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Mussina faces former team as Yankees look to rebound

Jul 28, 2008 - 2:23 PM Baltimore (49-55) at NY Yankees (58-46)

BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- Mike Mussina looks to help the New York Yankees rebound from their first loss in two weeks when he faces his former team, the Baltimore Orioles, in the opener of a three-game series Monday.

The Yankees were shut down by Jon Lester on Sunday, and saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end in a 9-2 loss to Boston.

The Yankees have been one of the hottest teams in baseball over the last two months, going 32-19 since May 26. They hope to rebound from their first loss since July 13 behind Mussina (13-6, 3.26 ERA), who is 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA in four starts this month.

The 39-year-old Mussina tossed eight scoreless innings in a 5-1 win over Minnesota on Wednesday.

"Without Moose, I don't know where we'd be," manager Joe Girardi told the team's official web site. "He's been the leader on the staff. Each start, it almost seems like he's getting better and better."

Mussina spent 10 seasons in Baltimore, recording 147 of his 263 career wins with the Orioles. The 18-year veteran has struggled against his former team though, going 1-3 with a 6.18 ERA in his last six starts against Baltimore.

On Monday, Mussina aims to lead the Yankees to their first 11-game home winning streak since they won 12 straight from April 25-June 1, 1985.

Aside from Mussina, New York has been getting outstanding production out of Robinson Cano, who is looking to bounce back from a rare hitless game. Cano went 0-for-4 on Sunday, but is still hitting .461 (18-for-39) over his last nine games.

Jeremy Guthrie (6-8, 3.58) has the unenviable task of trying to slow down Cano and the Yankees. Guthrie suffered his first loss since June 12 on Wednesday when he allowed two runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings of a 5-3 loss to Toronto.