Last Night's Action: The Resurrection Continues

Yankees 2, Rays 1: Forget Joe Girardi's pregame meeting or Hank Steinbrenner's bluster. Mike Mussina's continued revival is the real story of Wednesday's win. He went 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball to help the Yankees take a squeaker. He's now won five straight starts and lowered his ERA to 3.99 on the season. Remember when he was left for dead? Robinson Cano, a corpse for most of the season, went 4-for-4. The team's bats haven't woken up yet, and that they needed Mussina and his 66-mph pitches to take this one isn't a great sign. But a two-game losing streak is over. The team is within one game of the .500 mark.

Nationals 5, Mets 3: Brian Schneider (!) hit his second homer of the year, but that was not a sign of things to come. Claudio Vargas started off well in his Mets debut. That changed in the sixth, when Ryan Zimmerman homered. In the seventh, Vargas walked his fourth batter, got relieved by Aaron Heilman and watched as the the Nats put up a four-spot. Heilman has been dreadful this season, but he has been vilified for his bad work much more than he was ever appreciated for his shutdown work of seasons past. A day game Thursday will be the Mets' chance to avoid losing three of four to a last-place team.

Photograph of Mike Mussina in the seventh inning by Chris O'Meara/AP

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