Last Night's Action: By the Skin of Their Teeth

• Yankees 2, Red Sox 1: Classic games between these teams usually take four hours -- or four hours, 45 minutes -- not 2:58. The Yankees will take this. Mike Mussina spun six scoreless innings before Mariano Rivera wriggled off the hook in the ninth inning. The win came on the heels of two straight losses to open this four-game set. Mussina, whose unexpected successs (11 wins, 3.64 ERA) probably deserves to be on the All-Star team, finally started against Boston without throwing the Red Sox batting practice.

  In the ninth, Rivera looked as if he had no control in allowing one run but then struck out Coco Crisp, got Jason Varitek to pop out and then K'd Julio Lugo. Despite what Fox's Tim McCarver said, the season would not have "been crippled" with a loss. Still, the Yankees have needed few games more this season.
  

• Mets 9, Phillies 4: The good news: The Mets beat the Phillies, coming from behind to do so. Bad news: Ryan Church left the game feeling dizzy. The effects of the Mets' bungling of the Church concussion continue to be felt, but at least the Mets got one against the Phillies. For a time, they appeared to be en route to a second consecutive come-from-ahead loss. They blew a 3-0 lead and fell behind, 4-3, in the seventh, but got three runs in the top of the eighth inning.

  The biggest hit came off the bat of Brian Schneider, who knocked a pinch-hit, two-out double to the gap in right-center. Damion Easley added three hits, and Jose Reyes had two. John Maine left with a cramp in his non-pitching arm. This division is wide open -- none of the teams in the National League East is any good. Even at one game under .500, the Mets are only 4 1/2 games back. Dr. Jekyll Oliver Perez pitches Sunday.

Photograph of Mike Mussina pitching against the Red Sox by Julie Jacobson/AP