Play it again, Alex

Last night's game was almost a repeat of the night before. They were both pitcher's duels early, until the Yankee offense, led by a player with two homeruns, explodes in the later innings while the Yankee pitching keeps dominating. The funny thing is that while the results were much the same, the players weren't.

Joe Torre shuffled his lineup, resting Jorge Posada, Hideki Matsui and Bobby Abreu. Surprisingly, Alex Rodriguez was able to talk himself into the lineup after rolling his ankle the night before, though he was limited to DH duty. It turned out to be a pretty good decision, as Rodriguez hit his 47th and 48th homeruns in the 8th inning (yes, he hit both in the same inning), tying his own record for most homeruns hit by a righthanded Yankee.

Last night's two homerun star, Jorge Posada, was replaced by Jose Molina, though Posada did come in as a pinch hitter in the 7th. Molina filled Posada's large cleats well, knocking in the Yankees' first run in the 3rd with a solo shot that just snuck by the left field foul pole.

The most important performance, though, belonged to Philip Hughes. It was Hughes' first start since Dave Eiland, his pitching coach in Triple-A came up to New York to see him. I'm not sure what, if anything, Eiland did, but Philip Hughes: Ace of the Future was back last night. Jose Molina barely had to move his glove as Hughes was in complete command of his fastball, curve and change. He had a little trouble with his slider, which kept diving in the dirt, but three strong pitches were all that he needed to stymie the Mariners. With Roger Clemens' elbow woes and Mike Mussina's sudden inneffectiveness, the hope that Hughes can be a dependable starter down the stretch and into the playoffs is a welcome one indeed.

A couple of random notes:

• Wilson Betemit earned my eternal respect when he walked to the plate to the strains of Pearl Jam's "Better Man". Its almost as good as Hideki Matsui using Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song".
  
  
• One of the downsides of rosters expanding in September, at least for fans, is the sheer number of pitching changes a manager can make. While the Yankees were scoring eight runs in the seventh, Seattle manager John McLaren seemed to change pitchers with every swing of the bat. Every time I looked at the bullpen to see who was coming in, it seemed like there were a dozen guys left there. All told, Seattle made seven pitching changes, painfully extending the game.
  
  
• Before he was a coach, Eiland was a reliever for the Yankees, Padres and Devil Rays. He holds the distinction of being the only player in major league history to give up a home run to the first batter he faced and to hit a home run in his first at-bat.
  
  
• The Yankees' magic number for the wild card is now 20. I'll try to put up some kind of counter in the coming days.