The Phil Hughes timeline of events

Phil Hughes said he was approached during the middle innings of the Yankees' loss on Saturday and asked if he felt comfortable pitching Sunday's game on such short notice.

Hughes said he didn't hesitate to say yes, in part because he wasn't happy that he had his start pushed back to Wednesday in the first place.

"Things weren't going so well and they asked if I felt I was prepared enough to go because I had thrown only a light side on flat ground instead of a full side," Hughes said. "So they asked if I could go and I said yeah."

One night to prepare mentally was enough time, Hughes said, and the results supported that. He allowed one run and three hits and walked four in six innings.

"It was definitely a big game for us, so I was ready to go," he said.

Hughes is now at 175 1/3 innings for the season, and that's the number believed to be his innings limit. So he likely won't pitch again until the postseason, though he wasn't about to guess about that last night.

Hughes was initially moved to Wednesday night in part because the Yankees didn't want him to have too big a layoff before the postseason.

It's also interesting to note that had Hughes started on Wednesday night in Toronto, it would have been on seven days of rest. If you count another seven days of rest after Wednesday, that would have lined him up to start the second game of the American League Division Series.

Of course it's anyone's guess how the Yankees handle his rest now.