Yes, the title of this post is a joke. That said, Sidney Ponson did the job - and then some - on Friday night at Shea, holding the Mets to exactly zero earned runs over six innings of work. Yes, he walked four guys, to go along with five hits and 4 strikeouts. But, what matters is that all of those guys were left on base.

If you asked Yankees fans to bet on the outcome Ponson's performance tonight, before the game, let's just say that "6 scoreless" would not be a popular choice. Heck, "Yankees win the game" might not have even been a popular choice. But, regardless of Ponson's past, he's "earned" a second start now. Right? I think. Yeah. I'm going with that.

The Yankees bats came to life, putting together a streak of four consecutive innings of 2 or more runs from the fourth through seventh innings, giving them a 9-0 lead.

A suddenly hot Bobby Abreu led the charge, collecting four hits in as many at bats, with one of those being a double. He also stole 3 bases, scored a run, drove in 3 and walked once. Robbie Cano was 1 for 4, but his at bats counted. Besides a solo home run, he hit a sac fly that scored Jeter and a ground out that scored Abreu. That's 3 RBIs for the second baseman. Jeter (hit streak extended to 15 games) was big as well, going 2 for 4 with a double, a walk, 2 runs and 2 RBIs. Jose Molina scored 2 runs of his own, as well as an RBI, finishing 2 for 3 with a walk.

Kyle Farnsworth, Jose Veras and Kei Igawa (promoted before the game) combined to pitch one scoreless inning a piece and shut out the Mets, holding them to eight hits for the game.

The Yankees and Mets will pick it up again tomorrow at 3:55 PM ET when Andy Pettitte (8-5, 4.04 ERA) will face Johan Santana (7-6, 2.93 ERA).