MAY-be it was the month of April that was keeping the Yanks down.

Okay, that was a pretty weak attempt at a pun, but whatever the reason (George's statement, starters returning from injury, full moon) the Yankees continued their creep back toward .500 with a 5-2 victory over the Rangers in Texas.  It was the Yanks' third victory in a row.

The Good:

Mike Mussina.  Mussina was outstanding in his first start since coming off the DL.  His curveball had bite and his velocity was back.  However, he was removed after tossing only 64 pitches.  I guess Torre was wary of pushing the Moose too hard.  I can't blame him for being paranoid, but Mussina probably could have gone at least one more inning.  Anyway, Mussina earned his first victory of the year with this stat line: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 3 K.

Doug Mientkiewicz.  Mientkiewicz is in the middle of a power surge.  His two-run homer in the second gave Mussina and the Yanks an early 2-0 lead.  It was his second homer this week and third overall this year.  Good for Doug, his 1-4 performance now has him batting .164 (or right around my fighting weight) for the year.

Derek Jeter.  Jeter extended his hitting streak to 20 with a three-hit night.  His second RBI of the game in the ninth gave the Yanks a more comfortable 5-2 lead.  He finished 3-5 with 2 RBIs and now leads the Yanks in hitting with a chunky .349 average.

The Bad:

Kyle Farnsworth.  I was shocked Torre used Farnsworth in this game.  He pitched an inning in Game 1 and was hit hard, but didn't allow a run.  He wasn't as lucky in Game 2.  Mark Teixeira took him deep in the eighth and cut the Yankee lead to 4-2.

The Ugly:

Another regular leaves early.  Jason Giambi left the game in the sixth with cramps or tightness in his lower extremities.  I was listening to John and Suzyn at that point, but I doubt that it's anything serious.  Still, it seems the Yanks can't go more than one game without someone going out.

Sammy Sosa getting clocked in the noggin.  Again, I was listening to the radio at this point, but it sounded ugly.  I guess Brian Bruney nailed him right in the earhole.  It seems Torre wasn't too pleased about it because he immediately took Bruney out of the game.  You don't want to see anyone get beaned, but it looks like Bruney is the one Yankee the team can rely on to back hitters off of the plate.

The Yanks head back to The Stadium on Friday and will begin a four-game series against the Seattle Mariners.  Kei Igawa will try and follow up on his masterful start last Saturday against the Red Sox.  He will go against Cha Seung Baek.  I'll be out of town for the weekend attending a wedding (congrats Bert and Chrissy!) so be sure to check out depressedfan.com  for all things Yankees.

The Yanks also finally moved out of the basement with Thursday's doubleheader sweep and into a three-way tie for second place, 5.5 games behind the BoSox.

Things MAY-be looking up.

I know, I know.  I'll stop.