Yankee 11, Rangers 1

Astro-Girl pressed hard for a jaunt north to Arlington when the Yankees came around, and I toyed with the idea before deciding my compact schedule couldn't permit it.

And this would have been the game I saw. Damn.

Should have listened to the missus.

More than A-Rod's hits, more than Tex and all his doings, the main story was Phil Hughes. Every so often, on your favorite baseball team, there's some kid coming out of the minors you just badly want to see do well. Al Leiter was that way with me in 1988, and he did make good, though with the Mets and a decade later. Lance Berkman, and more recently, Hunter Pence with the Astros.

When Pence showed up at Spring Training two years ago, then proceeded to hit something like .460 with a dozen home runs, throw out guys from center and run the bases like a Little Leaguer, it was impossible not to like him. Then, it took one month of playing in houston for Pence to go from, "Hey, this kid can play," to "Damn, they could build a line up around this guy." Now, unless Pence's batting average falls off a cliff, Pence should go to the All-Star game whether Tejada is voted as a starter or not.

And now Hughes, with that sweet slow breaking ball (did I mention--the best I've seen since Bert Blyleven's?). Hughes is starting to tantalize us the way Leiter did two decades ago: a few good starts, injury, bad start, good start, etc.

I want