Yankees lose 6 straight.

Not sure where to start tonight.

I suppose we'll be positive about one thing: Hughes had a pretty good first MLB start. He seemed a bit nervous and got a little unlucky, but I'd say he pitched well. Yankee fans should be excited about this kid.

That's about the only positive part of tonight. The whole offense was stagnant. Probably a combination of fatigue, injuries and bad luck.

As for the Joe "what the hell are you thinking!?" Torre move of the night:

Doug Mientkiewicz was hitting 2nd in the lineup.

Huh?

Listen, when Joe Torre puts Cairo #2 in the lineup, I understand what motivates him. Cairo is a "contact hitter" and has "some peskiness on the base paths". Those are terrible reasons to put him in the two hole, but at least I understand why Joe thinks it is correct.

But Mientkiewicz... in the two hole?

I really, for the life of me, cannot deduce one reason why Joe would do this. Mientkiewicz is slow, his on-base percentage is abysmal and he strikes out somewhat frequently. Even in backwards Joe Torre land, there is no reason to put him there. Was Joe just randomly sorting the lineup tonight or something?

BaseballProspectus shows that lineup order doesn't matter THAT much, but by incorrectly placing hitters you are costing your team runs, even if the difference is small.

This bullpen is gassed. Their arms are dead. The Yankees better hope for a few quality starts in a row if they want to have any kind of bullpen going into next week.

Things are not getting much easier going into a weekend series against Boston. At least they will get starts from both Pettitte and Wang. Quality starts don't mean much, though, if your bullpen continually implodes.

The offense just had an off night. The pitching has had a freaking off month.