Back To .500 With Win Over Twins

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
N.Y. Yankees	1	0	1	2	1	0	1	0	0		6	16	1
Minnesota	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0		5	7	0

Like the title says the Yanks moved back to the .500 mark with a 6-5 wins over the Minnesota Twins. The Yanks also moved out of the AL East cellar with the win because Baltimore lost to the Boston tonight. Mike Mussina started for the Yanks and pitched well. He gave up 4 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits in 6 IP, while walking just 1 and striking out 4. His one bad inning was the first where he gave up all 4 of his run, but it would have been a much easier inning had Shelley Duncan not pulled Derek Jeter off second with a bad throw. But unlike the game vs. the Orioles Mussina was able to settle down and pitch a good ballgame. The win was Mussina's team leading 8th of the year, the win also pull him into a tie for the AL wins lead.

Ain't that something? Who would have thought Mussina would have 8 wins before June, or even July for that matter. Last year he didn't get his 8th win till the end of August.

Jose Veras relieved Mussina in the 7th and didn't do his job. He allowed a lead off walk and then retired a batter, but again he didn't do his job. You can't come in the game a give up a lead off walk. ... Edwar Ramirez replaced Veras and retired the only two batters he faced to get out of the 7th. ... Next out of the pen was Kyle Farnsworth and he pitched a Kyle Farnsworth type inning. He allowed a lead off homer which cut the Yankees' lead to 6-5, but was able to retire the next three batters he faced to get out of the inning with the lead intact. ... Mariano Rivera came in for the 9th and picked up his 14th save on the year. He walked a batter and struck out 2.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Mussina (W, 8-4)	6.0	6	4	2	1	4	0	4.26
Veras (H, 1)	0.1	0	0	0	1	0	0	4.35
Ramirez (H, 1)	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Farnsworth (H, 5)	1.0	1	1	1	0	0	1	4.44
Rivera (S, 14)	1.0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0.38

TWINS PITCHING

The Yanks opened up the scoring in the first, Bobby Abreu walked with 1 out and later scored on an RBI single by Hideki Matsui.

They added one more in 3rd when Abreu led off with a triple and then scored on an RBI single by Alex Rodriguez.

Down 4-2 the Yanks tied the game in the 4th when Shelley Duncan led off with a walk, Robinson Cano then singled, and Jose Molina moved the runners over with a sac bunt. With runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out Melky Cabrera stepped up and smacked 2-run single into left.

Abreu again got on base in the 5th with a lead off single, he then scored on an RBI double by A-Rod to give the Yankees a 5-4 lead. They added their 6th and final run in the 7th, Abreu got on base once again with another triple, A-Rod got hit by a pitch and then Matsui his an RBI single.

AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Jeter, SS 5 0 0 0 0 1 3 .272 Abreu, RF 4 4 3 0 1 0 0 .296 Rodriguez, 3B 4 0 3 2 0 0 1 .291 Matsui, LF 4 0 3 2 1 0 1 .339 Damon, LF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .288 Giambi, DH 5 0 1 0 0 1 7 .243 Duncan, S, 1B 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 .161 a-Betemit, PH-1B 3 0 0 0 0 1 6 .265 Cano, 2B 4 1 1 0 0 0 2 .219 Molina, C 3 0 2 0 0 1 0 .219 Cabrera, CF 4 0 3 2 0 0 1 .266 Totals 37 6 16 6 3 4 21 a-Struck out for Duncan, S in the 5th. BATTING 2B: Rodriguez 2 (11, Perkins, Guerrier). 3B: Abreu 2 (3, Perkins, Bass). TB: Abreu 7; Rodriguez 5; Matsui 3; Giambi; Cano; Molina 2; Cabrera 3. RBI: Matsui 2 (26), Rodriguez 2 (19), Cabrera 2 (23). 2-out RBI: Matsui. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Jeter; Cano; Betemit. S: Molina. GIDP: Matsui. Team LOB: 9. BASERUNNING SB: Abreu (4, 2nd base off Perkins/Mauer). CS: Cabrera (1, 2nd base by Perkins/Mauer). PO: Cabrera (1st base by Perkins). FIELDING E: Duncan, S (3, throw). TWINS OFFENSE

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Bobby Abreu (3-for-4, 2 3B, BB, 4 R)

HONORABLE MENTION: Hideki Matsui (3-for-4, BB, 2 RBI), Alex Rodriguez (3-for-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI) and Melky Cabrera (3-for-4, 2 RBI). They all were 3-for-4 with 2 RBI, I couldn't ignore any of them.

Game two of this 4-game wrap around series is tomorrow night at the Metrodome. Chien-Ming Wang starts for the Yanks and he will go up against Boof Bosner. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m., and the game can be seen on YES and heard on WCBS 880.