Yankee Go To Bat For Moose

Cabrera Slam Ignites 11-3 Win

Mike Mussina recorded an AL best 15th consecutive season with 10 or more wins as the Yankees bounced back from Tuesday night's trouncing with a convincing 11-3 victory of their won. The Yankees ended the first 81 games of the season on the wrong end of a 19-1 loss the prior night. That led George Steinbrenner to issue a statement through spokesman Howard Rubinstein that said GM Brian Cashman was working hard to "fix" the team and that the ball was in his court. Joe Torre also held a team meeting to go over where the Yankees have been and where they are headed. Whether or not any of it had an immediate impact remains to be seen, but the Yankees hitters responded last night.

With the game tied 1-1, the Yankees exploded for 8 runs in the 4th inning. They also had an 8 run innings against the Mets on Sunday. The Yankees loaded the bases with one out on a single by Jorge Posada, a double by Bernie Williams, and an error by Aaron Boone on an Andy Phillips grounder. That brought up the resurgent Melky Cabrera, who had seen his average dip to .244 before hitting in 10 of his last 11 games. Indians starter Paul Byrd threw one in Cabrera's hitting zone and Melky responded by belting his first grand slam through a strong wind and into the right-center field bleachers.

Miguel Cairo reached on another error by Boone and stole one of the six bases the Yankees swept against catcher Victor Martinez. Bubba Crosby brought Cairo home with a bloop single to center. RBI singles by Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez increased the lead to 7-1 and then the two pulled off a double steal. That lead to a two run double by Jorge Posada to complete the scoring and finally push Byrd (6-6) out of the game.

Mussina (10-3) became the first American League pitcher to win double figures in games for 15 consecutive seasons by throwing a very effective 6 innings before his sore groin tightened up. With the All-Star break coming up, Moose should have plenty of rest before his next start. He worked 6 innings, allowing a solo home run to Todd Hollandsworth and a 2-run shot to Ben Broussard. Kris Wilson, recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Columbus, worked a pair of scoreless innings before giving way to Mariano Rivera who needed to get some work in.

The Yankees picked up their final two runs in the 8th on an RBI triple by Cairo and Jeter's sacrifice fly.

Notes

Melky Cabrera singled and doubled in addition to his home run and drove in a career high 5 runs. He's raised his average from .244 to .272 by going 18-51 (.353)