Hughes dominates as Yankees crush White Sox

And to think: Phil Hughes' spot in the rotation was up in the air in spring training.

Hughes delivered his fourth straight solid start Sunday, allowing just four singles over seven shutout innings in the Yankees' 12-3 win over the White Sox at the Stadium.

Hughes (3-0), who has erased any doubts the organization had about his ability to stay in the rotation, has allowed only 10 hits in 25 innings in four starts, and his 1.44 ERA is among the top three in the AL.

A lineup without Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez, who got a day off, had 16 hits, and Hughes did the rest.

"It's hard to say Hughesy hasn't done everything right for us so far," Joe Girardi said. "We felt really good about him coming out of spring training. The one thing he seemed to really nail down was command of his fastball and his curveball."

Add in his burgeoning changeup and cutter, and Hughes has been as dominant through the first month of the season as any of the elite three Yankees starters. Girardi has a decision to make on whether Javier Vazquez stays in his turn to start the series opener in Boston on Friday or have Hughes start on regular rest; Sunday, it seemed that he helped the decision to skip the struggling Vazquez.

Hughes got a quick lead from the somewhat makeshift lineup, with Brett Gardner bringing in Robinson Cano in the second inning on a bouncer to the right side that kicked off first baseman Paul Konerko's glove and into shallow rightfield.

The Yankees left the bases loaded in the third, but the onslaught began in the fourth with Gardner launching a full-count fastball from White Sox starter Mark Buerhle (2-4) into the seats in right. It was Gardner's first home run of the season and his first career homer off a lefthander.

Cano continued his torrid pace with a three-run shot off Buerhle in the fifth, a neat piece of hitting by the AL's leading hitter - he pulled a pitch on the outside corner well back into the first level of rightfield seats.

"I'm just looking for something I can drive," said Cano, who has six of his team-leading nine homers off lefties. "I'm not chasing those bad pitches anymore, so they have to give me something to hit."

Mark Teixeira had four hits and two RBIs, giving him six hits in two May games after just 11 hits in 22 April games. Nick Johnson, a fellow sub-.200 hitter with Teixeira, had a double and drove in two. Nick Swisher, batting cleanup, homered for the second straight game and drove in two.

"That was a big day," Teixeira said. "When you see a guy like Brett Gardner hit a home run, you know things are going well."

Hughes came into spring training in an open competition with Joba Chamberlain and Alfredo Aceves for the last spot in the rotation. It wasn't exactly a landslide, but Hughes won the job, then stayed on in Tampa as the Yankees skipped him the first week of the season.

Now, he's the one who could be forcing another starter to skip a turn. He walked only one batter in seven innings after walking 11 in his first 18, plus he fanned six, several with his improving changeup.

"Looking from the outside perspective, there probably wasn't as much expected of me," Hughes said. "You come into the season with labels on that number starter you are, but it doesn't really mean much."

What means more is the candid assessment of, say, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.

"Good [stuff]," he said of Hughes. "He's probably the best guy we've faced this year."