth pitch the ninth, considering the Yanks were up by five, but in the interest of keeping Mo sharp, called on him and he delivered a perfect inning. Three Yankee farmhands combined for an 11 strikeout, four hit, one walk, one run game. A thing of beauty!

The offense consisted of three hits from DJ, a solo shot and two walks from Arod, an rbi triple from Abreu, and two hits from Cano.

Oh, and just one more thing. Boston's big trade deadline acquisition, Eric Gagne (who Fenway fans gave a standing ovation to before ever throwing a pitch), was hammered in Baltimore [:) ]. He allowed four earned runs and recorded just one out. Baltimore was down 5-1 in the bottom of the 9th, and came back to tie it. They're now in the bottom of the 10th. Update 10:33 - Baltimore scored off Okajima to win the game 6-5. The Yanks are five games back in the division.


More news:
- Kei Igawa was claimed off waivers by San Diego. The two teams have until Sunday night to work out a deal that would send the Japanese lefty to pitcher-friendly Petco Park. Great news, although I don't think it will happen. San Diego would probably not pay any of Igawa's $26 million posting fee (and who knows how much of his salary?), and Cash (and I) still think he could be a useful pitcher one day.
- If Arod opts out after the season and signs elsewhere, the Yanks will receive compensatory draft picks (in the first and sandwich rounds). More great news, because I was under the impression that he had the same deal that Scott Boras' other player, J.D. Drew, had (that the Dodgers could not receive compensatory draft picks if he signed elsewhere).