Oakland (14-15) at NY Yankees (11-19), 1:05 pm EDT
BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- Since Mike Mussina pitched the
New York Yankees to a victory Monday, the Yankees have seen
nothing but defeat.
The veteran righthander will try to right the Yankees' ship
Saturday when he takes on the Oakland Athletics in the second of
three games at Yankee Stadium.
Mussina (2-2, 4.50 ERA) yielded two runs in seven strong innings
in a 6-2 win over the Devil Rays on Monday, his second straight
win on the road.
New York shuffled its regular lineup following that victory but
has had dismal results since, losing four straight in miserable
fashion. Tampa Bay outscored Mussina's team, 28-14, in winning
the final three games of a four-game set and the Athletics took
advantage of some sloppy defense in Friday's 6-3 win over the
Yankees.
Three errors, two walks, a single and a hit batter led to three
runs in the top of the 10th as Oakland handed New York closer
Mariano Rivera a bitter defeat. Barry Zito threw 7 1/3 strong
innings and Bobby Kielty slugged a two-run homer for the A's,
who snapped their own three-game slide.
With the embarrassing loss on a cold, wet night in the Bronx,
the Yankees fell to 2-8 since winning back-to-back games April
24 26 by a combined score of 23-5. They remain in a tie for
fourth place with Tampa Bay in the American League East
Division, nine games behind Baltimore.
Joe Blanton (0-2, 2.67) gets the nod for Oakland, hoping to
rebound from his first rough outing this year.
After four strong starts to begin the season, including his
first career complete game on April 24 at Anaheim, the
24-year-old gave up four runs in 4 2/3 innings in the A's 6-5
win over the Seattle Mariners on April 30.