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YANKEES 5, TWINS 1
NEW YORK - Mike Mussina entered this season almost an afterthought in the New York Yankees' rotation, the old man on a staff of budding stars. What a difference four months make.
Mussina, 39, walked off the Yankee Stadium mound yesterday to rousing "Moose!" calls from the sold-out crowd, having pitched eight economical innings in a 5-1 win over the Minnesota Twins, the Yankees' 10th straight home victory.
Last year, "I physically couldn't do what I wanted to do," Mussina said after giving up six hits without allowing a run. "The whole year was miserable."
Alex Rodriguez and Justin Christian had two-run doubles and Richie Sexson had 11 putouts and three assists at first base as the Yankees completed a 6-0 post-break homestand with sweeps of Oakland and Minnesota.
"It starts with starting pitching, defense and timely hitting, and we're getting all those now," Rodriguez said.
The Twins did not get a runner past second base against Mussina (13-6) in losing their fourth straight game.
"It was a disappointing ball game," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "I don't know how to describe it. Our trip here was not very good. We played terrible baseball pretty much all the way through it."
Mussina retired 14 of the first 17 batters and, for the third straight start, didn't walk a batter. He has given up just five runs in his last five starts and has 263 career wins.
It's quite a turnaround from last season, when he was 11-10 with a career-high 5.15 ERA. He was overshadowed by the young prospects, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, during spring training.
But they were a combined 0-7 before going down with injuries.
Minnesota 000 000 001 – 1 9 0
New York 000 023 00x – 5 9 0
Minnesota AB R H BI Avg. New York AB R H BI Avg.
Span rf 4 0 0 0 .326 Damon dh 4 0 0 0 .315
ACasilla 2b 4 1 2 0 .323 Jeter ss 4 1 2 0 .285
Redmond c 4 0 1 0 .288 BAbreu rf 3 1 0 0 .275
Morneau dh 4 0 1 0 .317 ARodriguez 3b 4 1 1 2 .318
DYoung lf 4 0 0 0 .294 Sexson 1b 3 0 0 1 .216
Lamb 1b 4 0 3 1 .229 Cano 2b 4 1 2 0 .265
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