Yes You Can

Mike Mussina earned his keep tonight, pitching 6.1 beautiful innings of 5-hit, 1 run ball while making the giddy Tampa Bay lineup look fairly foolish with his slick mixture of yo-yo pitches and circus curves. Moose has now won 5 games in a row and is 6-3 a month into the season. He’s been even more than the Yankees were hoping for from a “declining” (or maybe we should say, changing) 39-year old. To nail it all down, Ross Ohlendorf, Joba Chamberlain (3 K’s in 1 IP), and Mariano Rivera (rebound) solidified the win and the Yankee pen continues to impress.

The offense, despite looking like they’ve been asleep while in the batter’s box, came alive just in time and just enough to score 2 for Mussina against the exceptional James Shields. Robinson Cano’s bat also showed that he’s pretty much out of his slump, going 4-for-4 (with an RBI), and leaving the game with an above-200 AVG (.205). Maybe it was the closed doors chat that Joe Girardi had with his club or maybe they were merely reacting to Hank Steinbrenner’s recent comments, especially since he himself was at the game. Either way, the bats worked when they had to and the Yankees won a squeaker.

So, the march to .500 begins yet again.