Entering this weekend’s series against the Cincinnati Reds, it looked as if the Yankees were salvaging a mediocre season. Things weren’t looking bad. But the loss of Chien-Ming Wang seemed to boding ill-fate for the Yanks. The only consolation to going down the first two games was a resurgent win on the third.

Game one was their first loss after a 7 game winning streak. It came, in part, from a controversial call by Joe Girardi. He told Mike Mussina to intentionally walk Jay Bruce. This was followed up by a Jolbert Cabrera’s double down the left field, setting the pace for a three-run inning for the Reds which culminated in a 4-2 loss.

Game two provided opportunities for the Yankees that never came to fruition, with the Reds again handing them a loss 6-0. The New York Post quotes Johnny Damon who managed to walk three times without scoring:

“It’s just a shame because we had so many opportunities to score runs and we didn’t. We didn’t find a way to put any pressure on them.”

Game three’s win owes a lot to Andy Pettitte. His time on the mound ended in the 6th inning with a rain delay. But it ended 19 straight innings without allowing a run. Additionally, he’s only allowed one run in his last three starts, all of which ended in Yankee victory.

Let’s hope that the rest of the New York Yankees season looks more like game 3, rather than game 1 and 2.

Mike Mussina gave a great performance last night. And his team still managed to lose. It’s the heartbreaking reality that every fine pitcher must face. You can give it all you got and your team can still let you down.

For Mussina, the 39-year-old veteran starter, it meant giving 8 innings of superb performance. It meant only giving up 2 runs in that entire time. And it meant watching Mariano Rivera give up a ninth-inning home run handing the Kansas City Royals the win.

And I do mean handing it to them. The Royals are the third worst team in the league. The Yankees should have had this home game locked up.

If the Yankees had won, it would have given Mussina his tenth straight win. Joe Girardi is quoted in the New York Post as saying:

“(He was) great again. He threw the ball outstanding. It would’ve been nice to get his 10th win, but it wasn’t meant to be. Moose was so good. He went back out and did a nice job in the eighth. Two runs in eight innings, usually that’s going to win a game. It just didn’t.”

All of those fans who purchased New York Yankees tickets to watch the game in 94 degrees expected more from their middling team. It’s summer and time is ticking. Let’s hope that the Yankees can rebound with some last minute achievement in what’s turning out to be a disappointing season.

After two devastating losses earlier this week to the Orioles under the pitching leadership of Rasner and Hawkins, Pettitte and Mussina redeemed their team, inspiring hope to their New York ticket buying fans. Pettitte led the Yankees to a a 4-2 win over the Orioles on Wednesday. And Mussina helped boost the Yankees into a 6-5 win over the Twins on Friday.

Pettitte was well matched against the Baltimore. He has a 23-6 career record against the Orioles, which turned out to be exactly what the Yankees needed in a series that left them down 2 games. He only allowed two runs through his six innings.

Pettitte made a game winning play against Brian Roberts. After his third hit of the night, a one-out double, Roberts was eying third base. While pitching to Melvin Mora, Pettitte shot the ball to second, catching the runner off base and out.

Mussina is proving himself a valuable starter this year with 8 wins. What’s impressive about Mussina is his ability to not get rattled by early errors. Everyone makes mistakes. But great players learn to shake it off and come back tough.

He showed this skill Friday against the Twin.  Allowing a major rally by Minnesota in the beginning of the game, he changed up his strategy and held the Twins scoreless for 5 innings.  This allowed his teammates, led by Bobby Abreu to score 6 runs, winning the game.

Tuesday night was a time for Yankee hitters, Bobby Abreu and Johnny Damon. Wednesday night was an evening for Mike Mussina. Between the two games, the Yankees managed two wins against the Chicago White Sox, a team with a lot of hopes this year, hopes that seem to be pipe dreams thanks to a strong performance from the New York team.

On Tuesday, Abreu hit a grand slam in the seventh inning. Johnny Damon also had a great night with a three run play in the eighth to solidify the win.

The Daily News quotes Damon about the two non-superstar’s performances:

“When you have superstars like Jeter, A-Rod, Posada, those guys are going to get most of the attention. That’s all right with Bobby and me, because we can just lay in the weeds and do our thing.”

Then there’s Mike Mussina on Wednesday, playing his best game of the season. This marvelous performance came in response to some harsh criticism from Hank Steinbrenner. He held the Sox to two runs and four hits in over seven innings.

Between the two, the Yankees are showing themselves capable of winning games against good teams. It gets one excited about buying more tickets to more Yankees games this season.

How’s this for bad news for people buying Yankee tickets: A strained left quadriceps for Derek Jeter Monday night against Tampa Bay. It could take him out for several games.

His response quoted in the New York Times is: “I felt something, and I didn’t want to be stupid.” We’re glad the shortstop team captain isn’t stupid. But it’s never good news when being smart requires the star player to not play.

There is no word on whether he’ll be put on the disabled list, which has happened 4 times previously. An evaluation will be made at some point in the next week. Let’s hope that the optimism works.

There aren’t a lot of other shortstop replacements available for the Yankees. Giambi has a sore left groin; Shelly Duncan is on a two-game suspension.

The injury was a major negative point to a successful win by the Yanks. Mussina, who I reported recently played very mediocre against the Blue Jays, was redeemed by a great outing against Tampa Bay. He only allowed on run and two hits in six innings.

So when all is said and done, I’m glad that Mussina found his mojo, but you can’t help but be discouraged by the news of Jeter’s injury. Hopefully it’s only a couple of games, and it won’t require any placement on an injured list. And hopefully he’ll be back strong.