No win, but no loss, for Phil

Yankee bats wait too long to hand Hughes a victory

It would have been nice to get starter Phil Hughes his first win of the season Thursday, in a game eerily reminiscent of New York's first win on Tuesday. But Hughes had to settle for a well-pitched no-decision, as the Yankee offense tied the score just before Hughes was yanked by manager Joe Girardi, and plated the winning run for Joba Chamberlain in the bottom of the eighth.

In the long run of Hughes' career, Thurday's non-win won't mean much. But in the short-term, his solid outing helped the Yankees take a 2-to-1 series win over the Jays, and that's all that matters.

The Report Card

Hughes: Big Phil did his job, much the way Chien-Ming Wang did on Tuesday. No one expects complete-game gems in April, but starters do have to hold down the fort and give the bats a chance. Hughes had great strikes-to-balls (2-to-1) and strikeout-to-walk (4-to-1) ratios, and both of David Eckstein's hits that figured in the Blue Jay runs scored were flukish: the bloop double in the fourth inning and the grounder A-Rod couldn't quite field in the fifth. Take those away, and Phil might have gotten the win, and the Yankees the shutout.

But, all's well that ends well, and Hughes was top-drawer on Thursday.

Grade: A-, the two runs were earned, after all.

Bullpen: Yankee fans have now seen every reliever of note, and things can hardly have worked out better so far. Brian Traber got a strikeout of the one batter he faced, and Brian Bruney was effective if not spectacular (as many balls as strikes, five and five). Joba surrendered a harmless single but got the win, and Mariano is 2-for-2 in save opportunities. In short, every reliever did the job he's paid to do.

Grade: A

Offense: If there was a star at the plate, it was Bobby Abreu, whose two hits included double and an RBI single that scored the eventual game-winning run. But getting thrown out at third to end the sixth inning was a no-no.... Robinson Cano, Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, and Hideki Matsui are still trying to find their swings, but it's early. Cano took another 0-fer, but cut down on the strikeouts after a bad game at the plate on Wednesday. Matsui, on the other hand, looked dreadful, in spite of the single he lined into left in the fifth inning. Damon has now had at least one strikeout in each of the first three games,but did slap a clean double last night. Giambi swatted the sac fly that tied the score in the fifth, and still has a sharp eye for the strike zone... There were no fireworks as with the Cabrera and A-Rod home runs of the first two games, but winning with good pitching and base-to-base offense works as well as waiting for the 3-run dinger.

Going 6-for-25 as a team, with six strikeouts while stranding 18 base runners, isn't a recipe for prolonged success, and the Yankees are only seeing 14 pitches per inning from opposing pitchers; that has to change. But... it's April, and we're 2-1, so Yankee fans will take it.

Grade: C+

Manager: Give Girardi credit for trusting his untested bullpen in a tight game. The relievers came through for him, and with the Joba-Mariano combo on the back end, how bad can a manager look?

Still, the "green light on the basepaths" strategy has yet to translate to any positive production, and in fact, it may have made the Yankee runners a little too carefree thus far. But until it costs us a game, let's not get too critical. It beats watching guys stand around.

Grade: A

Overall: Any bounce-back win is a good one. Avoiding early losing streaks is what the Yankees could not do last April. All teams have their April kinks to work out. And we're playing at a .667 clip. Life could be worse.

Grade: B+