With Roger Clemens on the shelf, Mike Mussina returns to the Yankee rotation tonight – perhaps for one start, perhaps for longer. A headline in Newsday today reads, “Mussina hopes for the best,” which can’t instill a lot of confidence in Yankee fans.

Nevertheless, fans do have some reason to at least be optimistic. In his lone relief appearance since his removal from the rotation, Moose allowed 2 runs through 3.2 innings. Nothing to write home about, but a marked improvement over the 19 earned runs the veteran had allowed in his previous 9.2 innings. With an offense as potent as the Yank’s, a manager need only ask his starting staff to keep the team close and let the lineup’s big bats do the rest. It’s a relatively simple assignment, but one that Mussina has too frequently proven incapable of performing this season.

Meanwhile, in the Post today, Larry Brooks invokes the old baseball adage, “Momentum is tomorrow’s starting pitcher.” The Yankees are riding a six game winning streak and have improved their record to 20 games over .500. However, for all the team’s “momentum”, it will be for naught if Mike Mussina can’t find the strike zone tonight. First pitch @ 7:07pm (huh?).