-P- The Yankees have announced that super-phenom Philip Hughes will make his first major league start for them on Thursday against the Jays. Hughes started rather slowly in his first two starts at Class AAA, but was dominant against Syracuse last Wednesday. He struck out 168 batters and walked just 34 in 146 innings for Class AA Trenton and Class A+ Tampa last year. Oh, and he has filthy stuff. He doesn't turn 21 until late June. If you're able to watch that game, I sure would.
-P- A corona-hot Alex Rodriguez + Casey Fossum = A-Rod's 13th home run. I almost could have done that math before the game even started. Anyway, A-Rod is now the first batter in the history of baseball to hit 13 or more homers in the first 18 games of a season. He then added #14 against Al Reyes late in the game.
-P- King Felix Hernandez, Eric Gagne, Rich Harden and Milton Bradley have all landed on the DL.
-P- Mark Prior will have shoulder surgery tomorrow. How sad Prior's career has become; he's like the Cubs' equivalent of Oliver Perez, except worse.
-P- Travis Hafner has reached base six times in six attempts so far tonight against the Twins.
-P- For some schadenfreude, head over to Lookout Landing, scroll down to the bottom of the page and read the posts from the bottom up as the authors document the Mariners' current six-game losing streak (they're actually beat the Rangers 5-4 tonight, so this is the end). Then tell me if you still think Bucs Dugout is too negative.