If you look atop the American League pitching victories leader board this morning, you'll see two names, both of which are a surprise. It's hard to tell though which is the bigger one. Mike Mussina joined Cliff Lee with 10 wins last night when the Yankees beat the Houston Astros 8-4 to earn their third straight win. It also put the Yankees three games over .500 for the first time this season.Mussina became the 5th pitcher in major league history to have at least 17 double digit win seasons. He tied Warren Spahn and Don Sutton, and trails only Greg Maddux (20), Cy Young (19), and Steve Carlton (18) for the most seasons in double figures. Last night's game didn't start out promising though.
With two men aboard in the 1st inning, Moose hung a breaking pitch, and Carlos Lee bashed it into the left field "Crawford Boxes" for a 3-0 lead. The Yankees came right back to cut the lead to 3-2 in the 2nd against Astros starter Wandy Rodriguez. Alex Rodriguez hit his 11th home run of the season into the right field stands with the help of an Astros fan. Right fielder Hunter Pence leaped and appeared to have a good shot of robbing A-Rod of his 529th career home run. But an Astros fan, glove in hand, reached across and collided with Pence's glove, ensuring the home run. A stunned Pence glared and had a few words for the fans in the area.
Jason Giambi and Melky Cabrera followed the home runs with back-to-back double to produce a second run and the Yankees were right back in the ball game. Mussina then retired the Astros with relative ease. He didn't walk a batter, threw 19 first pitch strikes to the 23 batters he faced, and retired 15 of the last 18 Astros overall. He also made us laugh snot out our noses with his line as reported by the Star Ledger's Ed Price."I didn't stop at 10 any of those years," Mussina pointed out. "I actually made it to 11. Just like 'Spinal Tap.'"The Yankees took the lead for good in the 3rd on a Melky Cabrera bases loaded walk and Jose Molina's 2-run single. Brad Ausmus got the Astros back to within one with an RBI single off of Ross Ohlendorf, but the Yankees tacked on runs in the 8th (Robinson Cano pinch-hit single) and 9th (Wilson Betemit 2-run double) innings.
News and Notes
Mike Mussina's victory was the 260th of his career, tying him with Ted Lyons for 39th on the all-time list.
The combination of Mussina and Jose Molina neutralized the Astros running game. After being successful 4 times in 6 attempts on Friday, the Astros were 0-2. As a result of their success on Friday, Joba Chamberlain is working on his timing to the plate and a slide step.
Struggling Robinson Cano got the day off, though he delivered a pinch-hit RBI single in the 8th inning. Recently recalled Alberto Gonzalez got the start in his stead. Peter Abraham spoke with Kevin Long about Cano's struggles. Long even spoke to Don Mattingly about it.
June 14, 2008
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |  | R | H | E | |
NY Yankees | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 1 | |
Houston | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 0 |
| NY Yankees | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Damon, LF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .324 |
| Jeter, SS | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .270 |
| Abreu, RF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .284 |
| Rodriguez, 3B | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .322 |
| Giambi, 1B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .259 |
| Betemit, 1B | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .232 |
| Cabrera, CF | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .264 |
| Molina, C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .219 |
| Gonzalez, 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | .200 |
| a-Cano, PH-2B | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .220 |
| Mussina, P | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 |
| Ohlendorf, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| b-Matsui, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .323 |
| Farnsworth, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Ramirez, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 35 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 19 | |
| a-Singled for Gonzalez in the 8th. b-Grounded into a double play for Ohlendorf in the 8th. | ||||||||
| BATTING 2B: Giambi (11, Rodriguez), Cabrera (8, Rodriguez), Damon (20, Geary), Betemit (3, Geary). HR: Rodriguez (11, 2nd inning off Rodriguez, 0 on, 0 out). TB: Damon 4; Jeter; Rodriguez 5; Giambi 2; Betemit 2; Cabrera 3; Molina; Cano. RBI: Rodriguez (34), Cabrera 2 (30), Molina 2 (8), Cano (21), Betemit 2 (9). 2-out RBI: Cabrera; Molina 2; Betemit 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Mussina; Gonzalez; Giambi; Molina. S: Molina. GIDP: Jeter; Gonzalez; Matsui. Team LOB: 8. BASERUNNING SB: Damon (12, 2nd base off Rodriguez/Ausmus). FIELDING E: Jeter (6, missed catch). DP: (Cano-Betemit-Jeter). | ||||||||
| NY Yankees | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Mussina (W, 10-4) | 6.0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3.87 |
| Ohlendorf (H, 4) | 1.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.80 |
| Farnsworth (H, 6) | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.02 |
| Ramirez | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2.37 |
| Houston | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Pence, RF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .279 |
| Matsui, 2B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .277 |
| Tejada, SS | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .300 |
| Berkman, 1B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .360 |
| Lee, LF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .276 |
| Wigginton, 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .277 |
| Bourn, CF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .234 |
| Ausmus, C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .235 |
| Rodriguez, P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| a-Loretta, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .279 |
| Byrdak, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 |
| Sampson, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .105 |
| Wright, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| b-Blum, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .241 |
| Geary, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 33 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 12 | |
| a-Struck out for Rodriguez in the 5th. b-Grounded out for Wright in the 7th. | ||||||||
| BATTING 2B: Pence (17, Mussina), Tejada (18, Mussina), Ausmus (6, Ohlendorf). HR: Lee (14, 1st inning off Mussina, 2 on, 2 out). TB: Pence 2; Tejada 2; Berkman; Lee 6; Bourn 2; Ausmus 2. RBI: Lee 3 (52), Ausmus (10). 2-out RBI: Lee 3. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Bourn; Lee; Pence. S: Matsui. GIDP: Berkman. Team LOB: 4. BASERUNNING CS: Bourn (6, 2nd base by Mussina/Molina), Lee (1, 2nd base by Mussina/Molina). FIELDING DP: 3 (Matsui-Tejada-Berkman 2, Wigginton-Matsui). | ||||||||
| Houston | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Rodriguez (L, 2-3) | 5.0 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2.76 |
| Byrdak | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.37 |
| Sampson | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.64 |
| Wright | 1.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3.70 |
| Geary | 2.0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2.55 |
Byrdak pitched to 2 batters in the 6th.
IBB: Rodriguez (by Rodriguez), Rodriguez (by Geary),
Cabrera (by Geary).
Pitches-strikes: Mussina 89-65, Ohlendorf 10-7,
Farnsworth 13-7, Ramirez 15-12, Rodriguez 88-57,
Byrdak 9-1, Sampson 7-5, Wright 17-14, Geary 36-17.
Ground outs-fly outs: Mussina 8-5, Ohlendorf 2-1,
Farnsworth 2-1, Ramirez 0-1, Rodriguez 9-5, Byrdak 0-0, Sampson 3-0, Wright 0-1, Geary 4-1.
Batters faced: Mussina 23, Ohlendorf 5, Farnsworth 3,
Ramirez 4, Rodriguez 23, Byrdak 2, Sampson 2, Wright 5, Geary 11.
Inherited runners-scored: Sampson 2-0.
Umpires: HP: Eric Cooper. 1B: Marty Foster. 2B:
Derryl Cousins. 3B: Angel Hernandez.
Weather: 72 degrees, roof closed.
Wind: 0 mph, None.
T: 2:57.
Att: 43,409.
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