That's kind of the headline that Yankees fans feared. I guess it could be worse; it could be 12 pitches, or it could be 27 pitches and nine strikeouts. But no runners the first time through the order, combined with a modicum of pitches thrown, is pretty much the worst-case scenario for a game against Verlander. You know he's good for 130 tonight, and that would be around the 12th inning at this pace.

The good news is that Phil Hughes is matching Verlander inning for scoreless inning, albeit not quite with the same grace. Hughes allowed just a single through the first two innings, but he got in a little trouble in the bottom of the third. With one out, Austin Jackson hit a single to right. Quintin Berry bunted him over for the second out of the inning, which is ... kind of bizarre. It was one of those quasi-sacrifices, though, where he was trying for a hit at the same time, so it wasn't that bizarre.

What it did was take the bat out of the hands of Miguel Cabrera, whom Hughes walked. And on a 3-0 count Prince Fielder ripped a pitch, but it was right at Curtis Granderson. Threat over. Game scoreless.