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RECAP
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GAME LOG
BALTIMORE (AP) -- If this was indeed Mike Mussina's last game with the Baltimore Orioles, he will take with him some fond
memories of the night and at least a couple of souvenirs.
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Yankees-Marlins makeup off
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NEW YORK -- Monday's makeup game between the Florida Marlins
and the AL East champion New York Yankees, which was to be played
if it had a bearing on postseason positioning, has been canceled.
The Marlins were informed by Major League Baseball on Saturday
night of the cancellation. Florida was to play at Yankee Stadium at
noon ET Monday, a day after the regular season was supposed to
end, as a makeup for a rainout July 15.
The Chicago White Sox will finish with the best record in the
AL. Oakland and Seattle, both in the running for the AL West title
and the wild card, each won Saturday and are guaranteed of a
better record than the Yankees.
The Yankees will now start the best-of-5 first round of the
playoffs on the road, though their opponent is not yet known. If
they win in the opening round, the only way they could have
home-field advantage in the AL Championship Series would be if they
played the wild-card team.
-- Associated Press
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Mussina, who plans becomes a free agent during the offseason,
turned in a solid performance in front of an appreciative sellout
crowd as the Orioles beat David Cone and the slumping New York
Yankees 9-1 Saturday night.
Derek Jeter got his 200th and 201st hits for the Yankees, who
have lost six straight and 14 of 17. The AL East champions have
been outscored 44-7 in their last four games.
Mussina (11-15) allowed one run, six hits and a walk in 6 1/3
innings. He struck out seven in capping a disappointing season in
which he often received little run support and lost more games than
ever before.
"At least I was able to finish on a good note," he said.
Despite his poor record, the right-hander closed with 210
strikeouts and a 3.79 ERA. Those numbers, as well as his career
record of 147-81, will enable him to draw plenty of interest when
he tests free agency for the first time this fall.
Many in the crowd of 48,129 at Camden Yards yelled "Moose!"
virtually every time Mussina got two strikes on a hitter, and he
received a standing ovation upon leaving with one out in the
seventh.
Before he left, Mussina made sure to get a baseball from the umpire.
He returned for a curtain call, waving his cap to fans who can
only hope he decides to finish his career where he started it.
"I don't get many curtain calls," Mussina said. "I really appreciate everything the fans have done, and all the positive things they're saying. It was fun to see everyone's reaction during every out, every strikeout situation. It was neat; I hope I get to see it again."
Someone placed the lineup card in Mussina's locker, making the night seem even more like a farewell than merely his last start of the season.
"Hopefully, Mike comes back," Orioles manager Mike Hargrove
said. "I would like to see Mike back, as everybody would. But that
remains to be seen, and if it happens that Mike doesn't come back,
we'll move on."
The Orioles have offered Mussina $72 million over six years, but
he nixed the offer.
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Bad, bad and worse
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The Yankees have lost six straight and have been outscored 63 to 11 in that
stretch:
Sat.: Orioles 9, Yankees 1
Cone: 4 IP, 8 H, 6 runs
Fri.: Orioles 13, Yankees 2
Pettitte: 1.1 IP, 6 H, 9 runs
Thur.: Devil Rays 13, Yankees 2
Clemens: 4 IP, 7 H, 6 runs
Wed.: Devil Rays 11, Yankees 1
Neagle: 3 IP, 3 H, 5 runs
Tue.: Devil Rays 2, Yankees 1
El Duque: 8 IP, 2 H, 1 run
Mon.: Tigers 15, Yankees 4
Gooden: 2.2 IP, 6 H, 5 runs
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Cone (4-14), like Mussina, might also have pitched in his final
game with his current team. Although the Yankees are headed to the
playoffs, Cone has yet to prove he can get batters out on a
consistent basis as a starter or in relief.
"He obviously has less room for error than when he threw a
little bit harder," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "I still
trust him, because of what he has inside him. But we don't have to
make a decision (on using Cone in the playoffs) until Monday."
Cone's ERA swelled to 6.91 after he allowed six runs, eight hits and three walks in four-plus innings.
Cal Ripken and Brady Anderson homered and Albert Belle had three
hits for the Orioles, who have won six of eight and have scored 45
runs in their last three games.
Ripken's second homer in two games, a two-run drive, put
Baltimore up 2-0. Anderson led off the second with his 19th of the
season.
Jeter's 200th hit came in the fourth inning after Mussina
retired the first 10 Yankees. Jeter is only the third Yankee to
have three straight 200-hit seasons, joining Lou Gehrig and Don
Mattingly, and only the fifth AL player to do it over the last 50
years.
"He's a special kid," Torre said. "Twenty-six years old and
he has 1,000 hits. Some kids haven't even made the majors at 26."
Jeter scored on a two-out single by Bernie Williams, but
Baltimore made it 5-1 in the bottom half on RBI singles by Eugene
Kingsale and Jerry Hairston.
Ripken doubled in a run in the fifth to chase Cone and Hairston
hit a two-run double in a three-run sixth.
Game notes
The Yankees' makeup game Monday against Florida was
canceled because New York cannot get home-field advantage in the
playoffs. ... New York's David Justice ended a 0-for-13 skid with a
fourth-inning single. ... The victory enables Baltimore to avoid
its first 90-loss season since 1991.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
NY Yankees Clubhouse
Baltimore Clubhouse
RECAPS
Cleveland 6
Toronto 5
Seattle 21
Anaheim 9
Oakland 23
Texas 2
Boston 4
Tampa Bay 2
Detroit 6
Minnesota 5
Baltimore 9
NY Yankees 1
Chi. White Sox 9
Kansas City 1
NY Mets 4
Montreal 2
Cincinnati 8
St. Louis 4
Florida 11
Philadelphia 5
Pittsburgh 4
Chicago Cubs 2
Atlanta 5
Colorado 2
Houston 7
Milwaukee 6
Arizona 5
San Francisco 1
Los Angeles 10
San Diego 2
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