Mussina

SEATTLE (AP) -- The most successful Moose was the one on the mound.

Signed so he could excel in exactly these kind of games, Mike Mussina delivered Thursday night. He escaped several early jams and helped pitch the New York Yankees past the Seattle Mariners 3-2.

The ace nicknamed "Moose" gave New York a 2-0 edge in the AL championship series as it heads back to Yankee Stadium.

"It's always rewarding to give your guys a chance to win, especially in this situation," Mussina said.

Mussina quieted the Seattle bats for six innings and kept the sellout crowd of 47,791 at Safeco Field from becoming too much of a factor.

His performance also prevented the popular Mariners' Moose mascot from having too much to dance about on top of the dugouts. Instead, his oversized antlers mostly remained still, as did the Seattle bats.

"The Moose was aware he was up against the Moose tonight," said the man inside the mascot costume, who declines to give his real name.

Mussina won for the second time this postseason, his other victory coming in a much more desperate situation.

With the Yankees facing elimination, he pitched seven outstanding innings to win 1-0 at Oakland in Game 3 of the opening round.

"I think what got us going was Mussina," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "What enabled us to get back was the way Mussina pitched in Game 3."

Mussina admitted he struggled against the Mariners -- his fastball wasn't at top velocity, his knuckle-curve was giving him trouble and his changeup was nearly nonexistent.

Yet Mussina limited the Mariners to four hits, including a two-run homer by Stan Javier. The surprising shot in the fourth ended Mussina's streak of 18 scoreless innings in the postseason.

"There are always days when you have to do your best when you don't have your best stuff," he said. "There are days when you're out there thinking about every pitch."

Seattle had several other chances to score, and each time Mussina came up with the right pitch. He got cleanup hitter Edgar Martinez to ground into an inning-ending double play with two runners on in the first and struck out David Bell to strand two more runners in the second.

In the third, after Gold Glove center fielder Bernie Williams dropped Ichiro Suzuki's leadoff drive for a two-base error, Mussina quickly retired the next three batters on easy fly balls.

Even after Javier homered, Mussina did not rattle. He set down the next eight hitters and then turned over a 3-2 lead to the Yankees' dominant relievers.

Torre praised Mussina's presence of mind.

"The ability not to lose your cool, the ability to realize that this is not working, so I have to try to manufacture something else," Torre said.

"I think keeping his composure is the most important thing in a situation against this ballclub."

Mussina improved to 4-1 lifetime in the playoffs. He's never been to the World Series and, despite an initial reluctance to become part of the New York scene, signed with the Yankees with the hope that he could earn a ring.

The Yankees made it worth his while, too, luring the prize free agent from Baltimore for an $88.5 million, six-year contract.

At 32, the Stanford graduate with a degree in economics often seemed like a loner in a Yankees' clubhouse full of extroverts. While teammates frequently kidded around, he sat at his locker doing the crossword puzzle.

Mussina was not an instant hit with the fans, either, particularly after he struggled to a 5-7 mark in mid-June. It wasn't all his fault -- he'd gotten the worst run support among AL starters the year before in Baltimore, and the Yankees also never seemed to hit for him.

But a win at Shea Stadium put him on the right path and he finished with a 17-11 record and a 3.15 ERA.

Mussina's stats, in fact, exceeded those of Roger Clemens, whose 20-3 record makes him the favorite to win a record sixth Cy Young Award. Mussina had a better ERA, pitched more innings, gave up fewer hits and walks and struck out more than the Rocket.

Facing the Mariners, Mussina labored. He needed 81 pitches in the first four innings, and Torre thought Mussina might not make it through the fifth.

"He may have thrown 81 pitches, but he held us to two runs," said Mark McLemore, who was hitless in three at-bats against Mussina. "He proved why he's a great pitcher."