In contrast to Rich Harden's second to last start in which he did not record a single out on a ball in play (Hat Tip: Dalton), Pettitte pitched seven innings of nothing but balls in play Tuesday night.

Pettitte had zero walks, zero strikeouts and allowed no home runs. The fate of every batter was decided on the basis of whether a Yankee fielder got to the ball in time (a dangerous tactic given the team's defense). The one possible exception was Eric Chavez's foul out to Jorge Posada, but I believe that still counts in terms of BABIP.

(Incidentally, Brian Bruney followed suit in the eighth inning, but Mariano Rivera ruined it by striking out Ryan Sweeney in the ninth).

While strikeouts are great, a pitcher with a .300 BABIP, no walks and no homers allowed would be a Cy Young Award candidate every year if he got any kind of run support. (And provided an inordinate amount of the hits he yielded were not doubles and triples). Because when you think about it, a batter who hit .300 with no walks, no homers and no strikeouts, would be well below average. (Let's say 25 percent of his hits were doubles). He'd go 12-for-every-40 with 3 doubles and nine singles. That would be a line of .300/.300/.375.