"Ah, the joy of six. The Yankees just can't get enough of it.

The Bombers once again have canceled plans to move one of their six starting pitchers to the bullpen; they will continue to go with a six-man rotation indefinitely.

Joe Girardi believes that Phil Hughes and A.J. Burnett - the two top candidates for relief duty - improved enough during the past week to merit another start. And he apparently hasn't soured on Bartolo Colon , who is 0-3 with a 5.68 ERA in his last four outings.

"Guys made some progress when we went to Boston and ... there's no rush to make this decision," Girardi said. "We said let's go through it again and see what happens. Let's see if the progress continues. If we stay to it, we stay to it."

Freddy Garcia , Hughes and Burnett will pitch the next three days against the Orioles , in that order. Ivan Nova is slated to pitch Thursday in Baltimore. CC Sabathia 's normal turn in the rotation would be Friday in Anaheim , but Girardi may give him an extra day of rest. Sabathia has said he prefers to pitch every fifth day.

One of the biggest components in this call was Burnett's strong 5-1/3 innings against Boston on Thursday after tweaking the mechanics of his delivery. "It really makes me curious," Girardi said. "You give him another time through and does it even get better?""