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Mussina tosses seven innings as Yankees bomb Angels

Aug 3, 2008 - 12:43 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- As Mike Mussina was discussing his latest win, his catcher Jose Molina walked by and said, "Hello Moose."

That's pretty much the extent of their conversations during games, and it has been successful for the New York Yankees.

Mussina threw dominant seven innings and Molina hit one of four Yankee home runs in an 8-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Saturday.

Wilson Betemit, Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez also homered for the Yankees, who have won two of their last seven following a season-high eight-game winning streak.

"We never talk," said Molina, a former Angel who made his first start since the Yankees acquired Ivan Rodriguez from Detroit on Wednesday.

"I just say, "Hi," and he says hi back to me and that's just on the day that he pitches. I don't know why."

Despite the addition of Rodriguez, will continue to be Mussina's personal catcher. And you can't argue with their success. The chemistry between Molina and Mussina continued to shine. It resulted in Mussina allowing two hits and two runs - all in the second inning.

It marked the first time since July 7, 2003 that Mussina allowed two hits or less in an outing of at least seven innings. He struck out five and walked two.

Mussina didn't know why the two did not converse more.

"That's it," Mussina said. "It's a humorous thing. It's not like we pass each other and look straight ahead. I don't know why, it's just the way it is. It's almost like we've been buddies for 15 years. When things are going are well, you give a lot of people a lot of credit and he deserves a lot of credit."

While Molina has been good defensively, he hadn't done much at the plate - until Saturday. Molina had three hits, including his first homer - a long blast in the fifth off Jered Weaver that staked the Yankees to a 5-2 lead.

"It's a huge help," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of Molina's offense. "He's capable of hitting and when he hit that home run, I was like it seemed like he did that a lot against us when he was with the Angels. It was nice to see.

"We've had a very tough homestand. This (win) was real important."

Rodriguez led off the sixth with a solo shot to left-center field, and that was enough for Mussina, who allowed both of his runs in the second.

After losing the first two contests of this four-game series, the Yankees appeared like they were going to lose again, but they came back with four runs in the second and third. Betemit tied the game with a two-run homer in the second and Abreu hit a solo shot after Molina scored the go-ahead run when Derek Jeter grounded into a double play.

Molina also scored on Jeter's RBI single in the seventh off Justin Speier, and Abreu added a run-scoring groundout in the frame for the final margin.

While the Yankees had one of their better games of the week, the Angels had one of their worst. They fell to 7-2 on a 10-game road trip through Baltimore, Boston and New York. The Angels had their five-game winning streak snapped, and lost for jthe third time in 15 games following the All-Star break.

Anaheim opened a 2-0 lead in the first when Garret Anderson and Howie Kendrick scored on Betemit's throwing error. But Weaver (9-9) failed to hold the early lead and was charged with six runs and eight hits in five-plus innings. He also tied a career-worst by allowing four home runs for the second time.

"He made a few mistakes and they took advantage," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "I thought he was aggressive. He went after hitters. This is a tough lineup and they're not too forgiving on mistakes. I thought he pitched better than his line shows."