Mike Mussina via Pete Abe:

“We knew we were not going to play .700 ball from the middle of July until the end of the season. You have to be realistic.

“But we fought our way back, we’re leading the wild card now and we want to stay after it. The last four days we haven’t played very well. We’ve been flat it seems like. We’ve got to get our heads on right and play with some energy.”

Head on right? That’s a nice way of putting it.

Alex Rodriguez drove in the first run of the game yesterday. It was the bottom of the first inning, and the Yanks jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Rodriguez’s 130th RBI of the season. Rodriguez has now tied his 2005 RBI mark and is three dingers away from tying the record he shares (with Mike Schmidt and Adrian Beltre) for most homers in a season by a third baseman. The reason I mention all of this is because it was the only highlight of another misbegotten afternoon for this confounding Yankee team. Everything went downhill from there–double plays in the second and third inning spelled doom for the home team–as the Mariners finally ended their losing streak, beating up on the Yankees, 7-1. Roger Clemens didn’t have much and underwent an MRI on his elbow after the game. Uh-oh. Mike Mussina was better than he’s been (he was certainly throwing harder and with more confidence), but he wasn’t great either, allowing seven hits in just over three innings of work.

If Clemens can’t pitch, Mussina will likely take his turn.

Tonight, the Yankees need to wake up and play a good game.