Bronx, N.Y., June 4, 2008 — The 50,000-plus that filled Yankee Stadium Wednesday discovered the darnedest thing. The weather was cooler and damper than the night before, and the guy who took the mound is more rooted in the Yanks’ recent past than he is in their future. But these less than glowing developments notwithstanding, New York found out that the 2008 season did not end Tuesday night after all.

Veteran Mike Mussina, a guy who has been mistaken by the team owner and many of its fans to be the pitcher without a fastball, threw his impressive arsenal of pitches at the same Toronto team that demoralized the Bronx Tuesday, and he sent them back to their hotel with barely a whimper in a 5-1 Yankee win. Mussina and counterpart Jesse Litsch lead their respective teams in wins entering June, but the Toronto hurler had a 7-1 mark compared to Moose’s 8-4, and Litsch sported an era a full point lower at 3.18.

It didn’t matter, though Moose had the crowd nervous at the outset, with Jays batters occupying first and third base in the top of the first with back-to-back, one-out singles to left field. Moose’s 2008 mantra is no (or few) runs, not no hits, however, and he escaped the dilemma with a first pitch 4-6-3 dp grounder from Scott Rolen on a rolling cutter. The inning set the tone, really, though it wasn’t until his sixth (and last) inning that Toronto had two batters reach safely again.

Mussina mixed his fastball, curve, change of pace, and cutter all night, and though Toronto reached him for a hit in four of his six frames, he had them on their heels. He mixed the way he garnered outs as well, retiring 18 through six innings by striking out six (four taking), coaxing six ground ball outs, and retiring six on airborne balls that found fielder’s gloves, three of those infield liners.

Unfortunately Litsch, who is not a hard thrower either, was solving the Yanks routinely as well. This was pounded home to the rooting faithful when Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui each led off the first two innings with singles and never advanced a base. The Yanks last faced Litsch in the Stadium in a day game last September when Jesse subbed for the hard-throwing A.J. Burnett. Fans who breathed a sigh of relief at that substitution soon regretted it, as Litsch did not allow a fifth hit until there were two outs in the eighth inning of a 4-1 Toronto win.

Jesse throws an 89- or 90-mph fastball (though the Scoreboard gun once credited him with 93), but that’s mostly for show. He lives and dies by a mid-to-high eighties cutter, one he was throwing more than 50 percent of the time. But when weak-hitting catcher Jose Molina, who is about to be restored to backup status with the expected return of Jorge Posada, delivered the Yanks’ third straight leadoff single in the third, Litsch’s luck ran out. The red-hot Johnny Damon, in the middle of his second consecutive three-hit night, moved Molina to third on a one-out, hit-and-run safety to left, and Derek Jeter broke the scoreless tie with a line single over Mark Scutaro at second.

Litsch would not allow another leadoff hit, but the Yanks were solving his cutter nonetheless. Wilson Betemit, subbing for Jason Giambi at first, doubled the lead in the fourth with a two-out line homer to right, and the forever struggling Robbie Cano drilled a double into the right-field corner on the next pitch. Following a walk, Melky Cabrera lofted a single to right center to give the home team a 3-0 lead.

Mussina, meanwhile, was just rolling along. He pitched around second- and fourth-inning singles and looked to be ready for multiple additional innings after retiring shortstop David Eckstein on a liner to Damon in left to close the fifth on 72 pitches. But the first four Jays batters in the sixth put up tough at bats. Shannon Stewart went down on a bouncer to short on six tosses, and Scutaro wasted four two-strike pitches before finally taking a called third strike in a nine-pitch battle. Alex Rios won a similar contest, strolling to first on Moose’s first walk, and Rolen finally broke through on a long run-scoring double to left center after he, too, wasted a two-strike darting pitch by barely fouling it off. A ground out closed the frame, but it cost Mussina 30 pitches, and at 102 throws (the Scoreboard had 103), he was done after six.

There was much consternation after the Yankee 9-3 Tuesday night meltdown loss, but there shouldn’t have been. Chamberlain struggled with his arbitrary pitch count, and the Yankee offense gamely battled the superb Roy Halladay. They reached him for two runs and six hits through 102 pitches in six innings. It was the equal, at least, of the 95 tosses he threw in seven innings in a Yankee Opening Day 3-2 win. The bad Yankee offense was the one that wasted 15 hits in Minnesota Monday. They were good Tuesday, and even better this night. They immediately restored their three-run bulge after a Molina double sent Litsch to the showers with one down in the home sixth. The lumbering catcher startled the Toronto infield and the crowd by crossing to third on a Cabrera bouncer to short against righty Shaun Camp. He scored easily on Damon’s third safety, a bouncer to right.

Ross Ohlendorf allowed a leadoff single to start the seventh, but it was to be Toronto’s last baserunner, as he, Kyle Farnsworth, and Mariano Rivera retired the next nine, three on strike outs. Farnsworth was greeted by a smattering of boo’s, and Mo by the usual cheers. The Yankee pen, which was the one truly alarming area in Tuesday’s humiliation, performed well, with no Joba sightings. The Yanks added a fifth run after Camp walked Abreu leading off the seventh. Bobby reached second running on an A-Rod bouncer to short, and the superb Matsui greeted southpaw Scott Downs with an rbi single up the middle to forge the final 5-1 score.

Mussina’s numbers were brilliant, with a 65/37 strikes/balls ratio, and an even better 17 out of 23 first-pitch strikes. He is among the league leaders with his nine wins, and the win against AL East rival Toronto was huge. Chien-Ming Wang has the opportunity to place the Yanks one game closer to third-place Toronto than they were when the Jays arrived when he battles righty Dustin McGowan Thursday afternoon.

The Scoreboard antics continued tonight, with the Johnny Damon baby picture being shown with a mustache this time. In an homage the like of which is oft repeated in the South Bronx these days, Captain Jeter was feted once his rbi single in the third got the scoring going, as it was his 2,416th hit, moving him past the inestimable Mickey Mantle and into third place on the all-time Yankees hit list. It’s not a bad day for Mussina either. It was 18 years ago this day that team stalwarts Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada were drafted by this club, Andy in the 20th round, and Jorge in the 24th. Mike Mussina was a first-round (20th overall pick by Baltimore) that same day too.

And if that weren’t enough, the Moose reached two very big numbers involving true Yankees from way back in this game too. By starting his 227th game for the Bombers, Mike tied Jack Chesbro for 11th place on the Yankee list in that category. The legendary Chesbro, who would have celebrated his 134th birthday Thursday afternoon, holds one of those “never to be equalled” records, as he threw 41 complete games for the New York Highlanders in 1904. But Moose reached what is perhaps an even more impressive milestone with his strike out of Matt Stairs in the fourth inning. That punch out moved Mike past righthander Bob Shawkey into seventh place on the Yankee strike out list with 1,164. It would be hard to find a better pitching pedigree than Shawkey’s in this, the last year of the old Yankee Stadium.

It was Shawkey, you see, who started and won the first ever game in the old ballpark, a 4-1 win over the Red Sox in April 1923.

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!