7.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K (101-70)

I don’t know about you, but if I see that line from any of my team’s starters, I’ll be happy. From the fifth starter? You’d better believed I’d be stoked.

Tonight’s game story is simple: Phil Hughes dominated.

After walking Daric Barton in the first, Hughes did not let another Oakland batter reach base until the eighth inning. I was in London when Hughes flirted with a no-hit bid in Texas, but I imagine watching that performance could not have been all that different than what we saw tonight.

Until the eighth inning, Oakland did not have anything that came even remotely close to being a hit, and all but one of Oakland’s starting line-up had at least one strikeout against Hughes.

***

The Yankees did not really have a good game offensively. They took themselves out of a promising first inning when Derek Jeter made an ill-advised attempt to steal third base; other than the back-to-back triples from Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Canó, the bats were mostly quiet.

That said, the Yankees did manage to keep their streak of three-or-more-runs-per-game alive, so there’s something to be said for that.

***

Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera both looked like they could use a day off, though, in Rivera’s case, this is, of course, relative.

Other teams–the Cubs and Diamondbacks, especially, come to mind–would probably do many things to even get a tired version of Rivera in their bullpen.

***

Honestly, though, I think the best thing about tonight’s game is that, having gotten such a performance from our fifth starter, the A’s still have to face Sabathia on the mound tomorrow.