Mussina and Offense Combine to Finish Sweep

Yankees 8, Royals 5

When Mike Mussina climbed the mound and fired his first pitch yesterday, more than 54,000 fans at Yankee Stadium cheered. But in some ways, Mussina appeared much less relevant than usual.

relevant a. 有關的，切題的；關係重大的

The Yankees have been scoring runs seemingly at will these days. So what did it matter if Mussina's fastball was a little sluggish or his slider did not slide?

sluggish a. 懶散的；遲鈍的；蕭條的

As it turned out, Mussina had a fine outing, as did the offense. The Yankees scored early and often, completing a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals with an 8-5 victory.

turn out 結果是；證明是

“The way our offense is going, if the starter can put up a couple zeros, we're going to go out there and put some pressure on the other side, whether we get one run, two runs, five runs, six runs,” Mussina said.

put up 建造

The Yankees (61-50) have scored 74 runs in their last seven games. They have won six of those games. In their only loss during that stretch, against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday, they scored nine runs. The offensive outburst has put the Yankees a season-high 11 games above .500 and into the thick of the playoff race, a half game out of the wild-card race.

thick n. 最激烈的時候

On a sun-splashed afternoon, the Yankees rattled starter Gil Meche in the second, scoring four runs with two outs. Melky Cabrera made the first dent with a run-scoring single. The next batter, Derek Jeter, walked with the bases loaded. Bobby Abreu then singled home two runs.

rattle v. 【口】使...驚惶失惜；使...發出咯咯聲
dent n. 凹痕


Given an early lead, Mussina kept his pitch count down, holding the Royals (48-62) scoreless for the first five innings.

The lead only grew in the third as Hideki Matsui led off with a towering home run that landed in the seats immediately behind the right-field wall. It was his 100th major league homer. The fans cheered Matsui, who joined the Yankees in 2003 after 10 seasons in Japan, until he reciprocated with a curtain call.

towering a. 高大的；傑出的
reciprocate v. 報答，交換


“I'm just happy to be able to reach that,” Matsui said through an interpreter.

It was the second consecutive day the fans at Yankee Stadium witnessed a milestone, after Alex Rodriguez hit his 500th home run in Saturday's 16-8 victory. Rodriguez was the designated hitter yesterday; Wilson Betemit played third and Johnny Damon had the day off. Rodriguez was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts.

Rodriguez's sacrifice fly in the fourth inning gave the Yankees a 6-0 lead. The Royals finally scored in the sixth inning as Ross Gload belted a two-run homer against Mussina. The Yankees responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning to take an 8-2 lead.

Mussina (7-7) was replaced after allowing a single to start the seventh inning. He surrendered nine hits and two runs, struck out three and walked none.

After an inconsistent start to the season, Mussina seems to be in a solid place. He has won his last three starts, giving him 246 for his career. Yesterday he became the pitcher with the most victories in major league history without a 20-victory season.

Brian Bruney relieved Mussina and gave up one run. Mike Myers allowed two runs, one earned, in the eighth. So Torre went to Mariano Rivera for a four-out save. But it was the Yankees' bats that saved the day.

“Not to say that there's not going to be a starter out there who's going to shut us down,” Torre said. “That goes for any team. You get a quality start and certainly they dominate the game, so to speak. But our offense right now is just about where we want it to be.”