FOURRRRRRRRR!

The Yankees held off the Cleveland Indians today, 5-3, to pull within 4 games of the Boston Red Sox. Shortly after Mariano Rivera closed out the Tribe for his 18th consecutive game, the Orioles' Miguel Tejada hit a game tying home run off of Eric Gagne. In the 10th, the former king of the Red Sox idiots, made them wish he was still there. Kevin Millar hit a walk-off 3-run HR off of Kyle Snyder to give the O's the win. But back to the Yankees.

The Yankees pitching staff held the Indians to 6 runs in the 3 games, and today it was Andy Pettitte dazzling a slumping Cleveland lineup. He and Jake Westbrook were locked in a scoreless duel until the 4th when Jason Giambi hit a laser into the right field seats, with a man aboard, for a 2-0 Yankees lead. It was Giambi's 9th home run and his in 3 at-bats, going back to his pinch-hit appearance on Saturday.

Robinson Cano continued his torrid hitting with 3 more singles, including an RBI base hit in the 6th. In the 7th, Melky Cabrera extended his career high hitting streak to 18 games with a solo HR, his 8th.


The Indians rallied against Pettitte in the bottom of the 7th with no one out, but Pettitte picked Jhonny Peralta off of 1st, retired Jason Michaels on a sac fly out, and got Chris Gomez to ground out to end the inning. A potentially huge inning turned into a 1 run frame.

Mariano Rivera relieved Luis Vizcaino in the 8th and had a shaky 9th before ending the game. Mo gave up 3 straight hits including an RBI double by Franklin Guitierrez that put the tying runs in scoring position. But Mo struck out Asdrubel Cabrera and Grady Sizemore, and retired Casey Blake on a game ending fly out to Bobby Abreu in right.

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Ron Guidry was ejected in the 8th inning by home plate ump Tim McLelland for arguing balls and strikes.

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Mussina Apologizes; Stands by His Words

Mike Mussina apologized yesterday for the way his comments about Carl Pavano were handled in the press, but Mussina did not apologize for what he said. In an interview with Mike and the Mad Dog Mussina said he met with Pavano for 15 minutes yesterday morning and cleared the air about his remarks. Moose characterized it as a good meeting and hoped that Pavano came away from it with some understanding.

One of the topics that has been at the forefront of Spring Training has been Mariano Rivera's future. When asked about it, Mussina said that while he realizes that the Yankees don't negotiate during the spring or the season (including his own contract status last year), exceptions can be made and one should definitely be made in the case of Mariano. Moose cannot see a future Yankees team without the future hall of fame closer.

Moose also was asked about Alex Rodriguez and didn't back down from the stance he made last season. Mussina knows that A-Rod is one of the greatest talents off all time, but he needs to stop worrying about every little aspect of the game at every single moment. Basically in not so many words, Moose said A-Rod had to stop being so anal.

Finally, Mussina discusses his own future. He's approaching 250 wins, a mark he will have achieved without ever winning 20 games in a season. No other pitcher has ever reached that total without accomplishing the season feat. And while 300 wins would be a great accomplishment, Moose said he would not just "hang around" to reach that total.

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