Two weeks left, two and 1/2 games back:
NEW YORK (AP) -Back on the field in time for the stretch drive, Mike Mussina and Doug Mientkiewicz are helping the New York Yankees try to chase down Boston.
Mussina limited Baltimore to three singles over seven innings, Mientkiewicz hit a three-run homer and the Yankees beat the Orioles 12-0 Tuesday night to inch closer to the first-place Red Sox .
”I felt I could do whatever I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it,” Mussina said. ”You don’t have many days like that.”
New York, which has won 11 of 13, closed within 2 1/2 games of Boston in the AL East, the Yankees’ smallest division deficit since before play on April 21. They also opened a 4 1/2-game lead over Detroit in the wild-card race.
”We’ve still got work,” said manager Joe Torre , whose team is a season-best 23 games over .500. ”We cannot allow ourselves to get caught up in what people will assume is a foregone conclusion.”
The Yankee Stadium crowd roared when Boston’s 4-3 loss at Toronto was posted on the scoreboard in the bottom of the eighth inning. By then, New York had scored in double digits for the fourth time this month and the 21st time this season.
Go Yankees !
