by DAN MARTIN , The New York Post

He may not be accustomed to it, but he looks pretty comfortable. And after a somewhat slow start yesterday, the rest of the bullpen looked good, as well.

After Chien-Ming Wang was knocked out in the sixth, David Robertson struggled, giving up two walks, a hit and a run and then Brian Bruney was rocky in the seventh, but escaped unscathed.

Hughes, Mariano Rivera, Phil Coke and Brett Tomko combined for five more shutout frames, giving up just one hit.

"That was huge, especially the way everybody contributed," Coke said. "We only had one man left at the end."

Alfredo Aceves was the only one not called on by Joe Girardi.

With Wang leaving with a right shoulder strain, the Yankees may be in need of another starter. Hughes wouldn't be a candidate right away, since he would have to build up his arm strength again.

Asked how long it might take him before he would be ready, Hughes said: "I don't know. I assume there's some formula for how many starts I would need."

In the meantime, he'll stay where he is, which is fine with him. "It's not like starting, but obviously it's an important part of the team," Hughes said. "I think we have one of the best starting rotations in Baseball and our bullpen is very capable of dominating."

Copyright 2009 N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved
	Terms & Conditions     Privacy Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.