Pirates Steal Show from Crystal

Mike Mussina was perfect for 5 innings and Billy Crystal made his dream come true, but the Pittsburgh Pirates came away with a 5-3 win at G.M.S. Field in Tampa. Mussina was as good as he's been in a long time, retiring all 15 hitters he faced. But the start of the day belonged to Crystal, the long time Yankees fan who was fulfilling a dream.

The 2nd pitch Crystal saw, he hit just foul along the 1st Base line. He worked the count to 3-1 before Pirates starter Paul Maholm came back with a pair of 89-mph fastballs that produced swing and misses for strike 3. Crystal left to a standing ovation and was given the ball by Alex Rodriguez.

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the 7th against Jeff Karstens, but the Yankees came right back in their half of the inning against their old buddy, Byung-Hyun Kim. Tino Martinez probably wanted to take a few swings as he saw both Cody Ransom and Robinson Cano take Kim deep for a 3-1 Yankees lead.

But Karstens was, simply put, awful on this day. Karstens left with the game tied at 3-3 and the bases loaded. Lefty Billy Traber came on to face Jorge Velandia, who promptly delivered a 2-run single for the game winning hit. Karstens final line - 1.2 IP 7 H 5 ER 2 BB.

The Yankees manged just 4 hits off the other five Pirates pitchers not named Kim. Justin Christian had 2 of those hits after replacing Hideki Matsui in left field.

The biggest bright spot on the day though was Mussina, whose last 2 performances have been incredibly encouraging. He moved his fastball, curve, and changeup where he wanted.

"It's been the gauge for me most of my career, and it's been the gauge for a lot of pitchers," Mussina said. "If they can get the ball down and away consistently without it being a lot of work, they're going to have good days."

Mariano Rivera made his third apperance the spring, allowing 2 hits, before escaping unscathed.

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Crystal, DH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
a-Damon, PH-DH	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	.273
Jeter, SS	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	.190
Green, 3B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.083
Abreu, RF	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.455
b-Porter, PH-RF	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.294
Rodriguez, A, 3B	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.438
Ransom, SS	2	1	1	1	0	0	0	.222
Matsui, LF	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	.273
1-Christian, PR-LF	2	1	2	0	0	0	0	.333
Cano, 2B	3	1	1	2	0	0	1	.429
Gonzalez, 2B	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.333
Duncan, 1B	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.364
Ensberg, 1B	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	.300
Molina, C	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	.263
Moeller, C	2	0	0	0	0	2	1	.063
Cabrera, CF	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	.391
Gardner, B, CF	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.353
Totals	35	3	8	3	0	7	12
a-Grounded out for Crystal in the 3rd. b-Flied out for Abreu in the 6th. 1-Ran for Matsui in the 5th.
BATTING 2B: Matsui (1, Wright), Gardner, B (2, Kim), Christian (1, Carrasco). HR: Ransom (1, 7th inning off Kim, 0 on, 0 out), Cano (1, 7th inning off Kim, 1 on, 0 out). TB: Ransom 4; Matsui 2; Christian 3; Cano 4; Molina; Cabrera; Gardner, B 2. RBI: Ransom (1), Cano 2 (7). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Molina; Porter; Damon; Moeller. Team LOB: 5. BASERUNNING SB: Christian (2, 2nd base off Kim/Hernandez, M), Cabrera (1, 2nd base off Marte, D/Doumit). FIELDING Outfield assists: Gardner, B (Bay at home). DP: (Duncan-Molina-Rodriguez, A).

	NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Mussina 5.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 4.66 Rivera 1.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 Karstens (L, 1-2) 1.1 7 5 5 2 0 0 8.53 Traber (BS, 1) 0.1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 Bruney 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.40 Veras 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 6.00
Ground outs-fly outs: Mussina 4-9, Rivera 3-0, Karstens 3-0, Traber 0-1, Bruney 1-0, Veras 1-1. Batters faced: Mussina 15, Rivera 4, Karstens 12, Traber 3, Bruney 1, Veras 3. Inherited runners-scored: Traber 3-3, Bruney 2-0. Umpires: HP: Mark Carlson. 1B: Eric Cooper. 2B: Marty Foster. 3B: Paul Emmel. Weather: 70 degrees, sunny. Wind: 5 mph, Out to CF. T: 2:35. Att: 10,705.