Yanks Look To Start A New Streak With Hughes On The Mound

Sitting on the cusp of victory, a two-run homerun off the bat of Adam Jones, served up by baseball's greatest closer, Mariano Rivera, the Yankees lost out on a chance to not only dish out a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles, but it also snapped a season-high 6-game winning streak.

The Yankee will now try their hand at starting a new winning streak with the Kansas City Royals coming to town. These two teams have already met once this season, with the Bombers coming out of KC with a three-game sweep.

Tonight's Lineup, 7:05 EST @ Yankee Stadium:


Gardner CF
Almonte LF
Cano 2B
Hafner DH
Wells RF
Ishikawa 1B
Cruz SS
Gonzalez 3B
Romine C
Hughes P

Pitching Preview:

A couple weeks ago, Phil Hughes was on the verge of possibly losing his starting job, but he hasn't done much to hurt his reputation since then.

Hughes held the Rangers and Twins to a combined three runs on 11 hits in 15 innings. Facing the Twins last Tuesday, Hughes allowed only run on six hits over seven innings in the Yankees 7-3 win.

"They had a lot of lefties in the lineup, and I felt like I was able to get my fastball inside to those guys, for the most part," Hughes said. "I made a few critical pitches when I had to to get out of some jams, the offense did their job, and it was a good win."

Hughes has also faced the Royals once already this season, back on May 10th. He allowed six runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings, picking up the victory.

Jeremy Guthrie takes the mound for the Royals, looking for his first win since June 10th against the Detroit Tigers. Guthrie began the season off on the right foot, going 3-0 with a 3.06 ERA in April, but has hasn't been as good since then, going 4-6.

Guthrie's last start came against the Indians in which he held them scoreless through the first five innings before giving up a couple hits in the sixth, eventually followed by an inside-the-park home run when left fielder Alex Gordon crashed into the left-field wall.

Yankee Notes:

* Derek Jeter played in his second game for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Berre RailRiders on Sunday, reaching base three times, including a single a single to left field.

"It's good [to get a hit], better to get a hit than get an out," Jeter about his first rehab hit. "As long as I'm seeing the ball good, I'm fine. The results at this particular point I don't think is the No. 1 priority."

Jeter batted leadoff for the RailRiders, serving as the team's designated hitter a day after playing five innings at shortstop. Jeter drew a walk in his first at-bat, then collected his lone hit in his second trip to the plate. After striking out in his third at-bat, Jeter worked another walk in the seventh in his final plate appearance.

Reaching base three times, Jeter got a chance to work out his recovering ankle and said he wasn't at all worried about running the bases and testing his ankle.

"I'm not concerned with that," Jeter said at his postgame news conference. "I've done a lot of that down in Florida. It's good to get back into a game, but I don't have a checklist."

Jeter will be back in the field at shortstop on Monday night for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He's hoping to get some more chances after only one play on Saturday; a grounder hit directly at him, nothing that made him run to the side.

* Travis Ishikawa was claimed off of waivers from the Orioles yesterday, he'll be starting at first base for the Yankees in his first game. Ishikawa will be the 25th position players used by the Yankees this year. David Adams is no longer on the 25-man roster, yet nothing has been officially announced.

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