Yankees 5
A’s 0
When Mike Mussina was asked Friday afternoon to react to George Steinbrenner’s latest rant, the Yankees righty looked like he was handed a tablespoon of castor oil.
Told Mel Stottlemyre’s job was apparently on the line, Mussina said Steinbrenner certainly had the right to make changes but declined to give much more of a response.
“I’m just trying to pitch,” Mussina said with a frown. “There’s a lot of stuff going on, and I’m just trying to fix it.”
That never was clearer than yesterday afternoon, when Mussina willed his scuffling club to a 5-0 victory over Oakland by laboring to complete a four-hit shutout.
Behind an early four-run lead, Mussina cruised through Oakland’s lineup until two outs in the ninth. He needed 18 pitches and about nine minutes to record the 27th out, and his final pitch-count reached 131.
“I think tension has been high more than just in our dugout,” Mussina said. “I think in the tri-state area, tension has gone up since we haven’t played very well.
“Everybody says there’s 8 million things wrong with this team. Today hopefully is a starting point where we can go out there and play well and make some headway here for the rest of the season.”
Gary Sheffield, Tino Martinez and Alex Rodriguez drove in runs in the first three innings, helping the Bombers go up 4-0 and play at least one game without a guillotine over their heads.
The Yanks mustered five hits, and Mussina’s 22nd career shutout snapped a four-game losing streak. Mussina (3-2) tossed first-pitch strikes to 26 of 32 hitters.
“It seemed like he was doing whatever he wanted,” Jorge Posada said. “It was his game.”
Said Sheffield, “He was unbelievable. That’s the Moose I saw in the playoffs.”
In the first, Sheffield ripped an RBI double into the left-field corner that scored Derek Jeter from first. The right fielder also robbed Eric Chavez of an extra-base hit in the fourth with a running backhand catch in right-center.
Martinez, who literally threw Friday night’s game away, ripped a solo homer to right-center off Oakland starter Joe Blanton on the first pitch of the second inning.
And A-Rod, who also committed a costly error in Friday’s 6-3 loss, came up clutch. In the third, he ripped a two-out, two-run double to left-center. He added a two-out RBI single up the middle in the eighth.
Although Mussina allowed two singles in the sixth, he finished the frame by painting the outside corner with a 90 mph fastball to freeze Chavez and strand the runners.
“I had probably anything I wanted today,” he said of his repertoire.
With 109 pitches through eight innings, Mussina came out for the ninth to serenades of “Mooooooooose!” from 52,776 at the Stadium. He needed four pitches to retire the first two hitters on groundouts. That’s when things began to get tense.
“He wanted it real bad, almost too bad,” Rodriguez said. “He had some adrenaline going in the ninth.
“It was obvious looking at the scoreboard.”
Mussina’s fastball registered 92 mph during Chavez’s at-bat, but the pitcher was miffed he missed a couple close pitches and walked him. After Scott Hatteberg managed an infield single to the right-side hole, Joe Torre jogged out to boos.
“I said, ‘How we doing?’ ” Torre said. “He said, ‘Go on back.’
“I said, ‘I will when you catch your breath.’ ”
Torre returned to the dugout to cheers, and the crowd cheered again when Bobby Kielty ended a seven-pitch confrontation with a flyout to left.
Sometimes, one man can make a difference.
“We needed something to build some confidence,” Mussina said.
Punch out
Mike Mussina yesterday threw his 22nd career shutout in the Yankees’ 5-0 win over the A’s at the Stadium.
Here’s how it went, by the numbers:
IP 9
H 4
R 0
BB 2
K 3
Pitches 131
Strikes 83
Balls 48
Ground outs 15
Fly outs 3
Batters faced 32
Perfect innings 5
