Yankees 10, Royals 4

Phil Hughes and Robinson Cano, our two tortured souls of late, come through. Strong pitching from Hughes, grand slam from Cano. It is clear, if the Yankees are to win three out of every five games for the foreseeable future, the pattern will have to be as follows: 1. A strong start from CC Sabathia. 2. A strong start from someone not named CC Sabathia. 3. An offensive outburst like today's. 4. Loss. 5. Loss. And back up to CC. Today, they received both numbers two and three, so we'll see. 15-13. Anyone happy with a Wild Card, a one-game playoff versus (let's say) Jon Lester, Jared Weaver, Yu Darvish, or Justin Verlander? Hughes has to pitch like today, Andy has to come back at least steady, Nova needs to stay the Nova of 2011, someone has to emerge from Phelps, et al, or Cashman has to make a move--basically, three of those five things have to come true.